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RCS Pregnant deaths

Vanish

Member
Joined
15 Feb 2013
Messages
173
Hi everyone. Can anyone help? I've been finding female berried shrimp dead lately. I can't understand why. Water parameters are OK.
GH10
KH 5
TDS 227
I've even reached for, my test kit (and yes I know that they're unreliable) but it reports ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at 0PPM
I do water changes with 50/50 RO/tap water and keep the water at 22C-22.5C
Plenty to feed on, the tank is well planted. No predation, as I only have amber tetras, Otto's and nerite snails.
I don't put any liquid CO2 in, no CO2 injection. This is a low tech tank. I'm flummoxed, the other females don't seem as active as usual, but the makes are buzzing around!
What's going on?

Posted this in PFK forum to to increase exposure.

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Good thought, but nothing has changed. I did add a small amount of macro and micro dose about a week prior.
I've just spent half an hour salvaging the eggs. Fingers crossed that they hatch

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Hi Vanish, Others will now more I do not think its the ferts . Hope all go's well
Thanks, it's very frustrating this reminds me of the learning curve I had when I started fish keeping.

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No we've had nothing like that near it.
The only new thing that I've added to the tank is an eheim flow pipe, so that the fish and shrimp weren't getting blown around by the flow. I gave this a rinse off before fitting it.

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Nitrate shouldn't be at 0ppm, even in very well maintained tanks; if it's really reading 0, this would indicate to me something is wrong with your cycle
 
That or water changes are causing shrimp deaths, if done too frequently at different parameters from the tank water. Different water parameters often encourage moulting, this can kill adult shrimp if done too frequently
 
OK I've been doing weekly water changes, I can cut this back easily enough, and just top up in between. I don't think there is an issue with the cycle. The 0ppm figure for nitrate is only a ball park figure, we all know test kits are inaccurate. I don't normally bother with them, only in situations like this when I'm grasping at straws.
Thanks for the ideas.

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Too much food makes them less active... not sure about the deaths though... but 22º seems a bit low for those guys... I believe optimal temp is between 25º to 27º.

Low Oxygen doesn't seem to be the issue, but how is your surface agitation?
 
My shrimp tanks are usually really low nitrate. I think your gH might be a bit high, I had deaths at 10 but none at around 4-7 from my own experience. My kH is rarely above 4 too... Weekly water changes aren't necessarily a bad thing but as Aqua said, if what goes in is vastly different each time it could cause issues.


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Generally speaking and I can only go from what I've learned is the following guide..

Water change: Once every 4-6 weeks at 10-20%. New water promotes moults and adults can't cope with this as easily as juveniles, as per Aqua360 :)

Temps: Shrimp can survive in low temps but for breeding purposes 21-24 is a good target, higher temps make the shrimp grow faster but die sooner. During winter consider adding a heater to the tank, drops when the house heating isn't on isn't good for shrimp especially the babys.

Parameters: 0 Amm, 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate - take steps immediately if you see these fluctuate. I now actually remove the water from the tank treat it and then put it back in. if I can do it quickly enough :)
shrimp really can't handle fluctuations and the main thing to remember is stability, it is key to keeping a healthy tank of shrimp.. Try to match the water you're adding to make it as close to the water you're replacing. buy cheap TDS meter from ebay.
Keep food to a minimum, overfeeding is not just bad for the shrimp but spoils the water and you encourage nasties like planaria to appear. Simple leaf ( fresh spinach or cured mulberry. If you haven't done so add a cappata leaf) and powder food is good enough. Google Bacter AE or Bio Tase, both are excellent, and if you do get baby shrimp the powder food does go a good way to feeding them, but consider getting a dedicated baby shrimp food as they starve very quickly.

now If I could follow the above my tanks wouold be in good shape - but as in life it's easier to say than do :D

Good luck,
 
That's brilliant thanks everyone for the great advice. I thought I'd done plenty of reading and was well versed in the art of shrimp keeping, but it turns out that every day is a school day.
@Ryan the tank is 200L, so i rule out adding minerals to RO water. I got the shrimp from Sharnbrook shrimp, they have a good reputation so hopefully they didn't sell me any OAP's.
Thanks again for your replies. Once I've got things running on an even keel, I'll post back.
Everyone loves a picture, so here's one so that visualise what we're talking about. You can just see the basket hanging on the back that houses the orphaned eggs
6cc24eda25f30e0826ff3929d606fc2c.jpg


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Good luck Vanish, if you have the chance to position the eggs in a flow or part of the tank the circulation is better that might add a bit of % to survival rate chance, but i really hope it goes well for you.
 
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