I want to cry, but I can't or I'll go on a crying jag.
When I got up this morning I checked on the cylindar and saw that there was just a touch of CO2 left. Glanced at the bubble counter on the 10 gallon and saw that it was higher than I wanted, so I turned it down a bit. The other two tanks were fine so I left their settings alone.
At noon when it was time to go swap the cylindar over lunch, I discovered that the substrate in the 10 gallon was littered with dead Cherry Red Shrimp. So stupid of me not to check on the CO2 levels, when I saw the bubble rate was high. :x I might have been able to do something then to save some of those poor shrimp, but the lights were off and it didn't occur to me. I immediately began scooping out dead shrimp in an effort to avoid a deadly ammonia spike in case there were still some alive. What an aweful way to get a really good picture of how many shrimp you'd managed to breed. Luckily it appears that at least a dozen of the older juveniles survived. I added an overdose of Prime per instructions to help with any Ammonia or Nitrite spikes.
Next I disconnected the tank and went to swap it out. The refill was more expensive than expected since there was a Hazardous Materials Fee that I hadn't been informed of originally. Still with refill and an extra washer/gasket it was only about $12.50. Stopped by the hardware store and picked up a big adjustable wrench with comfort grip, and headed home.
Once I got home I performed a 50% water change and siphoned up some more dead shrimp that were missed with the manual removal. Several of the shrimp were hanging out at the top of the tank, but otherwise had perked up. After refilling the tank, most of the shrimp were down in the lower levels of the tank looking a lot more active. I got a definate count of 11 shrimp, so as long as I've got a mix of both males and females I should be able to get the colony going again barring any more tragedies.
Once the CO2 tank warms up I'll go ahead and get it connected back up. I'd be a lier if I said I wasn't scared that I'll accidently wipe out the rest of the shrimp. As it is I've lost 80-90% of the shrimp including several berried females.