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CRS mass die off.

664 Views 5 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Raymond S.
Friend's CRS had a massive die off after transferring them to a new tank setup. He had one die the first day then every 2-3days after he would see 1-2 more die. He added prime in case it was copper toxicity and prime can detoxify it but the shrimps kept dying. They did not die in previous tank however and waters were the same as before. Used eco complete substrate in a brand new bare tank. Now he only has two more CRS from 24 at the start. The shrimps were given drop acclimation before putting them in.

Bare tank with just eco complete. Massive die off.

*Note: one of his CRS berried the 2nd day it was added to the new tank o.o
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Magic words. Brand new tank. Bad news for shrimp.

Did your friend even cycle the tank at all or just add soil, water and shrimp the same day?
Dawna, Firstly, sorry for your friend's losses. There are factors beyond the standard water tests that may compromise the health of shrimp.

My guess purely by the actions described would be a tremendous shift in TDS triggering premature or molt failures. the 2-3 day range is the clue here as their tolerances for this sounds about right.

PH shift given these are CRS and tolerant of a smaller range.

Starvation and toxicity due to a shift to a new tank. The lack of beneficial bacteria to process waste water and as a source of food.

Your last comment supports the TDS shift theory as well since shrimp tend to release hormones and want to mate after molting, which often comes with a tds shift. Rainy season waters in the wild often trigger breeding so this is a similar event in our tanks.
Thanks guys! I will inform him what you all just said. I was kind of disappointed since we were hoping that his CRS would hit it off in a bigger tank so I can practice breeding them. :(
Tanks need to be mature before putting in shrimp.
All of what they said plus at least 4 mnths just letting the tank get mature.
If you see it or not, all tanks have algae. This is the primary shrimp food. Even more important for the fry as they find micro bugs in this algae.
In my older tank the shrimp seldom act frantic for food that I drop in there. But in the tank that is newer they do. For this reason I reduce the amont of KH2PO4 in my ferts to encourage GSA to grow in my tanks. Balancing the ferts/lights causes it to only be
on the rocks mostly and most rocks leach Phosphorus for at least the first few months after submerging them. Took me a couple of years to balance it to not get the glass covered/w algae but still have some in there.
You know someone lacks an outlet for their creativity when they tell you they can get algae to grow where they want it in yur tank.
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