# shrimps dying fast



## Daneland (13 Feb 2016)

Hello guys

I am afraid I have a major problem.My shrimps are dying.Today I pulled 4 of them from the tank,this week probably more than 10.

All water parameters are fine 0 ammonia,0 nitrite,5 nitrate.212 TDS,6.4 pH.Besides there are rili shrimps they are not sensitive shrimps to water parameters.

They become very inactive ,sluggish and disappear until I look for them and pulled from the tank.

I notice that a few of them had become kinda frosty looking before they died ; not all of them though.

There has been some problems with breeding but recently I saw one (and only) berried shrimp form rilis.But there were no dead shrimps on the floor.

I guess it has been going on for now but has become much faster.

I have not added any plant for  a very long time ,we dont use any pesticides ,hair spray etc at home.

It has been a year or more since first set up the tank and shrimp are my breds ,they were born in to the tank ( added tigers 3-4 months ago may be more)

Tap rainwater mix.Rainwater comes from gutter ,I will stop using them.

gh is 5 (too low !?!?)

I thought about pH and checked the internet it says it should be all right ?! Too confused

I think it could be a slow poisoning or infection.

The interesting detail there are some tiger shrimps I have not noticed a dead tiger and their numbers are stable (I guess )

I will use tetracycline for infection and if it doesnot help I guess I will remove everything from the tank will change substrate ( pond soil and cat litter)

Any ideas


----------



## Jose (13 Feb 2016)

Probably something in the water source. For the future I would add floating plants to your tank.


----------



## Daneland (13 Feb 2016)

There are already


----------



## rebel (15 Feb 2016)

Add an air stone incase it's O2. How's the surface agitation? any pics?


----------



## aaron.c (15 Feb 2016)

I had a similar issue in the past.  Never managed to pinpoint the reason.  Assumed poisoning and change lots of water - you have to make efforts to match TDS and temp, especially when they are already struggling.

Have you done anything in the house recently that might be an issue?
- Used houshold cleaners in the same room as the tank.
- Done any DIY?
- Plugged in a new air freshener?
- Used flea treatment on a pet and then touched the tank?

Sorry to hear of your problems.  Hope you can turn it around quickly


----------



## rebel (15 Feb 2016)

is there another tank you can transfer them? just to test out whether there is a toxin around.


----------



## alto (15 Feb 2016)

In case of a suspected toxin, run activated carbon on the tank - look for a top quality marine version - any carbon (& media) should be rinsed before placing in tank.
It's more effective to use smaller amounts that are changed out weekly than a single larger amount of carbon - the shop should be able to recommend a suitable amount for your tank based upon the particular product (some manufacturers include this information on the label)

You can also add Purigen but I'd still use activated carbon as well, there is a lot of crossover with these 2 products, but there are still compounds that carbon is more efficient at removing  



Kadir Mumyakmaz said:


> gh is 5 (too low !?!?)


I don't think so


----------



## Adam cadwallader (15 Feb 2016)

Hiya fella i had a simalar problem a bout a year ago. I had recently added plants the same from my local pets ahead what i found was the fertiliser they used for theyre plant contains high levels of copper which is lethal to shrimp .also there is a small amount in your household plumming remember to only use the cold tap which limits the amount of copper passed through your water during water changes. Medications are also a big nono with shrimp hope this helps if not im sorry for wasting your time


----------



## Daneland (15 Feb 2016)

Thanks for all your replies guys.
No DIY or any spray or room scent but it is possible to get some contaminant from the roof or gutter?
I havent added any new plants for ages
Sponge filters bubbles makes quite a lot surface agitation  
I think pH was too low and some kind of slow poisoning?!
I will update soon.I might clean the tank ,all water and substrate ( I am worried about aqua compost under the cat litter) and add akadam and fresh remineralized RO water with old filters. I know this will be a drastic change but....


----------



## zozo (20 Feb 2016)

Me also had a a lot of shrimps dying out of nothing, amanos and cherries suddenly dying off.. Most remarkable is all amanos but one which is still around today and showing no signs of trouble the rest is over 2 months dead. All others turned ember color and indeed slugish and lazy, and right before the end strange eratic behaivor laying on the back for dead and suddenly moving again and finaly died anyway.  Al discriptions pointed to poissoning. Never found out what it could be and why one particular amano still is around, survived everything and happiliy living on. So it can only mean that some are more sensitive than others the only question remains.. What is it?


----------



## sciencefiction (21 Feb 2016)

I've never had problems with cherries/rilis. They are tough little shrimp. I've put them in non-established tanks, containers on the windowsill, no heater, no filter, and they still survived. In my experience, they are as tough as s'nails' and breed like rabbits.
If you are sure the tiger shrimps are unaffected, you can rule out poisonous chemicals.... Perhaps the water is too soft for the rilis. Perhaps there are fluctuations when you do water changes as you mentioned you are using RO. Mine are all kept in solid hard tap water the parameters of which have never changed. I do large water changes. I don't baby the shrimp at all
If you are using RO mix, match the TDS each time, don't try matching individual stats like Gh and Ph because that doesn't work well.
I don't know about shrimp infection, it doesn't sound plausible to me...If it's one, it's bacterial and that tank must have had major issues or you brought the infection with something else, but you said you haven't added anything.... There are very few meds that don't kill shrimp. I don't think tetracycline is one of them. I wouldn't touch meds for now at all until you rule out your water stats, i.e. the stats of the water you are adding. You might be causing wild fluctuations they can't handle.

Also, do you inject CO2? They are very sensitive to it.


----------



## Daneland (21 Feb 2016)

sciencefiction said:


> I've never had problems with cherries/rilis. They are tough little shrimp. I've put them in non-established tanks, containers on the windowsill, no heater, no filter, and they still survived. In my experience, they are as tough as s'nails' and breed like rabbits.
> If you are sure the tiger shrimps are unaffected, you can rule out poisonous chemicals.... Perhaps the water is too soft for the rilis. Perhaps there are fluctuations when you do water changes as you mentioned you are using RO. Mine are all kept in solid hard tap water the parameters of which have never changed. I do large water changes. I don't baby the shrimp at all
> If you are using RO mix, match the TDS each time, don't try matching individual stats like Gh and Ph because that doesn't work well.
> I don't know about shrimp infection, it doesn't sound plausible to me...If it's one, it's bacterial and that tank must have had major issues or you brought the infection with something else, but you said you haven't added anything.... There are very few meds that don't kill shrimp. I don't think tetracycline is one of them. I wouldn't touch meds for now at all until you rule out your water stats, i.e. the stats of the water you are adding. You might be causing wild fluctuations they can't handle.
> ...



No CO2

I am afraid I cant know anymore what has caused it as I have changed so many parameters since they started to die and still having dead shrimps. I have given up,
Funny enough the other day I saw a berried shrimp and yesterday males were swimming erratically and there were 5-6 skeletons on the ground.Also picked up 5 deads   I have lost a couple of tigers (at least possibly more) too. I don't know.As I have said I have given up ,I left the tank as it is ,just will change water 20% every other week and feed them.I they survive they will otherwise I will start again with the siblings of them where live in my large tank.I dont think that it is an infection,it is either a kind of slow poisoning or too low pH or both together?!


----------



## peter.k (22 Feb 2016)

i lost a lot of shrimp in the beginning when i was overfeeding. Can i ask how often do you feed them?


----------



## Daneland (22 Feb 2016)

peter.k said:


> i lost a lot of shrimp in the beginning when i was overfeeding. Can i ask how often do you feed them?



Too often I guess.Nearly everyday. I am so confused about feeding. I mean I used to put a small piece of shrimp food ( a pellet size of 2mm in diameter and 4-5 mm in length) for about 20 shrimps ,they used to consume in an hour or so.

I try to give less food now. I given similar food every other day.


----------



## peter.k (23 Feb 2016)

The most important thing to remember when feeding shrimp is it is ALWAYS better to under-feed then over-feed
I feed 
Monday - quarter pallet (Dennerle ShrimpKing) for every 20x shrimps
Wednesday - quater of snowflake shrimp protein food 
Friday - Spinach orcucumber
And I use shrimp feeding dish so all uneaten food is removed after 24h


----------

