keeping amano shrimps alive

[mrkho]

its wierd, every time i do a water change i feel as if one shrimp dies or seomthing. my tank parameters are in pretty good condition

Ph: 7
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: about 5-10ppm
ammonia: 0
GH: 100mg/l or 5.6 degrees
KH: 70mg/l oor 3.8 degrees
phosphate: 1ppm

my tank is a 46 gallon bow, and every week or so i do a 5 gallon water change. 2.5gallons RO and 2.5gallons tap water. i have 2 fluvals, a 304 and a 404. i took all the carbon out, so i had alot of space, so i filled both canisters up with biomax and prefilters. is there something wrong with my tank? or am i doing too many water changes? whats wrong with my shrimp? any help would be great, thank you

 

[Purrbox]

Some things to check. What are the stats of the water you are adding to the tank? Check all the stats you listed for your tank plus temperature on both the source water and your tank. It would also be a good idea to see if your tap water contains copper.

I don't think you are doing too many water changes. I actually do 25% to 50% water changes 1 to 2 times per week without problems. Since the problem seems to be occuring at the same time as the water changes, I would suspect that there is a problem with the tap water or a swing in PH, etc is occuring.

 

[Tiffi]

Like purrbox said, the problem could be copper, maybe from copperpipes in your house or fish medicaments.
Check if your temperature is over 82F that might kill them, since they will get protein clotting!
Maybe they have problems during the molding phase.

At the weekend there will be a a profile about those Shrimp in the Fish and Plant Profiles section. I thought it would be time for that, since so many people seem to have problems to keep them alive!

Are you sure they are dead? Did you find a dead body (they can hide really good)? Are you sure it's not only an old shell (yes, those shells have even little legs on them just not any eyes)?
I got scared many times at first, too when I saw a shell, since they look really like dead shrimp at first!

 

[Tiffi]

Do you add a lot of CO2 to your tank? That could be bad for their molding process since they need the calcium. If they can't finsih the process right (they are very vulnerable then anyway) they can die, too.

 

[workfortheman]

I don't see how adding co2 could kill amanos. Takashi himself stuffs co2 into his tanks and consistently introduces these shrimp.

 

[Lance M.]

Check the water for copper- that seems to be the most likely thing.
Is your tank planted? And what fish do you have in there with the shrimp?

I do about a 40%-50% water change ~ every 8-9 days. I haven't lost any fish/shrimp in about 7 months.

 

[mrkho]

yeah my tank is planted and i only hjave otos and blood fin tetras in there now, thanks for the advice ill test my tap for copper

 

[czcz]

San Jose switched to chloramines this year if I remember correctly. Make sure your tap water conditioner neutralizes them.