[neilshieh]

I am so frustrated, everything has been doing fine and dandy for the last month or so. Shrimp all grew up just fine. molted fine. fiesty eaters. but I take my eyes of the tank for 2 days and come back to 5 dead shrimp. The dead shrimp are red/very opaque milky white in color. Am I dealing with a bacterial infection here? I honestly didn't even know there was such a thing because I thought all dead shrimp turned white...

So today i decided to net out what shrimp were left, there was one of them that had a opaque body so i put him in a separate cup. The others I put in a different cup. Some of the dying shrimp seem to be paralyzed? on their backs, twitching, etc. I doubt the deaths are massive die off kind, more along the lines of 2 die each day. I wasn't there for the last two days so i wouldn't know.

what do i do?
I measured my params yesterday:
kh:2 (kinda weird since when i measure this last month it was 7...) will retest
gh: 6
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
didn't measure nitrate and phosphate: shouldn't be a problem though, I don't dose ferts and I do wc's every week. 3 gallons every week and it's a 20 gallon tank.

things i can think of that I did recently enough to make a difference:
-I added oak leaves from 2-3 years ago (they've been in my college since) and there were some black spots on the leaves? I microwaved the leaves and theyve been in the tank for a couple weeks maybe they finally started to release some toxins?
-Added bamboo charcoal houses last week with mini pellia that'd been growing emersed attached (mp had a touch of fungus but it shouldn't survive underwater... perhaps dying fungus released toxin?)
-put in 2 dwarf nymphaea lily bulbs (the ones from walmart) didn't wash them before hand


any thoughts? This is really putting me in a bad mood how things go so well and they things turn south so fast... If it's a bacterial infection I know people recommend maracyn 2, I have maracyn 1 will that work? If you think it's toxins if i do massive water changes and remove the offender will the tank be safe again?

 

[ravensgate]

All shrimp will turn either pink or white when they die, it's how they look when alive that tells you if bacterial infection is suspect. Infection is internal, milky white cast to the exoskeleton says molting will be soon. ON their back and twitching sounds like a toxin of sorts, if that flit around then sink, twitching that could signify a bad molt. The charcoal bamboo, did you boil it before using it? And the leaves, you said microwaved, do you mean in boiling water? PArams sound ok, any idea on pH?

Are your water changes done quickly, slowly, spot on on params? A drop in GH, TDS or temp and too quick of a water change can force premature molting and kill them. If it's toxins I would do a large water change and get some purigen on the tank if you don't have it.

 

[neilshieh]

no, I just washed it off. Didn't think I would need to.
The leaves weren't in boiling water, I just broke off a little chunk and put it in a bowl with some water and microwaved it for a minute.
ph should be somewhere 7-8

I siphon out 3 gallons and put in 3 gallons of water. I don't drip it in or anything because I figured if my whole tank of supreme reds can handle it so can they. I have purigen in the tank already, I'll do a large water change and take out the random stuff.

 

[ravensgate]

What are the params of the water you are using for a water change? Are they the same as your tank? Is it tap water? Tap water changes, often seasonally. Are you topping off with RO water or tap? This will add minerals and hardness if you are using tap. Neos are hardy but they are not bullet proof, as you are now seeing.