Something off in one of my tanks and not sure what it is!

[ColdKoi]

So my 29g that was my growout tank for some comets and coi that I put in my pond became a shrimp tank this summer and for some reason the shrimp just aren’t doing good in this tank compared to my others

I can’t seem to find anything that is causing it as water parameters are identical or very close to the other tanks, where they seem to thrive

Ph- 7.5
Gh-5
Kh-4
Am-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate- 5-10
Temp- 76-78°

Heavily planted, well established tank (1.5 years now), nothing seems to be out of whack yet the shrimp just aren’t doing great in there. I’m starting to wonder if it’s something in the tank from the comets. I don’t really want to nuke the tank if I don’t have to!

[Colin_T]

Pictures of the shrimp and their tank.

When you say they aren't doing great, what is actually wrong with the shrimp?
Are they breeding well?
Are they turning white and dying?
What's is causing you concern?

[ColdKoi]

Sorry can’t get pictures right now

The red cherries haven’t bred at all yea and my blue velvets in my other tank which I got at the same time have been breeding for months successfully.

They’ve just been slowly dying off, one every week or 2, no visual signs of anything wrong. Nice strong coloring, swimming and feeding good. I even have a handful of amano in the same tank and only lost one of them just after I got them all, so maybe just bad batch of shrimp?

[Colin_T]

It sounds like there is something in the tank that is stressing them. Maybe try doing a big water change and gravel clean every day for a couple of weeks. If there's anything bad in the tank or water that is stressing them, the water changes should dilute the problem and the shrimp should stop dying.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks.

Wipe the glass down on the inside of the tank to remove any biofilm (slime) that can harbor harmful pathogens.

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With shrimp, they tend to breed when fed well and the temperature is right for them. If you are feeding them several times a day and the tank is clean and the water warm, they should breed. If conditions are good and they are fed well but not breeding, that indicates an issue with the tank.

[ColdKoi]

The tank has ridiculous filtration for the critters in it now as it was like mentioned previously a comet and koi tank. It’s an ac90 turned down with one of the brick sponges on the intake also. It gets cleaned every couple weeks though and a small water change weekly if I’m home, or a larger (50%) before I’m gone for any length of time (typically work away from home a couple weeks at a time)

The other tank that seems to be doing quite well is treated exactly the same except it has much less filtration capacity.

Both tanks get fed once a day, and the one with blue velvets was a fresh setup when I threw them in there so they rely more heavily on feeding, yet they’re doing much better

[Colin_T]

You could try adding salt. It can help with a lot of minor infections and is generally safer than most medications.

SALT
Using Salt to Treat Fish Health Issues.
For some fish diseases you can use salt (sodium chloride) to treat the ailment rather than using a chemical based medication. Salt is relatively safe and is regularly used in the aquaculture industry to treat food fish for diseases. Salt has been successfully used to treat minor fungal and bacterial infections, as well as a number of external protozoan infections. Salt alone will not treat whitespot (Ichthyophthirius) or Velvet (Oodinium) but will treat most other types of external protozoan infections in freshwater fishes. Salt can treat early stages of hole in the head disease caused by Hexamita but it needs to be done in conjunction with cleaning up the tank. Salt can also be used to treat anchor worm (Lernaea), fish lice (Argulus), gill flukes (Dactylogyrus), skin flukes (Gyrodactylus), Epistylis, Microsporidian and Spironucleus infections.

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt, swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

[ColdKoi]

I may have to try salt, but I’m not sure how I’d gauge it now. I believe the last of the cherries are gone now but the amano are still doing great as far as I can tell (eating good, molting often, all that good stuff)

Just noticed another of my blue velvets is berried in the other tank again, and as always the water tests are still identical between the 2 tanks. So I don’t think it’s me killing them per say lol, there has to be something in the 29g tank causing the issue.

Maybe for the sake of simplicity I’ll just tear down the 29g and start over with it. My 75 is in dire need of plant trimming so I’m not worried about the plants or even the filter media. Really my only concern would be what to do with the amano, I don’t want them outcompeting for food in the little 5g with the blue velvets and I think they’d be a tasty snack in the 75!

[Jacky12]

Hi, I’ve never kept shrimp, but I think big water changes do much to promote a healthy environment. I do 50-60% weekly & have done daily changes when algae overtook a 40 G tank too close to windows & more recently when the nitrate levels went to 40 ppm in a 56 G with an old Oscar I just adopted. She is going into a 125 as soon as I can modify the stand that came with the used 125 G.

So, I’d do daily water changes & vacuum the substrate if those were my shrimp.

[Colin_T]

If the cherry shrimp have died but the other types of shrimp have been fine all alone, I would just avoid adding cherry shrimp to that tank, unless you strip the tank, flush it out and start again.

I wouldn't bother adding salt unless the remaining shrimp start dying.

[ColdKoi]

Yea it’s just been the cherry shrimp that are having the issue. Problem is, I have no use for it right now other than a shrimp tank so I’ll probably just nuke it and start over. Like I said, it did have comets in there before so there’s no telling really what’s in that tank