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Cherry shrimp dying off gradually

Teleos said:
That depends only on the dGH. And this depends on the available water. A very high dGH and therefore also a high dKH is not necessary, but is usually not harmful for shrimps. You can always lower the dGH with RO water oder rainwater if you want to.

Calcium-To-Magnesium Ratio Calculator For Shrimp Keepers
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Point is, I'm looking for evidence based data on the relevance (if any) of the Ca:Mg ratio for anything at all - shrimp, plants, fish, whatever. People have a lot of opinions (and aren't shy about posting those), but I prefer actual data (should there be any). ShrimpyExplained has a great video with experimental evidence which dispels the myth that either GH "too high" (dGH = 30) or "too low" (dGH = 2) has relevance for neocaridina health/reproduction, but they seem to accept as fact (without evidence) that the Ca:Mg ratio matters.
 
Hello again everyone,

I'm in the middle of a 25% WC and I notice some critters on the glass (apologies for the shaky video it was hard to focus). I decided to include it on this thread in case it's related to the state of my aquarium that has been discussed. Are these anything to worry about? I will also give an updated TDS reading after the WC. Thanks again for all your help.

E2A: Update - TDS after 1st 25% WC (only Prime added) is 406, down from 430 (reading taken just before WC)
 
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Teleos said:
In aquarium practice, ratios of calcium to magnesium of around 2:1 to 4:1 have proven to be effective. Both for plants and shrimps. It simplifies the whole thing considerably.
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While I won't pretend to know any better about the ratio being good or not, I'll add that having proven the ratio to be effective doesn't immediately prove that not using this ratio is ineffective.

It's like the old proverb about the rooster that believes that he is responsible for making the sun rise every morning because he always sings and the sun always rises. You would need to have evidence that not using the ratio is bad in order to justify using it.
 
LMuhlen said:
You would need to have evidence that not using the ratio is bad in order to justify using it.
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Why?
I'm not in the mood for pointless arguments that go round in circles.
It's just an indisputable best practice in aquaristics. And you can find more than enough examples and descriptions of this. A simple search for Ca : Mg ratio will help. You can start at sciencedirect.com
 
Hi all,
Anomander said:
I decided to include it on this thread in case it's related to the state of my aquarium that has been discussed. Are these anything to worry about
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No, they are baby Cherry Shrimps. Cherry Shrimps larvae don't go through any planktonic stages, they hatch as very miniature versions of their parents. You need to avoid syphoning them out.

The very small crustaceans are Cyclops, a copepod and nothing to worry about. They move in that very characteristic stop, accelerate, stop swimming action.

cheer Darrel
 
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Teleos said:
Why?
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It's a logical fallacy. You won't know if it matters to keep a ratio unless you find evidence that not keeping it makes a difference. I agree that it is seen as best practices and that most people use it, but there lies the problem, if everyone does it and no one tries something different, you don't know if it is actually doing anything.

In the proverb, the rooster needs to not sing one morning to realize that he is not the one making the sun rise every morning.
 
Anomander said:
Hello again everyone,

I'm in the middle of a 25% WC and I notice some critters on the glass (apologies for the shaky video it was hard to focus). I decided to include it on this thread in case it's related to the state of my aquarium that has been discussed. Are these anything to worry about? I will also give an updated TDS reading after the WC. Thanks again for all your help.

E2A: Update - TDS after 1st 25% WC (only Prime added) is 406, down from 430 (reading taken just before WC)
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These are a sign of a healthy tank, ostracods/freshwater seed shrimp (and a few baby cherry shrimp mixed in too). Nothing to worry about.
 
Since the smoking gun appears to be the TDS/added ferts/WC %, is it worth me taking out the mesh bag of filter carbon I've got hanging in front of one of my powerhead outlets?
 
Teleos said:
It's just an indisputable best practice in aquaristics. And you can find more than enough examples and descriptions of this. A simple search for Ca : Mg ratio will help. You can start at sciencedirect.com
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And yet here we are disputing it (welcome to the internet) 😉. If you have specific citations from the literature you like could you please share those? Seriously, just looking for the actual data to try to understand the evidence base, not saying it's wrong.
 
hypnogogia said:
Doubt whether that will affect your tds, unless it’s spent and leaching back into the tank.
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It's only been in a few days. I was just thinking of taking it out if it's unnecessary, as the original reason I put it in was because I thought some kind of contaminant might be behind the shrimp deaths.
 
The carbon might not be pretty, but should be helping.

Activated carbon is very good at absorbing a wide range of chemicals.
Any more deaths since you increased the number of water changes..
 
Unfortunately I've just seen a dead shrimp being feasted on by its tankmates. However, I only started the new WC schedule yesterday so it isn't completely unexpected I suppose (and judging by the shrimp remains it could have perished before today and I'm only just seeing it).

E2A: Just did a TDS reading and it's 402 (it was 430 before I did first larger WC yesterday)
 
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I guess keep it up til its a reasonable level. Once you get the balance again it will hopefully calm down. I mean since the postings. I spotted one dead shrimp in my kids tank (lol)
 
mlgt said:
I guess keep it up til its a reasonable level. Once you get the balance again it will hopefully calm down. I mean since the postings. I spotted one dead shrimp in my kids tank (lol)
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My like was for your reassurance not your kid's dead shrimp!
 
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