Cherry Shrimp... dying one by one

[zeeman]

Hi All,

Hello everyone.
This is my first post, tho I often come here for information.
Hopefully I am posting this in the correct section.

I need help and hopefully y'all can help me.
I have a 5 gallon tank that has been cycled for two months (with a betta).
The plants have grown in very nicely. I have Java moss, Java Fern, Frog Bit Grass?, one Anubias and a couple other plants

The ammonia is zero, and so are the nitrites.
I have a small bag of Cuprisorb in the tank to capture any copper.
The gH and kH are in the 160 range, as I put in crushed coral to increase the hardness of the water.
The pH is 7 to 7.5.
The light are on over the tank for 12 hours.
There is no supplemental heating or air.
Temperature is around mid 70s F.

There are only shrimp, evil snails and assassin snails in the tank.
The shrimp look great, bright red and eating the algae and once in a while algae wafers.
But slowly they die one by one by one... till I have no left.

Help pls... I really don't know what I am doing wrong... Cherry Shrimp are suppose to be the easier of shrimp to keep.

Thanks in advance,
Zee

[Community tank fella]

Well you've been in a pickle try water changes shrimp are very keane on that.

[riderfaiz]

Hi I am new in this forum...great I found this but hope more people would read.

Did you test your nitrate/armonia? I had the same problem before with my 6 gallon tank. My ph was fine, temp was fine. My plants were doing well too. But my gravel was using the white one from "P_tco". I used a beginner filter..which I do not think it is good.

So what I did was... I setup a 20 gallon tanks. Got the Fl_val soil with moss, ferns...marimo. After some rinse and water change a couple times before unloading my shrimps (Cherry and bumble), my tank now starts to be stable. So far my cherry shrimps had no causalty. My young Crystal red was doing great. Only my old crystal red dying slowly (originally I have 12 in two months now I got 4 left). My ph is around 6.8, temp is about 21 degree. My plants grow a lot ( avery good sign). My nitrate is close to 0. I did not check gH or the hardness. The only thing I add for my 20 gallon tank is that I got a sponge filter with a lot of "air bubble". The water current is slow... I think that may help. I also use a caniter filter for my new tank...

Hooo what did you feed your shrimp? My shrimps like eating something on the moss. I only feed them twice a week with fl_val stuff. I got little more from e_ay...such as the algae pill and bioball.

The only problem I have now is that I do not know how to let my shrimps breed. My berried one always let the eggs away... otherwise they seem healthy.

[Mustafa]

Welcome to the forum! Most likely your problem was that your tank was brand new..not the food. A brand new shrimp tank should run for at least 1.5 to 2 months before any shrimp are put into it. Otherwise, even tiny levels of ammonia can slowly decimate your shrimp. As for feeding...I would not feed too much, and only if the shrimp greedily go for the food. If they don't go for the food, then leave them alone. There is probably more than enough to eat in the tank for them already. Otherwise once every few days is more than enough. As for breeding, that will happen "automatically" once your shrimp feel completely comfortable.

[socalgranny]

Hello Zee,

I see you posted your question 6 months ago so I hope things have improved. I was surprised to see that the other replies did not take into account the detailed information you supplied! You note that your measurable parameters (pH, nitrites, ammonia, and temperature) are well within acceptable limits. You also mentioned that you seasoned your tank for 2 months.

Two things jumped off the page to me: (1) the absence of a filter. You need a filter that slightly disrupts the surface of the tank to cause oxygen to dissolve and also to filter out debris and provide a surface for helpful bacteria to grow in. The filter has a ceramic surface conducive to the growth of helpful bacteria. (2) You have a lot of plants and they could be competing with the shrimp for resources. With so many plants, pH can vary over the course of a day since photosynthesizing plants make the water more acidic.

Are you using tap water? If so, are you treating it with Sea-Chem Prime? Chlorine in the form of chloramine, which is used to make tap water safe for humans, is deadly to shrimp. If you are using distilled water, you are not providing some minerals that the shrimp may need. I ask this since copper is usually only a concern in distilled water. If you are using deionized water, again you will have a problem maintaining a healthy amount of minerals in your tank.

Please post back and let us know how you are doing!

Best regards,
Gail