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Losing a shrimp about every week and half...update post #42

3K views 41 replies 12 participants last post by  ravensgate 
#1 · (Edited)
I have a tank that houses some S-SS grade CRS, CBS juvies, and some Goldens . Tank has been setup and cycled for two months, shrimp have been in there for 6-7 weeks or so. I've been losing 1 about every week to week and a half. Here are the parameters (and this is where they are EVERY week except TDS and please read the note on that)

pH 6.5-6.6
KH 0
GH 5
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

TDS as of today is 180. When the tank was started it was 140. It's gone up gradually over the course of the last 7 weeks. Been using Fluval Minerals for my RO water and its a bit dirty so may be switching remineralizers. NOTE- Deaths have happened regardless where the TDS has been sitting. Have lost probably 7-8 shrimp only one showed signs that it could have been a molting issue.

Diet - Tuesday - baby food (when babies present which they are now) and dried food
Thursday - Kale or spinach
Saturday - baby food, repashy or dried food
Sunday - Bioplus when babies present

The shrimp I lost today just had her babies last week. :( Water changes are done with remineralized RO water once a week, at the rate of 10%. Tank stays pretty constant around 70 degrees. Occasional fluctuation of 1-2 degrees.

So outside of dropping the TDS (again, deaths were happening even when I kept it at 145-150) does anyone else see anything else out of whack? Shrimp are breeding. Not sure on survival rate of babies since the first batch was born last week and the latest batch is still being hatched as I type this.

No new plants, no new livestock, no contaminated nets, tweezers, etc have been in this tank.
 
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#2 ·
Re: Losing a shrimp about every week and half...anything look strange?

Are the babies dying, or just the adults? Could it be old age?

Sent from my phone, in the land of magical unicorns and rainbows!
 
#9 ·
I feed a tiny (and I mean tiny) pinch between my fingers of Bioplus once a week. Yes, nitrates are reading zero. I have no reason to doubt my nitrate tests because when cycling tanks readings go up when they are expected to. And yes, I'm shaking the solutions for the proper amount of time;)
 
#17 ·
Tank was started at the end of November, cycle hit as expected and leveled out after about a week, shrimp were added 2 weeks later. So it was running for 3 weeks before livestock was added. Tank was seeded with sponge filters from other tanks as well as Safestart and BT-9 used once it was flooded. The shrimp dying are anywhere from juvies, subadults, and breeding adults. All shrimp were juvies or subadults when they arrived second week of december. I can't imagine a mini cycle hitting once every week though. The shrimp are active, not acting poorly or anything.
 
#19 ·
I dose that with water changes once weekly. Teensy pinch.

Oh, and testing nitrates in my other tank right now that gets fed more powdered foods due to the amount of babies in it and Nitrates are reading at 5ppm. So nitrate test is looking to be fairly accurate (quite a bit more plants in this other tank that are fast growers that probably helps compensate for the powder foods).

I have some Shield on hand but have never had any luck using it or rather haven't noticed it helping much. But at this point I'm a little desperate to stop the random deaths. I've got two batches of babies in there right now with the oldest batch being a week old so no real way to see how survival rates are going to be just yet.

And Liam, I just started feeding baby food to this problem tank last week. My other tank has had babies in it for 3 weeks so I've been feeding it for longer and more of it. And the TDS has gone up on it as well. Funny enough, I WANTED the TDS higher in that tank...LOL. I didn't realize the powdered foods would raise the TDS. Something for me to keep in mind next time I need to raise it without altering the GH. Learned something, thank you!


so I guess with the guesses being thrown out nobody really sees anything glaringly wrong with the parameters I listed??

I'm willing to hear any and all guesses just know I've got two other shrimp tanks and this is the only one that is being an issue right now. All tanks are treated equally, again, except for the cray and shrimp tank which is fed daily so as to keep the crays from killing each other or killing all the shrimp;)

ETA: The shrimp that I have been losing the most of are the CRS. I have lost one CBS since the start (and one died during overnight shipping) and one golden. The rest have been CRS. Mainly small subadults except for one older adult and the breeding age adult I lost today that had her babies last week. Granted she had been stressed during her pregnancy but I would have expected the problems while she was berried, not afterwards.
 
#20 ·
Yah, who knows, maybe it was just a bad batch of shrimp. Good news is, usually when adults die like that the ones BORN in the tank usually are fine. Same with Taiwan bees I've noticed, even if the adults have a hard time adjusting to your water, any babies born into the tank seem not to have any problems like their parents.
 
#21 ·
I am hoping and counting on that! It will be the only way to replace the poor little dudes and dudettes I've lost. So far about 20 babies in the tank but still too soon to know survival rates but I am very hopeful. Started out with 19, down to 11 but have had 4 berried females so far. I would think if they hated it in there or if there were something severe going on they wouldn't be berrying but I'm not sure on that. Strangely enough the CBS in the tank are what I've always felt were weak as they are very slow growing and not as active as the CRS. But I still have the 3 of them (lost one in the first week or two).

Thank you everyone for trying to help, I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something obvious I might have been missing. Right now I'll just continue on with crossed fingers and knock out that Sunday feeding of Bioplus. I never feed the recommended amounts on those baby powder feeds because I feel it's just WAY too much they recommend. I'll probably combine my Ebiken EI and Bioplus on one of the baby feeding days instead of feeding an extra day. Just to keep the TDS from keeping too much and don't want nitrates getting out of whack either.
 
#27 ·
I also think you should consider cutting down on your feedings. I think baby foods 3x a week may be a bit too much. Maybe do baby food 2x a week and when you feed the babies one of the those days also feed the regular food. When you do this larger feeding do it on a water change day and try and remove as much food as possible. I have had shrimps die before from overfeeding.
 
#28 · (Edited)
Thank you! Got some Salty Shrimp GH Soothingshrimp sent me to try that I'll be giving a whirl next week. Hopefully I won't have a death between now and then. Also going to cut out the Sunday feeding BUT, PLEASE if you didn't read all the posts, I have only had babies in there for ONE WEEK and hence only been feeding that schedule with baby food for ONE WEEK. Prior they had been getting fed 3 days a week, dried one day, repashy one day, fresh veggies the other day. No powdered foods at all. So I really don't think the feeding has a thing to do with it since I was not feeding ANY powdered foods, baby or otherwise, prior to last week and had been experiencing deaths for the last 6-7 weeks. And again, when I feed they consume everything within 1-2 hours, anything left if siphoned out of the feeding dish. I feed VERY small amounts so there is generally not much left unless its food they don't care for.
 
#29 ·
I think salty shrimp GH is the best you can get form your tank, I use this stuff and I love it (I hope shrimp too). Just be careful to don't overdose it because it will spike your TDS (I use one measure spoon for each 4G and it gets my Gh to ~5 and TDS around 140). Also why don't you try some barley pellets? For some reason shrimps love to graze on this stuff and you can leave it in the feeding dish.
 
#37 ·
Although if nitrates are still at zero, there shouldn't be any negative effects in feeding often.

That's how I feel as well but heck, something I'm doing isn't right...I figure cutting down feeding is worth a shot. Still don't think it has anything to do with anything but figure I can give it a try.
 
#38 ·
Losing a shrimp about every week and half...anything look strange?

That's how I feel as well but heck, something I'm doing isn't right...I figure cutting down feeding is worth a shot. Still don't think it has anything to do with anything but figure I can give it a try.
I see your point. No matter if you feed 2 or 3 times a day the shrimp will have plenty of food so cutting down won't do harm ^_^
 
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