HELP! RCS dying slowly 1 at a time!?

[RCSmomma]

Hey everyone. I need some serious help!

I have a 40 gallon tank with, now less than 10 RCS. The tank is very established and has been up for over 2 years, is heavily planted, and is home to only RCS.

So here is what is going on. We originally started out with 5 RCS in our 40 gallon that were from a smaller 10 gallon tank, also well established has been up for over 4 years heavily planted and also is home to only RCS. We recently moved more of the RCS from the 10 gallon to our 40 gallon tank, about 30 RCS in total. This was about a few weeks ago.

We have recently notice over the last few weeks, ever since we added the other shrimp which were perfectly healthy at the time, that all of our shrimps are slowly dying off, typically 1 or 2 about every week. We have tested the water regularly and all water parameters are normal and in good shape. In my research to find the reason behind this epidemic I have found two possibilities. The first is they are dying of old age. The second being they are dying from a possible infection of some kind.

Since we do water changes every week I would not think that it would be an infection, unless I am wrong, and my boyfriend swears up and down that they are not dying of old age.

The last time we added any new shrimp to the tank was about at least 2 years ago. Thus my conclusion being old age.

The shrimp seem to die off where ever they are last sitting. Sometimes on leaves of plants or on some of the wood, just scattered about in the tank at random.

If it is an infection is there any way to be certain and how would you treat it? They show no signs of being sick or having infection, however they have completely stopped reproducing and have become inactive. Or could someone perhaps confirm if they are just dying of old age?

In all the years I have had my shrimp, we have never had anything like this happen and it has left me clueless. Please HELP!!

Also, at one point in time we had tried to add neon tetras to the tank, but shortly after decided to move them out of the 40 gallon and into the 10 gallon where they are healthy and flourishing. We do not use any chemicals in our tank and have a small bubble filter along with a canister filter which is properly covered to prevent the shrimp from being sucked up.

Anyone have any ideas? Thank you very much for your time!

[Mustafa]

You said that you are not using any chemicals....are you at least using dechlorinator for your water changes?

[demonte1997]

Had a similar problem with my shrimp. The issue with me stemmed from poor water quality from the tap. The PH was about 6.3 and the shrimp would live but slowly die off one at a time. Your situation seems different though.. as you stated you had these in another tank (with presumably the same water). I would check PH, KH and ammonia levels to see where you stand. Is it possible the new tank didn't cycle yet? Just throwing ideas out there.

Hope you are able to solve!

[RCSmomma]

I use RO water so no chlorine or anything like that. Been using the same system for a few years now and have had no problems. Water conditions are checked regularly and there is nothing out of the ordinary. I don't use tap water and the water quality is quite good.

The 40 gallon tank has been set up for a few years so it is cycled and have not done anything to cause it to re-cycle.

I now only have 5 shrimp left. 3 Males and 2 Female.

Looks like the females won't even berry. I haven't seen any in a long time.

I know we cycle our RO system from time to time to clean out all the filters inside it, but that only requires us to run the water in reverse order, no chemicals or additives are use for that process. Is it possible that something could be off balance in the RO system? But still does not make sense since we have check the water and all the levels are fine.

It seems that all the shrimp have died off in our 10 gallon tank too. I don't know what is going on. We have not changed anything...other than the water .....

In closer observation, the tank may have some Blue/Green Algae. Can this be affecting them since Blue/Green Algae from my understanding is actually a bacteria?

Thanks for all your help! I hope I can get this resolved before I loose all of my shrimp.

[RCSmomma]

Can the current of the water upset them?

The only thing that I can think of that has changed is the 40 gallon has a canister filter with a sock over the intake but the current is still pretty strong. I was a little concerned about it when we first trasferred them over but my bf said it would be fine, ...but is it?

The tank they were in before had a very slow current, from the bubble filter. But now they have a very strong current.

Thank you!

[demonte1997]

As long as the current isn't overwhelming it shouldn't cause any issues. I have a Mini jet 606 that pumps through tubing and leads out to a spray bar on the opposite side of the tank. It causes a pretty decent amount of spray. I have it that way for bamboo and Atya tankmates that like to filter feed underneath the jets. There are about 70+RCS in the tank and they don't seem to mind the current.

You sure there isn't anything else you overlooked? Just seems odd.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[Newjohn]

Looks like the females won't even berry. I haven't seen any in a long time.

This is the first signs that something is wrong in your tanks.
If you have a large enough population, you should always have Berried Females.

[TKD]

Do you use crushed coral in your tank to help buffer the water? Or Oyster shells?

[socalgranny]

Dear RCSmomma,

I see your post is quite old so I hope you have solved your problem. I thought I would reply anyway for the benefit of anyone else with a similar problem.

In my experience, RO water is not very good for shrimp. It has been demineralized and shrimp need minerals in the water for good health. Also, RO water makes it very difficult to maintain the proper pH in a tank since there is no carbonate buffer present to prevent large pH swings. In a heavily planted tank, the pH varies over the course of a day, since photosynthesizing plants tend to make the tank acidic. In water with KH in the proper range, pH swings are mitigated and this is vital to shrimp. It is better to treat your tap water with Sea-Chem Prime or some other dechlorinator than to use deionized RO water or distilled water. Distilled water is often high in copper which is deadly to shrimp. But you MUST dechlorinate tap water with a dechlorinator that is effective against chloramines. It is best to dechlorinate a supply of water and let it sit for several days with the lid off the container to allow the chemical reaction to complete and to allow any ammonia gas which forms to escape. If you live in an area with hard tap water, you are all set. If your water is naturally soft, you will need to add some ground coral to the tank to improve the water hardness slowly and naturally.

The natural life span of a cherry red shrimp is about 2 years. You mentioned that you started with only 5 RCS but eventually had many more. So even if your oldest shrimp died of old age, many of the others were younger. If all the shrimp in a tank are dying off, the problem is the tank I think. Could you put the remaining shrimp back in the other tank where they were flourishing while you deal with the water in the other tank?

In any case, I hope you will write a post to let us know how things are going now.

Best regards,
Gail