Strange shrimp death

[Nikkosan]

I have a 6gallon heavily planted tank with a thriving Sunkist shrimp colony. They've been breeding rapidly and the babies have been very healthy and active. At the beginning of this week I've had one of my mature shrimp die every other day just one at a time. Today I've lost another making it 3 total deaths. I haven't made any changes to water or diet. Is this a case of old age or something to be worried about?? They seemed to be in good health and there was no problems with the bodies (no ring around the head indicating molt trouble) all of the other shrimp in the tank seems to have no issues and the day before the deaths all shrimp were healthy and eating. Diet is ultra fresh shrimp patties, brine shrimp, and occasionally blood worms.
Tank parameters:
Ph:7.4
Gh:9-10ppm
Ammonia:0ppm
Nitrite:0ppm
Nitrate:5-10ppm

 

[Andy Sager]

Deaths one at a time is more a fish( in your case shrimp) issue vs a tank issue. In a tank issue, they all would be dying. With one at a time, it could be old age, post molt issue ( not enough calcium to harden the shell) or predation by the other shrimp or something else in the tank. I would do a small water change just to add some new water and dilute the nitrate level.

 

[Nikkosan]

Deaths one at a time is more a fish( in your case shrimp) issue vs a tank issue. In a tank issue, they all would be dying. With one at a time, it could be old age, post molt issue ( not enough calcium to harden the shell) or predation by the other shrimp or something else in the tank. I would do a small water change just to add some new water and dilute the nitrate level.

The only other thing in the tank is 2 guppy fry that survived being eaten in my other tank lol so they're very tiny and I can't imagine they could do any damage. I performed a small water change last night as I had another shrimp die the day before. Should I do another change today? I don't want to stress out any of the other shrimp

 

[Andy Sager]

The only other thing in the tank is 2 guppy fry that survived being eaten in my other tank lol so they're very tiny and I can't imagine they could do any damage. I performed a small water change last night as I had another shrimp die the day before. Should I do another change today? I don't want to stress out any of the other shrimp

Wait to see if there are more issues in the next couple of days. As for Guppy fry, they naturally eat shrimp so don't discount them as the problem. They don't have to eat them whole.

 

[Nikkosan]

Wait to see if there are more issues in the next couple of days. As for Guppy fry, they naturally eat shrimp so don't discount them as the problem. They don't have to eat them whole.

They were just born about 5 days ago. Do you think they could pose an issue? If so I have another tank they can be moved into

 

[Andy Sager]

They were just born about 5 days ago. Do you think they could pose an issue? If so I have another tank they can be moved into

They are born hungry so if you can move them, I'd move them.

 

[Autumnsky]

Also, as a longtime shrimp keeper swapping shrimp keeping information with other keepers, recently many shared a similar story of a robust colony and something just changing. And having some losses. I'm wondering if whatever mineral combination in the tanks go down. Or the increasing numbers of shrimp change the dynamic.

Make sure you are feeding a high quality food.

Although you shouldn't really have harder water, the shrimp need thise minerals for molting, health and breeding.so eating them is very important. The aufwuchs, micro organisms are possibly over consumed with nicely breeding tanks. That could be a tipping point as well.

There are some mineral additives like a chunk of cuddle bone and Glasgarten Mineral Junkies Pearls. I use both, especially if I have snails in the tank.

Also if you start doing 10% pwc every other, or every few days you might see an improvement. If you use tap water you might want to check with the local water provider about if they have been using any heavy duty chemicals for flushing lines, which they do after breaks or switching from a new water source or building new lines or replacing old ones.

Do you ever use Bacter AE? If so try to use much less at one time and then just possibly a little more often than you have. I have had better results using it per dose, sparingly.

Hope it works out.