Updated: RCS dying

[Wayne Dwops]

Soo four of my original six RCS have died and I don't know why. Everything else in the tank is doing fine.

0ppm ammonia
0ppm nitrite
20ppm nitrate
GH 8
KH 4
temp 73F

They are just dropping dead. Anyone have any other ideas?

[Overgrowth]

Your GH isn't even 1 degree. You need at least 5 degrees of GH for shrimps to survive, which is about 90 ppm. Get a remineralizer such as Fluval Shrimp Supplement, Shirakura Ca+, etc.

[Wayne Dwops]

ok I didn't do the test right, my GH is 140ppm. So it is okay then? I can't think of anything else that would be hurting them.My KH is 67ppm. I am going to check the nitrate next but it was 5ppm a couple days ago. blergh

[somewhatshocked]

What are all of your other parameters?

KH
TDS
Temperature
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
pH

?

[Wayne Dwops]

OR possibly there is not enough oxygen? I don't have an airstone in there now but I have an AQ 70 circulating the water. Should I put the airstone in?

[Wayne Dwops]

KH is 4/67ppm
I don't have a TDS test
ammonia/nitrite are 0
PH is 7.5
Just saw that nitrate is high at 20ppm so that could be the problem.
temperature is 73 F

[somewhatshocked]

Your parameters all sound fine. Though Nitrate is always best at lower levels, even that's not enough to cause them to kick the bucket, I don't think.

How old are the shrimp that have died?

It's possible the cloudiness is a result of an infection.

Have you done anything to the tank lately? Rescaped? Added livestock?

[Wayne Dwops]

They are definitely adults but I've only had them for 6 days so they shouldn't be super old. I did move some plants around last week and one shrimp died after that. None have died since..they just look near death. Last night one of them kept kind of like..jumping? like popcorn almost and then laying upside down like he was dead. Today he is still popping around but hasn't just plopped over on his back. I added the CPD and shrimp at the same time and they came from the same tank at the petstore though I drip acclimated them in different containers. I've seen one shrimp molt since I've gotten them and she's the one that looks the healthiest right now. I dunno, I am just worried!

[somewhatshocked]

If you experienced a death while rescaping, it's possible you released toxins into the water column.

Have you tried doing a water change?

Did you get the shrimp from a fellow hobbyist or from a store? If you got them from a hobbyist, reach out to see if they've had any bacterial infection issues. If from a store, you could probably do the same.

If you could post photos of the shrimp, that would be helpful.

[Wayne Dwops]

I did a 20% water change yesterday. I got them from LFS, I will call them when they reopen tomorrow. I will try to take a picture now!

[Wayne Dwops]

ok heres one that seems to look pretty normal except for the white spots on it's legs.



this is one of the two that look like they're about to die to me





Maybe I'm overreacting but I don't know. It looks too opaque.

[ravensgate]

Ok, so you've had them for 6 days and in those 6 days you've done a rescape and a 20% water change nevermind the fact their parameters changed when they come from the LFS to reside in your tank? They are probably stressing to death. Leave the tank alone and let them settle in. They can change colors when going from one parameter to the next. As well as surroundings. I put some supreme and PFRs in a tank with white sand and many of them have lost a ton of their color whereas they were solid and dark in their last tank with black substrate. Lots of factors can cause this but for now it sounds like you are doing too much and stress can definitely cause loss of color.

[Wayne Dwops]

They haven't lost color though lol..they were all actually really dull like ghost shrimp when I got them and now they are all bright red but two of them are opaque red which doesn't seem good. But you're right they might be too stressed, I will try to leave them alone. I keep getting up in the middle of the night to turn the light on and stare at them lol.

[ravensgate]

You say it looks too opaque. Do you mean cloudy? Or do you mean the color is too solid? Opaque is good, cloudy is not. The more opaque the color the higher quality the RCS. Painted Fire Reds are solid red with no transparent areas...thus high grade RCS. The one that's flinging himself about sounds like he is going through a bad molt especially if he lays on his back. You're probably going to lose that one. If they are coloring up then they are settling in, but you still need to give them time to adjust. I don't know what's in Seachem Flourish Comprehensive but make sure you aren't dosing copper into the tank. Copper is deadly to invertebrates. Trace amounts are fine but you have to be real careful with anything containing copper (including fish foods you may be feeding the CPDs).

[Wayne Dwops]

Flourish Comprehensive does have trace amounts of copper so I only dose two times a week now. They aren't cloudy just opaque...I just googled and yeah they do look like fire reds but they aren't bright darker red like some of the pictures and their legs are still clear. Yeah I just checked the flake food ingredients and it has copper sulfate. balls.