Shrimp swimming around

[Goldie Prawn]

Hi, I’m wondering if anyone can please help. I have one male shrimp swimming around the tank - not at the top but all around the lower level. I have heard males do this when a female moults but I can’t see a moulted female and they are all quite young. There are only 8 shrimp in the tank.

I have checked the parameters which are:

PH 6.6 (dropped slightly from 7.2, trying to stabilise with crushed coral and easy balance)
KH 4-5
GH 8
Ammonia 0

I also lost a shrimp yesterday but I think it’s because she was tiny and had a failed moult. All of the other shrimp are behaving completely normally. Any advice appreciated.

 

[Wookii]

Welcome to the forum!

What type of shrimp are they (presumably Neocaridina given the water parameters)? what size tank are they in, how old is it, and what water are you using - tap or RO?

The 6.6 pH level looks unusually low give the alkalinity level, do you have a buffering substrate?

You are right, circling males usually means a moulting female ready to breed, but it can also be a sign of distress (though I'd expect them all to be circling if that were the case). The females typically hide after moulting until the newly exposed carapace hardens up, as they are more vulnerable to predation in a natural environment.

Did the shrimp that died have the typical white band around its middle suggesting a failed moult? if that is the case, you could try feeding some calcium rich foods - dried Mulberry or Nettle leaves are a good option, or a dedicated mineral shrimp food.

 

[Goldie Prawn]

Thank you for taking the time to reply to me! I should have been more specific- yes they are blue velvet neocaridina. The tank is 3 months old and 20l. It has a good amount of biofilm and I added the tiniest bit of bacter ae yesterday which I’m now wondering if that could have been the issue with the shrimp that died. I am not 100% sure it was a failed moult, it didn’t have a white ring but was lying on its side and twitching which I’ve read could be a moult issue - again I’m not sure.

The ph has been steadily at 6.8/7.2 so I’m not sure why it has dropped a bit - could be the small water change I did but our tap ph is 7… (I’m using tap water as that’s what our LFS used and our parameters were pretty similar). I am testing throughout the day and the PH has raised ever so slightly as the day has gone on and all the other shrimp seem happy. I’ve added crushed coral (today, I was holding off as it had been stable and I didn’t want it to rise) and an aquatic rock and shell to help balance the ph but I did add a small bit of an Indian almond leaf - could that lower the PH?

I agree, I also would have thought that all of them would be whizzing around if there was an issue and it does appear that Michael (that’s his name) is searching for something but none of the shrimp have moulted as far as I can tell and the ones that are hiding away are very small and I thought they would be too young to breed? I think because one died yesterday I’m over worrying and Michael isn’t helping matters by being a bit crazy! He’s still searching about now!

 

[Goldie Prawn]

Also thank you for the advice re mulberry and nettle! I knew our garden weeds would come in handy one day…

 

[Wookii]

Do you have a pic of the tank?

20 litres is fairly small - not that its small for the shrimp per se, it just becomes more difficult to regulate water parameters, including temperature and O2 levels. Your tap water water should be fine for Neo's, and the crushed coral won't hurt.

The dead shrimp may just be a coincidence, shrimp do occasionally die within a population for no appreciable reason. When you have several hundred of them, you'd never notice (not least because the rest of the shrimp will cannibalize the corpse in just a couple of hours), but with just 8 you'll see it of course.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Welcome to UKAPS,

The tank is 3 months old and 20l. It has a good amount of biofilm

Could we have a picture? It is often easier to visualise what might be wrong (if anything) with an image.

PH 6.6 (dropped slightly from 7.2, trying to stabilise with crushed coral and easy balance)
KH 4-5
GH 8

The 6.6 pH level looks unusually low give the alkalinity level, do you have a buffering substrate?

Like @Wookii says something a bit strange there. Can you get a water report from your water company? Or work out where you are on the map (I'm assuming in the "soft area")?

I’ve added crushed coral (today, I was holding off as it had been stable and I didn’t want it to rise) and an aquatic rock and shell to help balance the ph but I did add a small bit of an Indian almond leaf - could that lower the PH?

I wouldn't get to hung up on pH measurement, most of the stuff you read (or are told) about pH etc will be wrong,

cheers Darrel

 

[Goldie Prawn]

Hi Darrel! Thanks for this. We are in Exeter so slightly hard. My ph is utterly baffling me today too - it’s staying around 6.5 (see photo below). Prior to my tiny (20% max) water change the ph in the tank was about 7.6. I did the small change after the shrimp had died as the ph was normally around 6.8 -7 and I was worried that could have been the issue. But it’s dropped and isn’t coming back up.

Picture of the tank below. Thank you for taking a look, much appreciated.

 

[Goldie Prawn]

 

[Goldie Prawn]

Do you have a pic of the tank?

Hi Wookii - please see photos. I knew it would be harder to maintain stable parameters in a smaller tank, I just didn’t know it would be this difficult! I’m monitoring it regularly as I just want to do what’s best for the shrimp to thrive. I wish I’d got a bigger tank now though!

Do you have a pic of the tank?

20 litres is fairly small - not that its small for the shrimp per se, it just becomes more difficult to regulate water parameters, including temperature and O2 levels. Your tap water water should be fine for Neo's, and the crushed coral won't hurt.

The dead shrimp may just be a coincidence, shrimp do occasionally die within a population for no appreciable reason. When you have several hundred of them, you'd never notice (not least because the rest of the shrimp will cannibalize the corpse in just a couple of hours), but with just 8 you'll see it of course.

 

[Goldie Prawn]

Also another thing is that my KH was about 1 last week and it’s slowly increased and stayed stable at around 4-5 which was helping the PH stay pretty much the same for almost a week. Not sure what has caused the drop as, as I said, my tap water ph is 7 :/

 

[dw1305]

Hi all

Hi Wookii - please see photos. I knew it would be harder to maintain stable parameters in a smaller tank,

Tank looks OK.

The shell will go into solution if the pH drops and buffer the water. It is an easy solution to keeping your water hard and alkaline.

Cheers Darrel

 

[Goldie Prawn]

Thanks @dw1305 - glad to hear it all looks ok. My whizzy shrimp has calmed down now even though parameters are the same as earlier. In your opinion do you think it’s because a female has moulted or do some shrimp just have a few hours of whizzing about?! Do males mate and then chill out or do they keep smelling the scent? I thought they were all too young to be mating and I still haven’t spotted any moults even though I assumed I would be able to spot them in a small tank…

 

[Wookii]

Glad to here Michael has calmed down! I have a mate called Michael - he's a bit highly strung too! 😂

Yeah, your tank looks great for the shrimp, you have a heater in there too so you can regulate temperature (what do you have it set to?), it looks like your filter and its venturi is adding plenty of water movement and DO.

You might want to turn your light down (quite a lot) if it has that function - the high brightness is likely contributing to all the algae you are seeing. If you can't change the light intensity, consider getting some floating plants - I'd suggest either Water Lettuce or Frogbit - they'll help shade the tank a little, and also boost water quality by adding fast growing plant mass.

Also are you dosing a complete plant fertilizer? You're only going to need tiny amounts in a 20 litre tank, but you will need some to help the plants grow and get the upper hand over the algae.

You could probably do with giving it a bit of maintenance - give the filter and heater a clean and get the algae off them, and vacuum up all the dead plant leaves and detritus - in a small tank maintenance is more critical to ensure the best possible water quality, vacuuming is often something you can get away without doing in a large tank with a large shrimp population, but in a very small tank the organics could build up fairly quickly.

Also, is that an anubias on the left side? If so, you want to pull that out of the sand - either just a little to expose the rhizome if the roots have started growing and keep it anchored, or completely and attach it too a little rock or similar if not. Their rhizome should be exposed otherwise it may rot. Don't be afraid to trim the Elodea at the back, and replant the tops and you'll get more growth.

Finally you might want to get some snails - common-a-garden Ramshorns or/or Bladder Snails would be fine (and self sustaining - they will willingly breed in freshwater) unless you want something more exotic. They will help maintain the tank for you and give you a another point of visual interest.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

or do some shrimp just have a few hours of whizzing about?

Males tend to be a lot more active.

You might want to turn your light down (quite a lot) if it has that function - the high brightness is likely contributing to all the algae you are seeing. If you can't change the light intensity, consider getting some floating plants - I'd suggest either Water Lettuce or Frogbit - they'll help shade the tank a little, and also boost water quality by adding fast growing plant mass.

Good advice, I'm a <"floating plant fanatic"> and have them in all my tanks- <"What is the “Duckweed Index” all about?">.

Finally you might want to get some snails - common-a-garden Ramshorns or/or Bladder Snails would be fine (and self sustaining - they will willingly breed in freshwater) unless you want something more exotic.

I'm also a tank janitor fan <"ADA Pro Razor money saving tip">

Also are you dosing a complete plant fertilizer? You're only going to need tiny amounts in a 20 litre tank, but you will need some to help the plants grow and get the upper hand over the algae.

<"This is quite important">, so <"TNC complete">, <"or similar">?

Also, is that an anubias on the left side? If so, you want to pull that out of the sand - either just a little to expose the rhizome if the roots have started growing and keep it anchored, or completely and attach it too a little rock or similar if not. Their rhizome should be exposed otherwise it may rot.

Yes, definitely an Anubias barteri, so it needs its rhizome above the substrate.

cheers Darrel

 

[Goldie Prawn]

Glad to here Michael has calmed down! I have a mate called Michael - he's a bit highly strung too! 😂

Yeah, your tank looks great for the shrimp, you have a heater in there too so you can regulate temperature (what do you have it set to?), it looks like your filter and its venturi is adding plenty of water movement and DO.

You might want to turn your light down (quite a lot) if it has that function - the high brightness is likely contributing to all the algae you are seeing. If you can't change the light intensity, consider getting some floating plants - I'd suggest either Water Lettuce or Frogbit - they'll help shade the tank a little, and also boost water quality by adding fast growing plant mass.

Also are you dosing a complete plant fertilizer? You're only going to need tiny amounts in a 20 litre tank, but you will need some to help the plants grow and get the upper hand over the algae.

You could probably do with giving it a bit of maintenance - give the filter and heater a clean and get the algae off them, and vacuum up all the dead plant leaves and detritus - in a small tank maintenance is more critical to ensure the best possible water quality, vacuuming is often something you can get away without doing in a large tank with a large shrimp population, but in a very small tank the organics could build up fairly quickly.

Also, is that an anubias on the left side? If so, you want to pull that out of the sand - either just a little to expose the rhizome if the roots have started growing and keep it anchored, or completely and attach it too a little rock or similar if not. Their rhizome should be exposed otherwise it may rot. Don't be afraid to trim the Elodea at the back, and replant the tops and you'll get more growth.

Finally you might want to get some snails - common-a-garden Ramshorns or/or Bladder Snails would be fine (and self sustaining - they will willingly breed in freshwater) unless you want something more exotic. They will help maintain the tank for you and give you an another point of visual interest.

Thanks for all this information! I do not need to be told twice to clean something, I’m a clean freak 😂 I just wasn’t sure if I should leave it for the shrimp or if it would affect the good bacteria- but I’ve whipped it all out and cleaned it, no more green! 🙌🏼

Can you recommend what is best to clean sand substrate? I’ve just ordered a siphon but just scraped the top layer off when I cleaned it just now.

I can only dim the light to a very dark blue - which I’ve set it at for now seeing as I’ve just had my hands wazzing around my poor shrimpies tank so I thought darker light (is darker light a thing?!) would help minimise their stress. I’ll have a look at getting some duckweed, thank you for the recommendation.

My heater is preset - I have a temperature gauge on the side and it stays around 24.4c

I had a look into getting nerite snails but I am put off by the eggs which I’ve heard are really hard to remove and I don’t want a on prolific breeding snails so I’ll just have to manage the algae myself I think 🤔 I’d love to get some otos but the tank is too small for them I think.

Yes it is an anubia and funnily enough I only plonked the roots in the substrate yesterday as they were out of the sand - I didn’t realise they needed their roots out so that’s great advice, thank you. I have put them on a rock now. I do actually have lots of plants and this was much more heavily planted but it was looking messy. I’m not a big fan of that stuff on the back left, it makes quite a mess. I much prefer the anubias. I’ll have a look in to fertiliser. Thank you.

Haha love that your friend Michael is also highly strung 😂 it’s looking like Michael is the only male, he’ll be a busy boy so he should conserve his energy! I didn’t find any moults when I cleaned the tank so I am still not sure what he was on yesterday!

 

[Wookii]

Can you recommend what is best to clean sand substrate? I’ve just ordered a siphon but just scraped the top layer off when I cleaned it just now.

No need for that, just use a small hose as a siphon, and waft the end over the substrate - you're only looking to suck up loose bits of detritus and old leaves.

I can only dim the light to a very dark blue

Right floating plants it is then.

I’ll have a look at getting some duckweed

I wouldn't willingly get Duckweed (Lemna minor) if I were you its a bit of a nightmare - Water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) or Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum) is the way to go.

My heater is preset - I have a temperature gauge on the side and it stays around 24.4c

Do you mean its not adjustable? You could get a controller - that will give you protection in case the internal thermostat fails (it happens quite a lot) and allow you more control over the temperature - dropping to about 22 degrees would be ideal.

The Inkbird controllers are good, but I appreciate they are probably a bit spendy relative to the rest of your setup:

Inkbird ITC-308S

I don’t want a on prolific breeding snails so I’ll just have to manage the algae myself I think 🤔

Your call, but I find them essential in all my tanks - they chow through algae before you even get to see it - and their population will generally self regulate depending on the available food.

 

[Goldie Prawn]

Hmm perhaps I ought to do some more snail research. What are your thoughts on nerites vs ramshorns?

Sorry I don’t know why I put duckweed, I definitely don’t want that so I’ll have a look at the others, thank you.

Yes the heater can’t be adjusted. I’ll have a look in to ones I can programme, thank you. I wish I’d got a better tank with more features as the blaring light and one setting heater are a bit frustrating. Not sure my husband would appreciate me getting another tank just yet though 😂 although I may have been looking at some….. 🙄

 

[Goldie Prawn]

22 degrees would be ideal.

Sorry, me again - would it be worth turning the heater off to see what the temperature would be without it or would that shock the shrimp? I have read a lot of people don’t use heaters for shrimp. Our house is pretty warm so it would be interesting to see what it averages at but I don’t want to upset the shrimp.

 

[hypnogogia]

Sorry, me again - would it be worth turning the heater off to see what the temperature would be without it or would that shock the shrimp? I have read a lot of people don’t use heaters for shrimp. Our house is pretty warm so it would be interesting to see what it averages at but I don’t want to upset the shrimp.

Are you able to measure the ambient temperature in your room? That would be the temperature of your tank without heating.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

What are your thoughts on nerites vs ramshorns?

Nerites need harder water <"Nerite Snails in high tech">, they won't breed in your tank, they may <"not be being harvested sustainably"> from the wild, they mainly clean hardscape, you have to purchase them etc., but are prettier..............

Seminole (Red) Ramshorn (Planorbella duryi) don't have any of <"these disadvantages">. They are easy to <"net out"> if you end up with too many.

Our house is pretty warm

You don't need a heater.

cheers Darrel