I had about 20 amano shrimp and countless cherry shrimp, 10 spixi snails with a couple of julii cory's in a 10G. I changed my filter 2 days ago 'cause it seemed really clogged up. Last night the tank seemed empty than usual but I wasn't alarmed. However, tonight when I looked for the amano shrimp, 2 days after the filter change, I could only find 3 amano shrimp. I don't see any dead shrimp but I can't find enough lives ones either. The corys seem ok, the cherry are doing ok, as far as I can tell. I have so many, I can't tell if some of them have died. I do see some really teeny tiny baby cherry, so I think they are doing ok. What could be the problem? What can cause the amano to die/disappear mysteriously while other inhabitants (inverts and fish) are doing ok?
This tank has been established for several months. The newest addition was the amano shrimp which were added probably 1 to 1 1/2 months ago. At that time, I had some fry and small rainbow fish in the tank as well. But I've moved them out as of last week. The live plants are doing well in the tank but no more algae. So I feed them every day with sinking pallets. Like I said, everything was going great till the filter change.
Sudden death of amano shrimp
Moderator: Mustafa
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BiffMalawi
- Larva
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- Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:22 pm
Re: Sudden death of amano shrimp
Your bio load in this tank is quite high so unless you transferred some of the old filter media into your new filter. I would say that you are experiencing at least a mini cycle. Although substrate and decor harbour bacteria your filtration system is usually your biggest source of beneficial bacteria.
Test your water for ammonia and nitrites. If there are any, do 25% water changes daily until the water tests clean. If you have other healthy tanks running you can transfer some media over from them and this will help.
It may be only a matter of time before you lose other livestock.
Test your water for ammonia and nitrites. If there are any, do 25% water changes daily until the water tests clean. If you have other healthy tanks running you can transfer some media over from them and this will help.
It may be only a matter of time before you lose other livestock.
Re: Sudden death of amano shrimp
How does one usually account for bioload on shrimp and snail? The rule of thumb for fish is 1" per gallon so I know I'm ok there. But the # of snails and shrimp are hard to count. Besides, aren't they supposed to be really low since they are the cleaning crew? I forgot to mention I also have a ton of ramshorn snails that I can't even count.
I did a water change 3 days before the filter change. I'll test my water today and see about the ammonia and nitrate levels.
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Holy smokes! The ammonium level is through the roof. I just did a water change and will be keeping an eye on them. I've just changed the filter on all of my tanks so no spare to put into this one. Besides, all my tanks are different sizes, 10, 14 and 28. The filters from other tanks wouldn't fit anyway.
Q: How am I supposed to change the filter media properly without causing a mini cycle?
In the past, I would just squeeze out the sponge covering the filter intake to remove anything clogs. Then I would change the carbon in the filter, but not the filter bag itself, once a while. I would rinse off the filter bag if it's looking too grungy. But then I noticed that the water flow coming out of the filter outlet was really weak so I figured the filter bag's seen better days. I thought replacing it with a brand spanking new filter bag was a good thing 'cause the water flow was great. Little did I know that was to the detriment of my shrimp!
The corys are doing well. I collected a bunch of eggs a few days ago and today I found about 16 fry swimming in the breeder box, inside the same 10G. Needless to say, I should probably move them out to a different tank.
Q: Can someone tell me how many shrimp and snail I can safely have in a 10G?
I did a water change 3 days before the filter change. I'll test my water today and see about the ammonia and nitrate levels.
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Holy smokes! The ammonium level is through the roof. I just did a water change and will be keeping an eye on them. I've just changed the filter on all of my tanks so no spare to put into this one. Besides, all my tanks are different sizes, 10, 14 and 28. The filters from other tanks wouldn't fit anyway.
Q: How am I supposed to change the filter media properly without causing a mini cycle?
In the past, I would just squeeze out the sponge covering the filter intake to remove anything clogs. Then I would change the carbon in the filter, but not the filter bag itself, once a while. I would rinse off the filter bag if it's looking too grungy. But then I noticed that the water flow coming out of the filter outlet was really weak so I figured the filter bag's seen better days. I thought replacing it with a brand spanking new filter bag was a good thing 'cause the water flow was great. Little did I know that was to the detriment of my shrimp!
The corys are doing well. I collected a bunch of eggs a few days ago and today I found about 16 fry swimming in the breeder box, inside the same 10G. Needless to say, I should probably move them out to a different tank.
Q: Can someone tell me how many shrimp and snail I can safely have in a 10G?
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BiffMalawi
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- Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:22 pm
Re: Sudden death of amano shrimp
I am not sure if there is any kind of rule.
Shrimp you have don't seem to require the same space as fish. They don't seem to mind sharing with others and they don't "appear" to cause much waste. Good water maintenance will allow you to safely keep more in a tank.
The reason I thought your stocking seemed a little heavy was that Amanos are pretty large shrimp and the idea of 20 of them rooming around in a 10 seemed to much. When it comes to shrimp I usually just judge on whether the tank looks to full or not. I would have 5 amanos a couple of bigger snails and maybe 20 cherrys and the cory's in a 10.
I also didn't know how big the snails are. Snails produce alot of waste for thier size. If you have aton of ramshorns it sounds like you may be overfeeding. I tend to overfeed my shrimp tanks a bit as in my experience it seems to promote an increase in reproduction. I am religious with my maintanence though. Snail populations self regulate based on food sources if you have tons of snails it means that you have tons of food.
As far as filkter maintanence is conserned I think you were doing great. I rinse my filter material in tank water 1 per month. I replace it only when it has degraded to the point of coming apart. I only use carbon to remove medications after treating a tank. I always have at least 2 pieces of media in every filter. This way if one needs replacing then there is always one old one left.
What kind of filters are you using?
Shrimp you have don't seem to require the same space as fish. They don't seem to mind sharing with others and they don't "appear" to cause much waste. Good water maintenance will allow you to safely keep more in a tank.
The reason I thought your stocking seemed a little heavy was that Amanos are pretty large shrimp and the idea of 20 of them rooming around in a 10 seemed to much. When it comes to shrimp I usually just judge on whether the tank looks to full or not. I would have 5 amanos a couple of bigger snails and maybe 20 cherrys and the cory's in a 10.
I also didn't know how big the snails are. Snails produce alot of waste for thier size. If you have aton of ramshorns it sounds like you may be overfeeding. I tend to overfeed my shrimp tanks a bit as in my experience it seems to promote an increase in reproduction. I am religious with my maintanence though. Snail populations self regulate based on food sources if you have tons of snails it means that you have tons of food.
As far as filkter maintanence is conserned I think you were doing great. I rinse my filter material in tank water 1 per month. I replace it only when it has degraded to the point of coming apart. I only use carbon to remove medications after treating a tank. I always have at least 2 pieces of media in every filter. This way if one needs replacing then there is always one old one left.
What kind of filters are you using?
Re: Sudden death of amano shrimp
I bought about 15 asolene spixi's and they are probably marble size or smaller. The ramshorn don't get any bigger than pea size either but there are a lot of them. As I mentioned before, I feed the tank 'cause of the fact that all my algae are gone. The livestock, specially snails, are going after my plants. I try to pick out the ramshorn once a week to toss them into my big tank with 2 yoyo loaches as food. However, I don't think the yoyo's are eating the snails too eagerly.
I use the whisper power filter that has just 1 slot for filter media. In the tank, I have about 15 stems of plants, 4 natural sponges, 2 ornaments, clumps of moss and 3 large (4"-6") brown leaves. It's good to know that snails are high polluters. My 14G tank has 20 apple snails, 10 glass shrimp, 2 bosemani rainbow, 5 platy fry and about 6 feeder guppies. It looks pretty sick. Plants are dying 'cause the snails are eating the leaves. Fish are flashing and seem stressed. I'm usually pretty conscious about fish bioload but I've never heard of shrimp or snail bioload so I thought it wouldn't matter. I should probably move them out somewhere else.
Thanks for the tips about filter media change.
I use the whisper power filter that has just 1 slot for filter media. In the tank, I have about 15 stems of plants, 4 natural sponges, 2 ornaments, clumps of moss and 3 large (4"-6") brown leaves. It's good to know that snails are high polluters. My 14G tank has 20 apple snails, 10 glass shrimp, 2 bosemani rainbow, 5 platy fry and about 6 feeder guppies. It looks pretty sick. Plants are dying 'cause the snails are eating the leaves. Fish are flashing and seem stressed. I'm usually pretty conscious about fish bioload but I've never heard of shrimp or snail bioload so I thought it wouldn't matter. I should probably move them out somewhere else.
Thanks for the tips about filter media change.
Re: Sudden death of amano shrimp
I agree with Biff that your tanks are way overstocked. Anything that eats and poops creates bioload. That's pretty much the defintion of bio"load".