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Cherry shrimp dying one by one

P

peter1979

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Joined
9 Mar 2010
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83
Hi,
I have a nano tank, 26 litres or so, about 6 months old. It is heavily planted with FE CO2 and TPN+ (1.5ml per day) added. I bought some cherry red shrimp a few months back, 8 of them, and one by one they have slowly died off. I cant put my finger on the problem. I do weekly 40% water changed and the temp is around 23-25 degrees. My ammonia and nitrites are 0 and i keep 2 otto's and 5 endlers in there. I have had one endler and 1 otto die on me too in this time. I think the otto waqs probably not too healthy to begin with as it didnt eat from day one and the endler was a mystery to me, the others seem fine.
I had noticed yesterday what looked like a split i a shrimps shell between its head piece and body. I took this to be the start of a moult, but it died just now, i found it upside down on the bottom, it was struggling to right itself so i tipped it up the right way, but it died shortly after. Strangely part of its tail and part of its under body has gone a dark colour.

I know the problem with copper and shrimp, i havent added any medicines, but our hot water tank is a copper thing, i added watewr from the hot tap for a water change when i first had the tank, would this be the cause? I use dechlorinator every water change.
I have 2 shrimp left, they are quite small and havent grown too much since ive had them. I wont get any more, but as cherries are the hardiest of shrimps i cant understand what is wrong.
Cheers
Peter
 
Quite possibly you might be gassing them to death?? But generally cherry shrimps are quite hardy.

Sounds like it could be the moulting stage thats causing them problems. You also mentioned a heavily planted tank so it rules out that they are getting stressed from the other fishes interupting them at moulting stage.

What does the drop checker colour show? I would say that if you are doing water changes and using the hot water as well, let it run a little before mixing it in the tank. Or you can always leave a bucket to reach room tempreture?

For me Ive never had a problem and have tested all types of tempretures with my cherries and they are tolerant from normal cold water to around 30c from my discus tank. I guess its unlucky?
 
Hi Peter.
A difficult one. You sound as though your doing everything right.
Ottos die, they are often on the way before we get them home.
I keep and breed Cherry and Crs, and use water from my copper tank and pipes, and a decent dechlorinator.
Are you happy the shrimps were in good condition on purchase.

Somthing ive done is to have a dedicated shrimp only set up, and to only feed quality shrimp food.The big plus is all or most shrimplets survive, and you tend to see more of them.
This topic has been discussed quiet a lot on the forum, with many solutions/ideas. Have a look back.
Hope you find a cause.
 
Cheers for the responses. I have had a search around on here and other forums, the same things generally pop up.
1. Copper in the water, usually via a medicine
2. Poor water quality, ammonia or nitrites
3. shrimp being hassled by fish
4. being introduced too quickly to a tank or into an imature tank

My stats are fine, my tank is mature and i have no way of measuring copper reliably and my fish give my shrimp a wide berth, so possibly they are poor quality shrimp. Its a real mystery to me, but for now, no more shrimp. I have a small tank spare, so when i get some more space available i will set up a shrimp only tank and see what happens.

cheers
peter
 
Might be worth checking your GH and KH readings. If the water is too soft, you may not have enough calcium in the water to enable the shrimps to moult fully.
 
basil said:
Might be worth checking your GH and KH readings. If the water is too soft, you may not have enough calcium in the water to enable the shrimps to moult fully.
Click to expand...

or the exact opposite, if you have too high gh or kh, their shells are too hard and the cannot moult properly, they get squished by their own shells as they grow...


so yeah, check your gh and kh readings...
 
basil wrote:Might be worth checking your GH and KH readings. If the water is too soft, you may not have enough calcium in the water to enable the shrimps to moult fully.



or the exact opposite, if you have too high gh or kh, their shells are too hard and the cannot moult properly, they get squished by their own shells as they grow...
Click to expand...

I'm wondering if that's why mine are going... my kH is really quite high and I'm losing about 1 per day. All the others seem healthy but I keep finding them dead :thumbdown:

Tom
 
Could be a poor batch? I got 6 from a local MA store - within 4 weeks I only had one left which has gone on to grow well and look nice and red. Others died for no known reason I can fathom beyond a couple which decided to get stuck to the glass filter pipe which I've never ever seen in 2 years of having shrimp.
 
Hi Peter
I too have experienced shrimp dying during the night and find this thread very interesting. I wonder if it might simply be a shortage of oxygen during the night? During the day plants give off oxygen but a night in the dark they do not and give off CO2.
What do you think?
 
Hi all
Pinkfish said:
I too have experienced shrimp dying during the night and find this thread very interesting. I wonder if it might simply be a shortage of oxygen during the night?
Click to expand...
Welcome to UKAPS. This thread is from 2010, so I'm not sure you will get a reply. @peter1979 was last on the forum in 2021, but we have quite a few threads on <"unexplained Cherry shrimp"> death .

I don't know what causes shrimp death, in my case I let <"the water get too soft">, but it certainly could be an oxygen issue. Low <"dissolved oxygen levels"> are likely <"to occur at night"> in planted tanks. One potential issue is that shrimps have <"haemocyanin"> in their blood, and that is a less efficient oxygen transporter than the haemoglobin that fish have. They also have a less efficient circulatory system.
Pinkfish said:
During the day plants give off oxygen but a night in the dark they do not and give off CO2.
What do you think?
Click to expand...
I don't think it is the cause. Plants are <"massively net oxygen producers"> and, in oxygen terms, <"the gift that keeps giving">. A lot of people <"vastly underestimate"> <"plants contribution to oxygenation">, but the growth of a plant is the sum of the net difference between CO2 (and nitrate (NO3-) etc) incorporated and oxygen evolved.

There are circumstances where you could have a planted "tank" <"with low oxygen at night">, but in nearly all cases <"planted tanks will remain more oxygenated at night">, when compared to non-planted tanks.

cheers Darrel
 
In addition to what Darrel/@dw1305 says above:

Dietary deficiencies could also be a cause. More exotic causes are copper or zinc poisoning. Shrimps are also very sensitive to NH3 (toxic free ammonia) - say if you have a high total ammonia level (NH3+NH4) and experience a spike in pH over night you can get into lethal territory. Very high TDS levels is also a common cause as it interferers with their osmoregulation - much more so than with fish. Of course, there is the age factor; most dwarf shrimps wont really live more than 1-3 years on average (bamboo and Amano's can live considerably longer).

Cheers,
Michael
 
Darrel and Michael,
Thank you both for your reply, which has been very helpful and given me opportunity to research further the points you have raised. After my post, I increased the water flow and oxygenation, since then I fortunately have not lost any shrimp, they are more active, shedding, and showing signs of starting breeding, I am keeping an eye on amonia ph nitrate etc and all seems to continue to be within safe levels. Hopefully whatever the reason for the ones that died , won’t happen again soon .
 
Darrel and Michael,
Thank you both for your reply, which has been very helpful and given me opportunity to research further the points you have raised and learn a lot more about shrimp and plant care. After my post, I increased the water flow and oxygenation, since then I fortunately have not lost any shrimp, they are more active, shedding, and showing signs of breeding, I am keeping an eye on amonia ph nitrate etc and all seems ok and stable, keeping up with water changes too. Many thanks for replying
 
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