RCS found a few dead recently?

[OSUOKC79]

Just a quick question. But a rather long post to make sure I cover all the info. I have a planted 10 gallon tank. I had a big problem keeping shrimp alive in this tank for a long time, finally I realized not to worry about what the ph was, just make sure it was stable. It's been cycled for over a year. I got about 15 RCS about 3-4 months ago, and amazingly I didn't lose one when they went into the tank. Then they started to breed, rapidly. I did find that although my filter has a small intake, it still had to be covered (spent the better part of an hour picking at least 50 shrimp out of the ceramic media and sponge, luckily this filter pulls water thru it instead do pushing it into it, so the pump was not the first thing they met). But other than that I haven't had a problem. But the last few days I've found some dead shrimp. Probably about 12 or so. Not big adults, medium sized I would say with one that was pretty small. Found 6 one day, 3 the next, 2 today. There are probably 75+ shrimp in the tank maybe over 100, so I'm not scared yet, but I don't want to slowly lose all of them again. They have really cleaned up the algae in the tank, last week or two I've noticed a huge reduction in algae. I was thinking that maybe they are not getting enough to eat, so I moved my tiny pleco to my 55 gal, and I'm thinking about moving the three otocinclus and 2 apple snails also. The ph is right where it should be, kh was a little low, 1-2 degrees of hardness (I added some fresh crushed coral to the filter yesterday, also added some seachem stones for more bio media surface), GH is super hard as always, I normally don't finish the test after about 15 or so drops of test stuff it still hasn't changed. Out of curiosity I tested the ammonia and nitrites, both 0, I never worry about that anymore. Nitrates tend to run a bit on the high side, 30-50ppm, tap water is a bit high, but I do weekly 25% water changes (once I skipped a week a few months ago and didn't have any problems). About a month ago I changed the lighting from CFL to a T5 plant bulb, and added a string of LED lights for viewing brightness. This tank does not have CO2, and I only dose florish when I do a water change.

Anyone think I should be worried? Seems strange to have 0 deaths (that I actually saw) and 12 in three days.

Here is a pic:

 

[ScotJudd]

My immediate thought is that your Gh is on the high side for RCS. Could they be dying whilst trying to shed their shells?
Secondly, the life span is 6-12 months. Did you get some as adults, could they just died of old age?
Also, higher temp shortens their life span. You didn't state water temp. I keep mine at 27c, a bit on the high side but that's my preferred temp for my main community tank. I keep my breeding tank at 25c.
Hope that's of some help - I am a keen RCS keeper but not an expert.
S.

 

[OSUOKC79]

I keep my temp around 26-27, I had read that they can live for up to two years. They molt pretty easily, and breed like crazy. I lost maybe 3 more, but nothing major. If something caused it, they seem to have adjusted, or the water conditions stabilized.

My luck has always been they molt, then immediately die. But so far so good, I can't remember when I got them, but it could have been age, with a random small one that just died for unknown reasons. Soon as my DHG gets going I'm going to try to introduce them into my 55 gal tank, that is if they don't become food

 

[Fresh2o]

The GH might be a bit high. Coupled with the death after molting. Keep posting updates to see if this continues.

I had a heck of a time with shrimp deaths. Lost 10 of 15 in a 3-4 month period in a planted shrimp only 20g tank with no CO2 or liquid ferts w/ WCs every 1-2 weeks. KH/GH = 5/9. Added cuttlebone and got a shipment of 20 RCS from another AA member and they have been breeding and growing just fine. But last week I saw a dead adult and this week 2 more dead adults. Could be old age; the original ones I got are about a year old.

 

[Fibsog]

Just a quick question. But a rather long post to make sure I cover all the info. I have a planted 10 gallon tank. I had a big problem keeping shrimp alive in this tank for a long time, finally I realized not to worry about what the ph was, just make sure it was stable. It's been cycled for over a year. I got about 15 RCS about 3-4 months ago, and amazingly I didn't lose one when they went into the tank. Then they started to breed, rapidly. I did find that although my filter has a small intake, it still had to be covered (spent the better part of an hour picking at least 50 shrimp out of the ceramic media and sponge, luckily this filter pulls water thru it instead do pushing it into it, so the pump was not the first thing they met). But other than that I haven't had a problem. But the last few days I've found some dead shrimp. Probably about 12 or so. Not big adults, medium sized I would say with one that was pretty small. Found 6 one day, 3 the next, 2 today. There are probably 75+ shrimp in the tank maybe over 100, so I'm not scared yet, but I don't want to slowly lose all of them again. They have really cleaned up the algae in the tank, last week or two I've noticed a huge reduction in algae. I was thinking that maybe they are not getting enough to eat, so I moved my tiny pleco to my 55 gal, and I'm thinking about moving the three otocinclus and 2 apple snails also. The ph is right where it should be, kh was a little low, 1-2 degrees of hardness (I added some fresh crushed coral to the filter yesterday, also added some seachem stones for more bio media surface), GH is super hard as always, I normally don't finish the test after about 15 or so drops of test stuff it still hasn't changed. Out of curiosity I tested the ammonia and nitrites, both 0, I never worry about that anymore. Nitrates tend to run a bit on the high side, 30-50ppm, tap water is a bit high, but I do weekly 25% water changes (once I skipped a week a few months ago and didn't have any problems). About a month ago I changed the lighting from CFL to a T5 plant bulb, and added a string of LED lights for viewing brightness. This tank does not have CO2, and I only dose florish when I do a water change.

Anyone think I should be worried? Seems strange to have 0 deaths (that I actually saw) and 12 in three days.

Here is a pic:View attachment 221760

Off topic but what is that huge plant?

 

[jwh0818]

Off topic but what is that huge plant?

Looks like an amazon sword

 

[OSUOKC79]

Yep, that's what it is, I have them in all my tanks now. They don't require anything really, it grew with low light, no co2, no fertilizer. I don't vacuum, so it may get nutrients that way. Once it took hold it grew really fast, easiest plant I have. It has a big root system, so I would recommend a moderately deep substrate.

 

[OSUOKC79]

Well, still losing some. 1-2 daily, some are berried females. My two huge, dark red females seem to be doing fine. I've added cuttle bone, no help. Nitrates constantly test high, but they always have, even the first 6 months when I was seeing no losses. However tap water tests 0 or nearly so for nitrate. Water changes weekly, no help. Twice a week, nothing. Every other day, zip. May move my serpe tetra to the big tank to try to reduce bio load. I have a Small Zoo Med canister filter, but I have added a cascade canister filter and I'm running them both for a month or two until the cascade has had time to become established. Reduced temp slowly from 80-78F over a week, nothing. I even added a UV sterilizer, in case there was some bacterial problem that was affecting them after molting, still 1-2 dead each day. Over all my population isn't really decreasing, and I still find tiny fry in the tank. Going to try removing some crystal decor, amythest and geodes, that could be leaching some trace elements/metals into the tank. Only option left is RO water and seachem equalibrium, but I suspect that will be a challenge making sure the water parameters do not change drastically and stress the shrimp. I have a TDS tester coming next week so I can check the overall water quality without wearing my arm out shaking bottles and test tubes, or counting drops all the time. Maybe it's just their time? Maybe I'm over thinking it? But it really seems every time I see a dead shrimp there is a new molt floating around.