Trouble with Cherry Shrimp

[FishOwner]

I've been having some bad problems with cherry shrimp randomly dying, and I wanted to know if anyone has experienced this. Only my female cherries die (males doing fine). Amano shrimp also do well.

This isn't related to changing parameters because I don't do big water changes and I have a heater keeping temp stable. One thing I'm confused about is that I've found all of the dead shrimp near or in a dense patch of green hair algae that I'm trying to kill (no chemicals, just blackout).

 

[Dallascowboys16]

What do your water parameters look like? Are there any tank mates? How long have you had your tank setup? It is hard to figure out what is killing them without some of that information. Cherry shrimp can be a little bit sensitive and I have never really had success with them in anything but an established tank.

 

[FishOwner]

Ammonia is at 0 ppm, nitrites are at 0 ppm, nitrates are in between 10-20 ppm (about to do a water change), and the pH is around 7.5. All I know about the gH and kH is that they are a tad high in my area. The tank has been running for 8 months now. Tank mates are a few Amano shrimp, a school of neon tetras, and a single nerite snail.

The neon tetras are quite a bit more rowdy than most I've seen. I'm contemplating separating them and getting a cherry-only tank.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Ammonia is at 0 ppm, nitrites are at 0 ppm, nitrates are in between 10-20 ppm (about to do a water change), and the pH is around 7.5. All I know about the gH and kH is that they are a tad high in my area. The tank has been running for 8 months now. Tank mates are a few Amano shrimp, a school of neon tetras, and a single nerite snail.

The neon tetras are quite a bit more rowdy than most I've seen. I'm contemplating separating them and getting a cherry-only tank.

Hm. Those numbers shouldn't be giving you issues as far as parameters go. I have also found Cherry shrimp (and all neocaridina shrimps) to be pretty adaptable as far as GH and KH go. At 8 months the tank should be established enough. Are your shrimp molting successfully?

 

[FishOwner]

The tank has been running for eight months.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

The tank has been running for eight months.

Have your shrimp ever molted successfully? If your water is too soft they will die being unable to properly form their exoskeleton. If your GH and KH are too high they will struggle to molt at all and be trapped in their shells which eventually proves fatal.

 

[FishOwner]

I'm receiving a kH and gH test kit tomorrow to check those parameters. My shrimp molt successfully all of the time.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Ok cool. If they are molting successfully but you are still getting random deaths I would default to adding some calcium to the water (a small piece of cuttlebone works great for this). Also visually check the shrimp for external parasites (mites, flatworms, etc). Once you get your test kits check the levels and report back here once you have the numbers.

 

[FishOwner]

I add crushed and dried eggshell to the tank every 2 weeks. Does that work?

No parasites that I can see.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

I add crushed and dried eggshell to the tank every 2 weeks. Does that work?

No parasites that I can see.

Yeah egg shell should be doing the trick. Just report back with the levels after you test. Nothing jumps out at me about what could be wrong.

 

[Coastiefisho]

Yeah egg shell should be doing the trick. Just report back with the levels after you test. Nothing jumps out at me about what could be wrong.

I’m keen to add some Cherry shrimp down the track, my tank is only 5 months old I’ve got some fish in at the moment. But I’m curious as to what the egg shell are required for?

 

[libertybelle]

The egg shells provide calcium which the shrimp need to form their exoskeletons. Depending on water parameters extra calcium isn’t always necessary.

Are your females dying after they molt? If it’s just females dying then one possibility is that your population is more male than female. Cherry shrimp are not aggressive but too many males trying to mate with one female at once has been reported to stress the females to death.

If that’s the case you could 1: add more females 2: move some of the males or 3: add more hiding places like big clumps of dense moss to give the ladies a place to hide.

 

[FishOwner]

Yup. The females die, but there's no visible sign of molting issues. Plus, I always find the right-sized molt when they die. The ratio of males to females is like 5 to 1. The surviving females hide out in the holes in the dragon rock when they molt.

I have gH and kH measurements now, plus a more accurate pH measurement:
gH ~ 13
kH ~ 7
pH ~ 7.6

I don't know how my other pH kit showed a 7. Another thing I'm confused about is the fact that the tap water gH is 9. I'm thinking that the hardness changes with time. Either that or hot water is harder (I use 80 degree water and leave it overnight).

 

[libertybelle]

Why do you use 80 degree water and leave it overnight? Water going through a hot water tank can sometimes have heavy metals that are bad for shrimp. Are you leaving water out instead of dechlorinator? If so that could also be a problem.

Hardness only changes in predictable ways. If you are topping off your tank with tap water to replace evaporated water then that’s why your tank is so high.

 

[FishOwner]

I use 80 degree water because if I use cold water my water change tubing stiffens up and becomes impossible to use. I then dechlorinate it with Stress Coat+ and leave it overnight to stabilize the pH.

I don't top off because the hardness gets too high. Instead, I let it evaporate and then at the end of the week do a 20% water change. There are probably plenty of things wrong with this, but until I get a good lid, I'm kind of stuck with it.