Hey guys!
I bought 2 RCS from my LPS a couple months ago and since then, they've been happy and active (even reproducing twice), until now. Over the span of the last two weeks I have found 3 dead shrimp laying on the substrate with what looks like no legs, just the body. The first two I shrugged off because I saw one with no "grabbing" legs (assuming something went wrong during molting) and expected it to starve to death.
I did change a few things recently (which doesn't help finding the cause) and I'm not sure if they have caused said deaths. The shrimp were by themselves until I added an Otto and 2 Peacock Gudgeons 4 weeks back. The Otto quickly rid the tank and leaves of diatoms and most algae. The Gobies laid and hatched 3 times (the male never comes out of his cave, unless to chase off the female) and they seem totally fine. I have seen the female poke at a shrimp every once and a while and the shrimp freaks out and skirts around the tank. I've only seen this three times or so. I only feed the Gobies (frozen bloodworms, mosquito larvae from my backyard, and they snack on every last one of their fry) because I figured there's enough plant detritus and algae for the shrimp and Otto to thrive (there's quite a bit, too). The other thing I changed was starting the EI dosing method. I previously dosed Flourish, Flourish Excel, and Flourish Potassium. I now (going on 3 weeks) dose 1/16 tsp KH2PO4, 1/4 tsp KNO₃, 1/16 tsp K2SO4, and 1/16 tsp CSM+B. They're all dosed 3x a week, with the CSM+B on seperate days, with 4mL of Excel everyday. The plants are responding really well to the new dosing, all besides my hairgrass which never really grew at all. I do 50% water changes every Friday. The last thing is I've seen 2 Planaria on the glass, but none since then which was 2 weeks ago. I've heard these can interfere with shrimp during molting. There's a bit of detritus worms in the water column but the female goby snacks on all of 'em.
I don't see any other reason why the shrimp would be dying besides what I've listed. If you have any ideas, it's greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time!
Tanks specs:
20 gal long
Aquaclear 30" t5 dual fixture w/ one colormax and one 6700k bulb
8 hour photo period
2 20 gal HOB filters (cleaned every other WC)
WPG - 1.8, high intensity
Plants are growing in Eco-complete. I can't vacuum the Eco substrate because I fear I'll uproot my plants and the un-rooted hairgrass. Instead, I just vacuum the regular sand I have on the left side of my tank.
Water parameters:
pH - 7.4-7.6
Ammonia - 0-.25pp
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 80-120 ppm (a bit high, I know. Should I possibly reduce the amount of KNO₃ I dose?)
KH - 60-80
Plants: Anubias Nana, some Java moss, a Red Flame, Ludwigia, Dwarf Hair Grass, 3 Amazon Swords, some Hygrophila Angustifolia and some Wisteria.
I bought 2 RCS from my LPS a couple months ago and since then, they've been happy and active (even reproducing twice), until now. Over the span of the last two weeks I have found 3 dead shrimp laying on the substrate with what looks like no legs, just the body. The first two I shrugged off because I saw one with no "grabbing" legs (assuming something went wrong during molting) and expected it to starve to death.
I did change a few things recently (which doesn't help finding the cause) and I'm not sure if they have caused said deaths. The shrimp were by themselves until I added an Otto and 2 Peacock Gudgeons 4 weeks back. The Otto quickly rid the tank and leaves of diatoms and most algae. The Gobies laid and hatched 3 times (the male never comes out of his cave, unless to chase off the female) and they seem totally fine. I have seen the female poke at a shrimp every once and a while and the shrimp freaks out and skirts around the tank. I've only seen this three times or so. I only feed the Gobies (frozen bloodworms, mosquito larvae from my backyard, and they snack on every last one of their fry) because I figured there's enough plant detritus and algae for the shrimp and Otto to thrive (there's quite a bit, too). The other thing I changed was starting the EI dosing method. I previously dosed Flourish, Flourish Excel, and Flourish Potassium. I now (going on 3 weeks) dose 1/16 tsp KH2PO4, 1/4 tsp KNO₃, 1/16 tsp K2SO4, and 1/16 tsp CSM+B. They're all dosed 3x a week, with the CSM+B on seperate days, with 4mL of Excel everyday. The plants are responding really well to the new dosing, all besides my hairgrass which never really grew at all. I do 50% water changes every Friday. The last thing is I've seen 2 Planaria on the glass, but none since then which was 2 weeks ago. I've heard these can interfere with shrimp during molting. There's a bit of detritus worms in the water column but the female goby snacks on all of 'em.
I don't see any other reason why the shrimp would be dying besides what I've listed. If you have any ideas, it's greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time!
Tanks specs:
20 gal long
Aquaclear 30" t5 dual fixture w/ one colormax and one 6700k bulb
8 hour photo period
2 20 gal HOB filters (cleaned every other WC)
WPG - 1.8, high intensity
Plants are growing in Eco-complete. I can't vacuum the Eco substrate because I fear I'll uproot my plants and the un-rooted hairgrass. Instead, I just vacuum the regular sand I have on the left side of my tank.
Water parameters:
pH - 7.4-7.6
Ammonia - 0-.25pp
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 80-120 ppm (a bit high, I know. Should I possibly reduce the amount of KNO₃ I dose?)
KH - 60-80
Plants: Anubias Nana, some Java moss, a Red Flame, Ludwigia, Dwarf Hair Grass, 3 Amazon Swords, some Hygrophila Angustifolia and some Wisteria.