Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

This morning I found some dead shrimp in my tank.

I am guessing that my water changes is the culprit here.

I use water well so no chemicals added to it, and I've been following the advice in the faq to not use hot water to avoid contaminants from the heating tank.

I let it drip into the tank for about half hour (so the temperature doesnt drop too much).

I replace around 10-20 percent of the tank (20gal).
I also add just a couple drops of Iodine.

And everytime I find some dead shrimp the next morning...

I thought the drop in the temperature would be the factor, but I've been carefull putting cold water in the tank very slowly so it doesnt drop quick.

There's no amonia, no nitrates, no food at the bottom, the dead shrimp are quickly eaten by the other shrimp, I put an algae waffer everyday and the shrimp jump into it.

This past saturday I transfer some baby guppies (2 days old) from my main tank before they got eaten by the adults.

But I dont think these little guppies would be the culprit of the shrimp death because I have dead shrimp after every water change.


Anyway, I guess what I am asking is what can I do to troubleshoot water changes so that I dont find dead shrimp the next morning?

Test for iron. There may be other stuff in the water as well. Start using a water conditioner. I recommend Amquel+.

you're using well water?

i grew up on a farm and one time we had our well tested and it contained really high amounts of nitrItes, nitrAtes, phosphates, and heavy metals, probably because we lived in an agricultural area but you might have the same sort of water 'contaminents'

after that test we got onto the rural water program and had treated water and it tasted a lot better imho

Here is the results of the last test done three years ago:

Alkalinity 138 mg/l
Arsenic 5.4 ug/l
Barium 0.110 mg/l
Boron 0.403 mg/l
Calcium 37.4mg/l
Chloride 10 mg/l
Conductivity 315 us/crr
Copper 0.023 mg/l
Fluoride 1.67 mg/l
Magnesium 8.01 mg/l
Ph 7.98
Potassium 0.94 mg/l
sodium 12.2 mg/l
Sulfate 14.1 mg/l
Total Hardness 126 mg/l
Turbidity 0.47 NTU
Uranium 3.9 ug/l
Zinc 0.005 mg/l

There are other elements in the list but there was no result because they were under Limit of Quatification.

Did you have to have the water analyzed through a special process? Do the parameters of well water change often? If so you migh want to get an updated analysis. Hope the water works well for you.

Maybe try some distilled water at your next change. before I broke down and bought a RO/DI unit all I used in my nano reef was distilled. it's not all that expensive, probably cheaper than the shrimp.

I would agree. If you are seeing die-offs at each water change, the water is sure as heck suspect. Temperature is not the issue. I do weekly 50% water changes with 55 degree water into a 75 degree tank and have no issues. An R/O unit with re-constitution may be the way to go. That is the only way I can consistantly make my green water for the baby snails I raise.

Thanks for the replies.

I cant think of anything wrong about the water.

Little by little I am losing all the shrimp, and obviously it is soemthing in the water.

Now, I have an aquacler 30 filter: [ADMIN: commercial link removed]

I also have a smaill elite filter : [ADMIN: commercial link removed]


And also a biofoam fed by an airpump : [ADMIN: commercial link removed]


Too much aeration? Filtering maybe??

I have a small 50W heater to keep the water at 22C.
Also in the tank there is some plastic plants, a skull made of ceramic (tank ornament), a plastic cave and some driftwood.

I wonder if any of these could be leaching some toxic stuff into the water and killing my shrimp little by little??

I my 7gal tank I have some fan shrimp and they are doing alright, the water is the same!

Hammerjoe....I don't know what part of "don't post commercial links" you don't understand. I have already asked you not to do it in your first post here in this forum after I removed the link and replaced it with a picture:

viewtopic.php?t=2081&start=0&postdays=0 ... highlight=

This is your absolute *last* warning. Go read the rules page, which you should have done before posting anything, so you don't break any further rules. It's really not that difficult.

You know, I am not trying to sell anything.

I am also pretty sure that the red comment on my first post was just added because I dont recall see it yesterday.

And finally, you could be more constructive and maybe provide with some sugestions on how I can prevent more shrimp deaths instead of giving out warnings.

Thanks.

PS - I dont care if you ban me, but I am pissed off that I came here trying to get some help to stop the loss of shrimp and all I get are 'warnings'. What kind of help is that?

I added the comment last thursday right after you made that post, you obviously did not care to read it....but thanks for accusing me of "just" adding "red comments" to things just to make a case.

As for providing "help"....you are not paying me or anyone here to provide help, so stop complaining. It's all voluntary and my willingness to help is partly dependant on the behavior a person displays in this forum. There are rules here that need to be followed. If people get angry when I warn them after they *repeatedly* (as in this case) break the rules (and break more rules in the process), then it's clear that they just don't want to be constructive members of this forum.

This is not just a "give me/help me" forum. Constructive members here give and take. That's why this is a forum and not a helpline. A person has to follow the rules *at the least* to participate (and hopefully contribute later on when he/she has gained more experience/knowledge).

It's amazing how some people seem to think that they somehow have an innate entitlement to help from others without having to do a thing for it in return (like following rules at a minimum).

Banned. Thread closed.