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RCS Deaths For Me Too

5K views 47 replies 7 participants last post by  jpaisle 
#1 · (Edited)
I've seen several of these threads made and I guess its time for me. I recently have had a large die off of shrimp. I have prolly 1/3 of my stock left maybe 1 full grown RCS and the rest half the size.
Specs seem normal from what I've read
0 ammonia
0 Nitrite
<10ppm Nitrate
Temp 74 F
Kh 3
GH 8

I use Pure RO with Salty shrimp added, with baking soda (if needed)
I do 1 gallon WC for my 10 gallon every 2 weeks. I premix RO with minerals before adding. Also do RO top offs regularly.

I feed every 3 or 4 days, rotation I use several foods, raw veggies, shrimp protiens/ shrimp veggy pellets etc.

Right now there is a shrimp that is dead in my feeding dish, <.5cm and I just added a blanched carrot.

Idk what could be the issue everything I've read says my perimeters are good but many shrimp are dying had prolly 45+ now ~20.

Ferts 5ppm Nitrate added after WC. & 5ppm Potassium Nitrate (dose 1/32 teaspoon Potassium Nitrate & Pottassium sulfate) Smigggen measuring spoons
Micros .5 ml CSM+B (dosed at similar to Seachem Comp Iron levels) 26g per 500ml.) Dosed day after WC
 
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#2 ·
10% WC every two weeks sounds to me like not much at all. Do you have a TDS meter? And I don't know how long you've had these shrimp / how long you've been feeding each of your foods but you might check your water's copper levels (your water company should have that recorded on their water quality report) and see how much copper is in your foods if they're newer.
 
#3 ·
TDS 215ppm, Food I buy is zucchini (organic if it matters) cucumber (organic) omrga one kelp pellets fluval shrimp granules, Hikari shrimp cuisine. I usally feed 2 veggie foods before Protien again every 3-4 days.

I don't have a copper test kit, although would RO system remove copper?

Had the shrimp since Dec of last year year

forgot PH 7.6-8
 
#4 ·
I don't think food is the problem, and oops--I read that you used RO, not tap, then blanked when writing my response, lol. RO should remove copper AFAIK. TDS might be a little high, though I know people keep RCS at higher successfully. The only idea I have for fixing it is increasing water changes (either frequency or volume, both probably isn't necessary), unless anything else has changed recently. Maybe someone else has a better idea...
 
#5 ·
Several weeks if not a couple months I switched to changing 2.5g every 2 weeks to 1g every 2 weeks. I was reading that 2.5g might be too much WC at one time.

I'll try 1g every week see if anything improves although I might just have too few now to recover.
 
#7 ·
You want to start off with at least 10 to create a colony... so about 20 should be fine if you can get them to adult-hood.


I don't see anything that jumps out at me, and the only thing I can think of is maybe a build up of too much fertilizers? So maybe try backing off on those for a bit? Or maybe not enough oxygen in the tank? or?????

Unless it's the foods your are feeding are somehow contaminated?


I feel just as clueless....
 
#9 · (Edited)
Can you elaborate on the baking soda? Pure RO + salty shrimp should be everything you need. Baking soda now and again would cause big swings IMO. What is the PH? What size batch of water do you mix up for water changes? Do you blanch your veggies?
I dose my shrimp tanks daily with PPS PRO. Usually only a half dose unless I see deficiencies. I also skip dosing on Sunday.
.
 
#10 ·
Salty shrimp is just GH not KH. Last 3 WC I haven't added baking soda as my KH target is 2. But when I do I changed 2.5 gallon of RO water I'm thinking it was 0.40g baking soda which was 2-3 dKH.

Ph is blue on normal API PH test and brown under high PH. Looks like 7.6 or 8 depending on which test your looking at.
 
#13 ·
Well got some funny TDS readings today after a 1g water change. Added .53g salty bee shrimp to 1g water, TDS were 130ppm. I removed 1 gallon of water and lightly suctioned the gravel just hovering over it. I drip the new water into the tank (took about 1/2 hr).

I just checked tds to see where I'm at now and they are 290ppm.

I retested KH and GH
KH3
GH8

Maybe some debris got kicked up and causing off TDS? I mean last night it was 215 how can it go up?
 
#14 ·
Did you dose after the WC? Also the salty shrimp you are using is for bee shrimp. Cherries can go in there, but I think the one with GH & KH might be better. I mix 10 litres at a time and store it. Maybe next time mix up 2 gallons and check the mixed RO parameters after mix and then after 24 hrs. Before doing a water change. Shrimp like stability I would guess there's a big swing happening. Are deaths happening more before or after WC's? I never mix less than 10 litres at a time, I feel smaller batches have more room for error or fluctuations.

.
 
#15 ·
No dosing just prime. Checked tds its at 250 now.
From what I've read on salty bee is its the same but wont affect kh. I bought this because i wanted kh lower than 1/2 my gh.
I could store more remineralized ro but already keep 5 gallons of pure ro for top offs for other tanks.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Well more deaths today, saw another baby, about 1/4" size again.
Re did some tests
temp 74
ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate ~10
TDS 275ppm
Kh 3
GH 8

I'm also noticing the shrimp are not eating as much as they use to. I haven't fed anything in about 5-7 days. I put a piece of boiled carrot in the tank to see if they like it. (never fed before). It got little to no attention after 3 days so I removed.
This morning before lights came I added about 15 pellets of Hikari shrimp cuisine. Usually the shrimp swarm and go mad for this stuff.

I only noticed 2 or 3 shrimp paying any attention to the food. Its been now 5 hours and all the food is still in the dish.
I would think they would be hungry. Should I just suction the remains of the food out or wait longer?

Edit: I also see many molts as well so at least they are molting properly.
 
#18 ·
Yeah...water seems good so there's either something in the water that's contaminated it and you can't test for outside of sending it away or there's an infection of some sort that's killing off the shrimp. Are there any signs on the shrimp? Acting weird other than not eating? Swimming erratically? Growths, spots, fuzz, cloudy shells? Anything? Possible there's something wrong with the food? Pesticides? Carrots are famous for being full of nasty stuff considering they are a root so they'd suck up anything that's in the soil so if not organic...I'd stop feeding. And even organic can't be 100% trusted as many organic foods really aren't. Build up of ferts...there's something obviously wrong that's not related to home testable water parameters. I'd personally stop the carrots. Stop the ferts. Do some larger water changes to clear out any change of built up ferts or other contaminants. Make absolutely sure the water was getting oxygenated enough. See what happens. And watch the shrimp close and look for any signs of illness.
 
#20 ·
Today I was watching my shrimp tank and I saw a worm that looked similar to pictures of planaria. I only saw one and vacuumed it out of the tank. Perhaps these are killing my shrimp? I was looking around on the web about ways to deal with Planaria, Fenbendazole is used to kill planaria?

Killing Planaria and Hydra .:. Information on killing Planaria & Hydra with Fenbendazole
This says .1g in 10 gallon tank cleared it up. Do you think I should give this a try. Says they tried it on shrimp tanks.

Where would be the best place to find Fenbendazole? There is a Petco/walmart/ pet feed store close to me that I could check.
 
#22 ·
Fenbendazole is a dog-dewormer, which you can find in pet stores. If you get the pack for small dogs, the ones that are 1 gram each, then you can split the 1 gram packet into 10 and use about .1 gram per 10 gallons.


A pet feed store might have it in a liquid suspension, in which case, the dosage may be different....
 
#24 ·
I would suggest using the medication until you notice all planaria are dead. Then you can do water change and/or carbon. You may see it within 24 hours, or even 48 hours. May have to wait a few days, doing daily dosages.


Do keep a watch on your water parameters though. It could cause a spike in ammonia with them dying off.
 
#26 ·
I never pull them until they lose color. I've had them seem dead then get up and scoot across the tank. I question if it's a moulting issue when they do that.

Is there any children around that may put something in the tank? Do you or anyone have their hands in the tank often? Also is that an osmocote shell in the pic? Too much osmocote will release ammonia I believe.

Is the tank in the kitchen? I'm starting to wonder if you have some type of contaminent that doesn't show on our test kits. Is it an open top tank?

.
 
#30 ·
Although more expensive, any major retailer for shrimp products. Discobee, HanAquatics, BuyPetShrimp, or others like them that sell various wood and leaf products. Alder cones (look like miniature pine cones from birch species trees, about size or smaller than the last digit of pinky finger) are also a good option.


Just a word of warning, some of these items can leach tannins into the water, turning it a tea or brown coloration. Tannins are beneficial for shrimp and it can help keep them healthier. As such, there are some "black water" products that are also available on the market.


If you look, you may be able to find some of the leaves in your own area! Alder trees love to grow by rivers! I've recently found some near where I live, but there seems to be a larger population in California (I'm not far from Lake Tahoe). So far, the cones I've found have been small in comparison to ones I've bought online. I've also come across oak, maple, mulberry, and maybe some others I can use. I've got a ziplock bag of fresh dried green mulberry leaves which everyone *loves*! I plan to gather the others in the fall once the leaves turn brown and fall.


I have bought indian almond leaves off of Ebay, but was not really impressed with the product... as the leaves came somewhat moist (not entirely dry), and were somewhat moldy... which is kind of why I recommend going through a shrimp type retailer for these and possibly other leaves as well, if you can't find them locally... alder cones were fine, though!
 
#31 ·
On the drive to work today i noticed a couple alder trees near a apartment complex. Ill go and see if i can grab some cones. Would they be okay to use? No idea if pest sprays are used in trees, i doubt it.

I get mulberry leaves from my neighbor. I've noticed just a small piece makes the water very yellow. I just grab some and dry them out.
 
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