[jmccant]

Hi all,
I need some advice on my red cherry shrimp tank. My RCS and Malaysian Trumpet snails are dying. They are housed in a Fluval Ebi (7.7 gallons).
The water parameters are:
GH 180
KH 80
Ph 7.0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia .25
I know the ammonia level is elevated because it should be 0, but would .25 ammonia level kill off RCS and MTS? I don't know if that is the problem or maybe something else. Any advice/suggestions is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[jkan0228]

How long has the tank been set up? Shrimp are more sensitive to ammonia than fish. Your gh and kh seem a bit high.

 

[jmccant]

The tank has been running about 2 weeks.

 

[jkan0228]

Then I'd say its not fully cycled............
What substrate are you using?

 

[gordonrichards]

Any plants in that tank?

Are you doing water changes with tap water that hasn't been buffered?

What is the temperature of the tank?

-Gordon

 

[diwu13]

Then I'd say its not fully cycled............
What substrate are you using?

I believe this may be the cause as well. Generally MTS and RCS have very low bioloads so you don't need to wait for a tank to be fully cycled if you ONLY have those inverts in the tank. However, did you put any preexisting cycled plants or filter mulm into that tank? Or was that your first tank?

 

[ScottFish]

Small, unstable tank, spiking. I recommend you take all the remaining critters out and fully cycle your tank. Shrimp are very unforgiving in an unstable tank.

 

[jmccant]

I am using the substrate that came with the fluval kit. It is specialized for shrimp.
There are plants in the tank from an existing tank and about 1/4 of the water was old cycles water, the rest was new tap water. The temp is 74f.

 

[shrimpzoo]

Do you have anything else from an existing tank that could potentially help cycle your tank further? 0.25 ammonia doesn't sound too good.

and did you treat your tap water? or at least leave it out for a day?

 

[jasonpatterson]

It's the filter that winds up being cycled rather than the water. Since the bacteria that cycle ammonia live in films on surfaces, using existing tank water isn't particularly useful (though probably more effective than tap water.) Usually starting with a reasonably planted tank will help avoid these problems, but if both snails and shrimp are dying, it's apparently not helping enough.

 

[mordalphus]

And with snails dying in the substrate (MTS), it's not helping anything either.

A very small amount of ammonia can kill shrimp, and a tank that has been setup only 2 weeks, should not have shrimp in it. It's too soon.