This morning I found my Asian Filter Shrimp dead :(

[wood]

I bought my first Asian Filter Shrimp from the LFS a week ago today. I picked a 2" female. I brought her home and put her in my 10 gallon. She molted about 2 hours after being introduced into the 10 gallon. For a couple of days she hid but would come out with her "fans" and filter the water flow, she seemed to be feeding well. Her colors were awesome, I was very happy. I changed the filter on the 10 gallon this past sunday which cleared the water up a lot. The shrimp then moved into the driftwood I have, into a hole. Last night I saw her outside of the hole. Her colors were gone and she was a pale brown, almost transparent. I was immediately worried. This morning I found her dead on the gravel floor, half eaten my the ghost shrimp as well as other fish. I was, and still am, upset about it.

Here are my tank specs:

10 gallon

50% water change every week
PH 7.1
Temp 78 degrees
Well planted. (I fertilize the tank via the EI method for a 10 gallon: KNO3, KH2PO4, Plantex CSM+B) I also add 5ml Excel every other day.)

I have about 6 ghost shrimp, 1 Honey Gourami, and 4 Rummynose Tetras.

None of the fish bothered the Asian Filter Shrimp, nor do they bother the ghost shrimp.

I feed the entire tank 1 shrimp pellet daily. All of the other inhabitants which have been in the tank for a while are very healthy. The Rummynose are very healthy, with bright red noses. The Honey Gourami is very peaceful and doesnt bother anybody, he is also half retarded I think.

I can't figure out why the shrimp would die, so I figured I would come here and ask. I really liked the shrimp and I don't like it when any of my creatures die. I take very good care and precaution when dealing with live animals/plants.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Ryan

[YuccaPatrol]

Sorry to hear about this. My biggest concern would be the fertilizers you use. It can be very easy to poison shrimp with nitrates and other compounds found in fertilizers even when fish are just fine.

Also, I never beat myself up when a newly acquired animal dies soon after coming home. The stress of being captured, transported between numerous wholesalers and retailers, and then brought home to your tank can be enough to kill most any organism no matter what you do once you get it safely home.

I would test my water for nitrates and see what level you have with all those ferts. In my shrimp/crayfish tanks, I am concerned with any nitrate level over 5ppm, but I am especially cautious.

[Neonshrimp]

Hi wood, I too am sorry to hear about you losing your Asian Filter Shrimp. I lost mine 5 months ago .

Agreeing with what Yucca said I will also ask if there was a previous molt involved? My shrimp died a few days after a traumatic molt or attack after the molt as it had a piece of its body missing.

I think I have to bring the subject of other tank mates harassing and stressing your shrimp to its weakened state. We are not always there to see what goes on between the tank inhabitants

It is difficult to get over the bad experience of a loss but we learn to keep it from happening again and improve on their quality of life

[marusempai]

Poor shrimp, it's always so sad when critters die.

I find it significant that this happened right after the filter change... of course, it would depend on what you changed from to what you changed to, but even just changing the cartrige in a power filter can cause a little mini cycle in my experience, which might have been the last straw for a critter that was just getting over the stress of coming to your tank as is. Also, a change of filter would probably mean a decrease in food for a filter feeder (as I've read anyway) as their best food source is microorganisms coming out of the filter. Like everybody else said, it could have been the ferts too, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents.

[argblarg]

You are dosing 5x the normal Excel dosage.

The bottle says 5 ml for 50 gallons every other day. There are lots of postings about fish die-offs at 3x-4x so I can see this being the cause. Once I stopped using Excel at all in my tank, my cherries are much more active. When I first started using it, I lost half of my ghost shrimp within 3 days.

[wood]

Yea no more excel every other day. Just 5ml once a week after I change 50% of the water.

I bought another Asian Filter Shrimp from petsmart last night. It is a female about 3/4 inch long. It is missing an eye and didnt look happy at the store. The manager gave me 50% off. I like to take sick and miserable looking creatures from the pet stores and try to bring them back to par. It is a challenge. Hopefully this one will live, I will keep everyone posted.

-Ryan

[Neonshrimp]

Hi Ryan, That is very noble of you to care for the sick and unhappy creatures It will be a tough job ahead of you but I hope the best for you and the little gal

[argblarg]

Not to keep bringing up the Excel, but their website says it is only bio-available for 24 hours. Dumping a huge dose once a week would be more harmful than doing 1 ml per day just from the general chemical shock of it I would think.

[badflash]

Lose the ferts, or lose the inverts. It may take time, but it will happen.

[carbon etc]

It's from petsmart.

Mystery solved.

[badflash]

It's from petsmart.

Mystery solved.

I've had a petsmart bamboo for over a year. Just don't get theone that is "playing dead" or the guy scoops up off the floor.

[wood]

Well the one-eyed shrimp from Petsmart is doing great! Still alive and looking very healthy. Constantly feeding from the water, and has grown a little bit.

Anyone wanna recommend a name for the one-eyed Asian Filter Shrimp from petsmart?

-Ryan

[Pea-brain]

If it survives for mnore than a week how bout patch, the one eyed wonder shrimp that survived petsmart

[badflash]

Anyone wanna recommend a name for the one-eyed Asian Filter Shrimp from petsmart?

-Ryan

How about Long Fan Silver? Haaar matey! AAAAAAARG!

[Neonshrimp]

I vote for a simple, yet cute name: BLINKY