# My Cherry Shrimp Need Your Help..



## Matnez (11 Jan 2013)

Hi, I am hoping that some of you more experienced shrimp keepers might be able to shed some light on my problem.

Basically I have a 19L shrimp tank which has been up and running for 4 months now. All of my cherry shrimp have been happy for the last couple of months but recently they have all except one become very inactive, they spend most of their time hiding in the moss.

The last couple that I have noticed moulting have had difficulties in that they can not seem to free their heads and tentacles from the old shell and this has happened within the past week.

I also have a couple of Amano Shrimp in the tank which have always been the most active shrimp but even they have seem to of slow down.

I keep the tank at a steady 25c.
I feed them about every three days or so with JBL NanoPrawn food.
I do a weekly water change of around 25%.
I use a very simple CO2 set up 'Tropica Plant Growth System 60'
I dose with Dennerle plant elixir with every water change as per the instructions.

Ammonia is 0.0 mg/l
Nitrite is 0.0 mg/l
Nitrate is 0 mg/l
PH is around 7.5

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I obviously for the shrimps sake want to rectify the issue as soon as possible.

Many thanks,

Matt


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## Matt Warner (11 Jan 2013)

Hi, it could be that your water doesn't contain much calcium so the shrip can't molt properly. This is unlikely with a ph of 7.5, as a higher ph usually means the water is quite hard. Have the shrimp ever had trouble molting before. Have you added anything else to the water which might of caused this?


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## Matnez (11 Jan 2013)

Non of them have had any issues before moulting, these two are the first although I did have one die a few weeks back but I'm unsure of what caused its death.

The only other thing that I have started adding is Waterlife PH Buffer to try and lower the PH as straight out of the tap it is close to 8.5


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## Matt Warner (11 Jan 2013)

I wouldn't bother using the ph buffer. Cherry shrimp are a very hardy species and won't mind a high ph. The ph buffer is more than likely what the problem is.


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## MARKCOUSINS (11 Jan 2013)

Agree with Matty Ph could be lower slowly using a natural suplement check out FreshWaterShrimp website one of our sponsers.cheers mark


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## Matnez (11 Jan 2013)

Ok thanks for that, I will stop using it and see if there is any change in their behaviour and moulting.

The liquid fertiliser which I am using has very small amounts of of copper in it but we are talking only about 0.0005% is this likely to cause any issues?


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## MARKCOUSINS (11 Jan 2013)

No at that level wont cause any harm.cheers mark


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## Matnez (11 Jan 2013)

Thanks for your advice guys.


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## Matnez (11 Jan 2013)

Literally this second witness another shrimp moulting and exactly the same issue, it's head and tentacles are stuck in the old shell. That is now 3 with the same problem, things are not looking good...


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## nduli (11 Jan 2013)

MARKCOUSINS said:


> No at that level wont cause any harm.cheers mark



Agreed copper not the issue. Ph can come down a little. Catappa leaves or alder cones off eBay. Add O2 if you can via air stone. Possibly look at adding some cuttlebone ( calcium) or gh booster (salty shrimp) Check tds if you can.
Sure you'll solve it.


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## Matnez (12 Jan 2013)

nduli said:


> Agreed copper not the issue. Ph can come down a little. Catappa leaves or alder cones off eBay. Add O2 if you can via air stone. Possibly look at adding some cuttlebone ( calcium) or gh booster (salty shrimp) Check tds if you can.
> Sure you'll solve it.


Thanks nduli. I have done a bit of research on the water hardness in my area and I do live in a soft water area. Reading a little more about the Watelife PH buffer I have found out that it reduces calcium in the water so it looks like it has be removing what ever little calcium there is in there.

I'm heading to the beach tomorrow so I will collect some cuttlebone then as there is always tons of it scattered around the beach..

Thanks again


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## Matnez (12 Jan 2013)

Has anyone tried putting egg shells in the water to boost the calcium?


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## nduli (13 Jan 2013)

Remember to boil the cuttlebone  just removes any nasties.


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## Matnez (14 Jan 2013)

Cuttlebone is boiled up and in the tank, fingers crossed. Thanks for al your help.


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