yellow shrimp dying off one-by-one

[miller44444]

Hi, I have a 10-gal planted tank (set up in december, substrate replaced with EcoComplete in February) with a sponge filter, LED lighting, driftwood and live plants. The tank has 3 amano shrimp, ~10-12 yellow shrimp, and several Endlers Livebearers that just had their first crop of babies. Also I have a large mystery snail, nerite snails, malaysian trumpet snails (intentionally added to tank) and pond snails (not intentionally added) that I'm weeding out whenever I can. Plants include val, anubis, java moss, and some floating frogbit and other plants.


I've had problems with the yellow shrimp dying off one-by-one with no clear cause, about once a week I will find one lying on the bottom of the tank, dead of no apparent cause (ammonia and nitrites are always 0.0). And of course, the shrimp that die are usually my brightest yellows and saddled females ready to breed.
Today I came in and saw my only female (large, bright yellow, and with a huge saddle) lying on her side on the bottom, swimmerets flapping madly and her little arms twitching. Within the space of five minutes she was dead on her back. I did another water test and ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates were all ~0.0

I was counting on that shrimp as my only surviving yellow female for breeding up a new generation. Figures.

I'm careful to limit the amount of shrimp food I put in the tank, though since the birth of the Endler babies a week and a half ago, I have been putting more crushed flake food in the tank more. But the water parameters are fine, so I don't get it. Other than one shrimp mysteriously dying every now and then, all the yellow shrimp appear healthy, and the amano shrimp are doing great.

Am I doing something wrong?

All the shrimp have been bought from LFS or online within ~4 months so they shouldn't be dying off of old age.
pH is about 7.5 in the tank, tapwater same.

 

[emerald76]

Did you add any meds? Shrimp are vey sensitive to copper

 

[emerald76]

Meds, not mess

 

[miller44444]

No, I have not added any medicines or fertilizers to this tank.

I use Prime, Shrimp Safe, and the fluval shrimp mineral suppliment during water changes. Last water change/addition was the previous weekend (had a shrimp die that night, even though water was room temperature and had Prime added).

 

[HN1]

Did you or someone else possibly contaminate it by hand or net? I'd do a series of large WCs just in case.

 

[miller44444]

It is possible that I could have contaminated it with something else on my hands, especially when I'm diving my hand in to grab some pond snails. I started a (small) water change just in case, I'll try to do a couple small water changes over the next couple days, I'm a little leery of doing big changes because it seems like no matter how long I let the water sit to reach room temperature or how carefully I measure and add in Prime, a shrimp always dies after a water change. Hopefully that's just coincidence.

Temperature is 70degrees

Also, I have noticed some planaria/flatworms in the 10-gal, not very many, and I cut down the amount of food and haven't seen as many.

 

[HN1]

The temp being that low may be a factor too. We keep our shrimp colonies at 75-78.

 

[miller44444]

I am going to try raising the temperature very slowly (it's one of those +/- knobs so I'm just cranking it a fraction). The heater is very old and I probably should replace it right away with something better.

 

[Austin.b]

Im having the EXACT same problem. Twitching on the substrate and all. I now wash my hands before they go in the tank. From about 55 RCS, I'm down to about 12 max. Yes, I figured out that too large of a water change will stress ten out, usually causing one or two to die within a few hours. I also believe that the large amount of water added to the tank, differs from the water inside the tank already. This large shift is what I believe to be killing off the shrimp after a 30% or more change. The strange thing is, i have one CRS and one CBS in the tank, and theyre doing great! They're S+ grade too! I will definitely be following along with this thread.

 

[miller44444]

Wow, well, at least you're not the only one with this same problem.

I did a small 1/2 gallon water last night, so far no more deaths.

I am going to try to always wash my hands before I put them in the tank...however, I am worried that maybe I might be worsening the problem if I'm carrying even the tiniest bit of soap residue in the tank?

 

[Austin.b]

Wow, well, at least you're not the only one with this same problem.

I did a small 1/2 gallon water last night, so far no more deaths.

I am going to try to always wash my hands before I put them in the tank...however, I am worried that maybe I might be worsening the problem if I'm carrying even the tiniest bit of soap residue in the tank?

Oh ok. That's good to hear at least. When you were doing large water changes, what kind of dechlorinater were you using?

Yeah, I thought about that too, just rinse very very well lol

 

[Austin.b]

I am going to try raising the temperature very slowly (it's one of those +/- knobs so I'm just cranking it a fraction). The heater is very old and I probably should replace it right away with something better.

I've heard that lower temperatures slow breeding. For a heater I recommend a fluval or an eheim heater, those things are awesome! Lol

 

[miller44444]

I had another one die last week, for this one I had a clear problem with my ammonia so I'm not not going to count it as a mysterious dead like the others. Did a water change.

 

[miller44444]

Ammonia is still high today (about .15) on the color chart, I'll do another 1/2 gall water change

My "large" water changes were about a gallon on the 10-gall tank, I was using Prime and also the Fluval shrimp safe.

I really need to upgrade my heater--I'm going to go to a fish swap meet next weekend, might buy something there if they have good quality. I will definitely keep the fluval and eheim brands in mind. My current heater is a cheap non-submersible Top Fin that came with the 10-gal tank package many years ago...very outdated

 

[shrimpbako]

I'm just curious, u only stated ph, what about you gh, and tds? Those are really important for shrimp.
And when u see a dead body, do u usually find a molted shell too?

 

[Cichlid Kid]

I was wondering the same thing. If this is happening after a moulting it could explain alot.

 

[shrimpbako]

Molting issues are simple problems that can be easily fixed.

1) gH levels are too LOW to sustain shell hardening in the water thus shrimp cannot reform shell and dies during process. (normally you would see a full shell somewhere around and the dead shrimp you pull out is mushy/soft)

2) gH levels are too HIGH to allow shrimp to molt properly, shell usually gets stuck on the face/hands of the shrimp possibly suffocate or stress and starve the shrimp to death. ( you would see bits of shell stuck to the shrimp's hands and face, or erratic jumping around trying to get shell off.)

3) Cannibalism - when a shrimp molts it is most vulnerable at that time to injury/damage/attack from other shrimps or decor. If it is already weak and has a lack of hiding places it can get pestered to death by other tankmates, then get eaten.

4) No shell, gH levels are fine - shrimp still dying, could another problem with your water parameters.

If you are able to give me the correct measurements of pH, gH, TDS i can help you figure out what is wrong. BUT the measurements cannot be taken from test strips, cause we all know that test strips are not 100% accurate once opened for a period of time.

hope it helps

shrimp fever