Trouble with Bamboo Shrimp

[Abiduwhabi]

Hello all,

So,the tank that I am going to be putting them in is a 55 gallon that has been set up for a little over a 7 months. The list of current inhabitants and other tid bits about the tank is in my profile.

A few months ago I figured I would get some ghost shrimp for my Rainbow fish and gourami. I bought 20, dropped the first one in and they ate it like they hadn't ate in 4 weeks,so i just went ahead and put the other 19 in. Needless to say I still have 15, which led me to the Bamboo shrimp (Flower shrimp, fan shrimp, wood shrimp, Atyopsis Moluccensis) which I find very interesting and I figured if the fish won't eat the ghost shrimp they aren't going to bother the bamboo shrimp.

I got all prepared, bought some spirulina and some zooplankton. Placed another piece of drift wood under my Aquaclear outflow so it would have a nice place to feed from. Went out and brought it home. Drip acclimated it for 1 hour, turned the lights off and place it in the tank. No one in the tank bothered him and he was swimming around the tank,and then stopped on one of my swords. I left the light off for around 45 minutes then turned it on. He was just wondering around the tank going from plant to plant, so I left him be for around an hour. I come back to check on him and he was on his back barely twitching his legs. I came back and checked on him a few times until I was sure he was dead. He had turned a orange looking color and didn't move when I touched him.

So, I did some more research and of course the first thing I find is a story about someones bamboo shrimp doing the same thing but five days later the shrimp magically came back to life. Of course I had already removed mine from the tank. Another post suggested that I needed to acclimate them longer because they are very sensitive,which makes sense. Others suggested copper as being the problem, but I don't have copper pipes and haven't used medications in my tank. In any case I wanted to check all my bases, went ahead and did a 50% water change the day before, made sure all my fish looked healthy, even the ghost shrimp were chipper and flying all over the place, tossed a carbon pack in my aquaclear, and checked my water conditions and temperature.

0 nitrite
0 ammonia
around 20 Nitrate

Went picked up another one, acclimated it for 3 hours via drip. Turned the lights off place him in the tank. Lights were off for 2 hours, and he looked fine when I turned them back on. He even had his fans out feeding. Leave him be for 2 hours and there he is on his side just like the other one.
I wasn't about to take him out yet. Left him in there all night, woke up this morning and there was one of my pepper loaches and about 5 ghost shrimp nibbling on the bamboo shrimp.

Now, does anyone have any suggestions as to what is going on?

FYI: These two bamboo shrimp have been at my LFS for around a month, while I pondered on if I was going to get one.

 

[Brookster123]

Are you sure your fish arnt getting to personal with said shrimp?? A couple exploratory nibbles to a new shrimp could possibly kill it????

 

[Abiduwhabi]

I really don't think so, but anything is possible while I'm not looking. If I would have been a good little fish keeper I would have quarantined them, but as I stated they had been at the LFS for a month or more and I stop by at least 4 times a week on my way home.

 

[treemanone2003]

I always QT everything I get. Just because. Unless it's a privately owned LFS, many chain stores run on a "central filtration" setup. When this is used, if one tank has an issue, it all rolls downhill and can happen without even noticing. So just because it all "looks" great, it's not always the case and a great QT program can make all the difference in a happy healthy aquarium.

 

[Gakkan]

Sounds like you're doing everything right, maybe you're just being unlucky, their is a lot of posts about bamboo not lasting long as the majority are wild caught and they are super sensitive. Or maybe they are getting nipped, one nip can damage it then they'll all join in for a nibble when it's hurt. I hope you have some better luck.

 

[DragonFish71]

One of things I've found is that if the tank I was putting them in was newer than a year, I couldn't keep them alive. Since almost all of my tanks are now way older than a year, I'm having no problems keeping them alive. I've even had them successfully spawn once in my brackish tank. The shrimplets got eaten, but hey, it can be done!

A tank isn't considered mature (by some standards) until it's a year or more. By then it should have gone through any ups and downs, should have a nice layer of bio-film and other fun little organisms for the filter feeders to enjoy.

 

[Abiduwhabi]

One of things I've found is that if the tank I was putting them in was newer than a year, I couldn't keep them alive. Since almost all of my tanks are now way older than a year, I'm having no problems keeping them alive. I've even had them successfully spawn once in my brackish tank. The shrimplets got eaten, but hey, it can be done!

A tank isn't considered mature (by some standards) until it's a year or more. By then it should have gone through any ups and downs, should have a nice layer of bio-film and other fun little organisms for the filter feeders to enjoy.

That makes sense to have a good build up of organisms for them to feed on. I guess I'll just wait another six months and if I feel the urge I'll try them again. My main concern though is just how fast they died. I've never had anything die that fast, especially since the ghost shrimp have survived with out any problems. The medications killing them would make sense, but the only place I have ever used medication is in my QT.
I didn't even take them back to the store because I felt like it was something on my end, I just can't figure out what.

 

[Abiduwhabi]

I always QT everything I get. Just because. Unless it's a privately owned LFS, many chain stores run on a "central filtration" setup. When this is used, if one tank has an issue, it all rolls downhill and can happen without even noticing. So just because it all "looks" great, it's not always the case and a great QT program can make all the difference in a happy healthy aquarium.

This is a privately owned store and I know the owners very well, but yes I still should of quarantined them.

 

[Gakkan]

That makes sense to have a good build up of organisms for them to feed on. I guess I'll just wait another six months and if I feel the urge I'll try them again. My main concern though is just how fast they died. I've never had anything die that fast, especially since the ghost shrimp have survived with out any problems. The medications killing them would make since, but the only place I have ever used medication is in my QT.
I didn't even take them back to the store because I felt like it was something on my end, I just can't figure out what.

It's really odd, I got 3 over a month a go in a tank cycled from old media but it was only run empty for a week, so it's not really "established" but they are doing fine, just had my first one moulting. So in theory yours should be doing ok, maybe a bad batch like suggested.

 

[DragonFish71]

It's really odd, I got 3 over a month a go in a tank cycled from old media but it was only run empty for a week, so it's not really "established" but they are doing fine, just had my first one moulting. So in theory yours should be doing ok, maybe a bad batch like suggested.

And a bad batch is highly possible as well. I'm just going off of all the trouble I had with them. I'd have them die off within an hour of acclimating them to the tank. Eventually I stopped buying them until about two years ago. I haven't had any problems since. I base it on the fact that my tanks are now years older than they were.

 

[DragonFish71]

That makes sense to have a good build up of organisms for them to feed on. I guess I'll just wait another six months and if I feel the urge I'll try them again. My main concern though is just how fast they died. I've never had anything die that fast, especially since the ghost shrimp have survived with out any problems. The medications killing them would make sense, but the only place I have ever used medication is in my QT.
I didn't even take them back to the store because I felt like it was something on my end, I just can't figure out what.

Was the tank new or used when you got it? They say copper will stay in the silicon and leach out, thus killing inverts, but if your ghost shrimp are fine, that would be moot.

 

[Abiduwhabi]

Was the tank new or used when you got it? They say copper will stay in the silicon and leach out, thus killing inverts, but if your ghost shrimp are fine, that would be moot.

Brand new tank. I think I'll listen to your experience and attempt them at a later date. Thank you for sharing.