[Whiskey]

I have a 2G tank here at work, and I do a water change every Friday the same way. All water is pure RO reminirilized the same way. Today after I did the water change all the shrimp started flipping around the tank by their tails then landing on their sides, laying there for a while, only to get up and do it again. They are smashing into things, and basically in their death throws.

It really sucks to watch

I don't know why,.. I did the same thing I've done every Friday for the last month and a half I've had them,..

I really hope at least some of them make it, but things are not looking good right now. In the future I'll do smaller than 10% water changes.

I wish there was something I can do,.. I put the old water back in, but of course that just diluted the new water because I pulled the mixture out,..

Whiskey

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

Difference in temperature, radical change in TDS, etc may have done it.

 

[Whiskey]

TDS of the water dropped by only 2 points (to 137, was 139),.. The temperature dropped by 0.5 degrees, was 74.90 right after the change it was 74.40.

I was pretty careful,.. but apparently not careful enough.

Whiskey

 

[steakman]

PH swing maybe? Have you tested your R/O water and your tank water PH?
Sounds more like poisoning of something from the WC. I still have to tested my R/O water every now and then to make sure.
If you have Prime around, it may help.

 

[oblongshrimp]

How much water do you change? Is it possible the new water was super low in O2?

 

[ChadO]

Along the lines of the poisoning suggested, I'm curious if there is any chance the container to haul the water in to the office was recently cleaned or washed? If it was cleaned, and chance of cleaning residue? To get that quick of a reaction, it just seems like something external came in to play. Something not obvious to your normal pattern you follow.

 

[bostoneric]

good point. i was thinking something similar.

 

[Whiskey]

The container is a RO water container dedicated to this tank's WC water, it does not get cleaned. Good thought though! The tank is only 2Gallons so one gallon of W/C water lasts quite a while. The water was made up about 2 weeks ago, but this was the first full change on this batch. The water sat untouched and capped in the iterum giving it plenty of time to equalize.

I'm careful and exact on how I create the water, I have a 1 ML syringe that I use 1 to dispense 1 full ML of the Fluval stuff, this brings the water to just a hair over 4 DGH, and 135 TDS.

Unfortunately I don't have any supplies here (at work) to test my water, I take samples home for testing - I will do that tonight.

I'm happy to report that I have at least 1 shrimp of the 7 still moving, I'm unhappy to report that at least 1 is dead - the rest I can't find. None of them are happy.

If I'm lucky enough to have any of them live through this will also switch to 5% water changes twice a week in the future that's for sure.

Whiskey

 

[wicca27]

ph shock? as ro water sits it will change in ph. heck my ro starts out at 5 when i run it and by a couple days later its at 7.

 

[Whiskey]

Well,.. The other shoo dropped - All the shrimp are dead, even the cherry that I've had for over a year, and of course all the bee shrimp.

That's really depressing, they were saddled to, and doing so well.

Whiskey

 

[thelub]

That sucks. Things can start growing in water storage containers, even if they hold RO. It would be good practice to wash the container out once a week or so. Even do a mild bleach rinse. I've also seen ammonia creep up in storage containers. Sounds like you need to get some testing solutions for your office.

If I had some spare cherrys I'd send them your way but I only have a few in my tank ATM.

 

[Master503]

Aw sorry to hear about your loss. I wonder does something really grow from container for period of time when you didnt wash that? Personally I havent wash any container (5gal bottle water) and nothing wrong ... Only/rarely sometime 1-2 dead ..not sure ehat happen to your tank

 

[Whiskey]

I got home and tested my water,.. I don't have any flaming red flags but I might have found a potential problem.

Both new and old water had 0 nitrate, nitrite, ammonia
New water was 135 TDS old 137 so no difference there
KH on both new and old were 0

But! The GH in the tank had worked its way down to 2.5ish, and the water change water was at 4.5,.. 2 points GH higher.

Do you think the difference in GH could be the cause?

Whiskey

 

[thelub]

I can't believe a GH of that magnitude would cause them to all keel over like that. But I'm no shrimp pro so don't take that as gospel but I suspect something else.

 

[ChadO]

Just a long shot here...was the substrate stirred at all - even just a little bit? We're focusing a lot on the water, but if you had a gas bubble/pocket, or something in the substrate that was stirred up during the course of the water change, it might make it look like it was the water, when in fact it was something already present in the tank. I just can't see a 10% change of good water by the tests that you have done causing a reaction like that.

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[Whiskey]

Just a long shot here...was the substrate stirred at all - even just a little bit? We're focusing a lot on the water, but if you had a gas bubble/pocket, or something in the substrate that was stirred up during the course of the water change, it might make it look like it was the water, when in fact it was something already present in the tank. I just can't see a 10% change of good water by the tests that you have done causing a reaction like that.

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Yes actually,.. but only a very tiny bit. I cleaned the glass with this tiny acrylic sponge all the way to the substrate and that did involve touching it.

Whiskey

 

[wicca27]

messing with substrate can release ammo and toxic gas. its bacteria and will smell like rotten eggs, even if a bubble comes up if shrimp are in the area it can kill them a little later days to weeks. so if you did disturb substrate its possible they got hit with ammo or gas release.

 

[Pika]

Man, this whole thread is scary! I'm so sorry this happened to you, Whiskey, and it sucks to know you can do the same thing so many times and one day *poof* everything goes wrong some mysterious way. Excuse me while I go bleach my bucket for traces of invisible contaminant, and stare at my tank to try to locate lurking invisible deadly bacterial gas bubbles... (Kidding... Sorta.)

 

[thelub]

I don't think gas build up in the substrate is THAT bad. For a while in one tank I had a problem with anaerobic pockets building up. I would work through the substrate and release so much my fiance was getting mad I was stinking up the living room. None of the fish were ever adversely affected by it. Shrimp might be another thing, but I don't think so.

Since its in an office, is it possible that a janitor sprayed something close by that ended up in the aquarium? That's always my concern with having office tanks. It doesn't take much to wipe out an aquarium, especially if its small.

 

[Whiskey]

I think this was something I did, because the shrimp were just fine before I started the water change.

It could be something in the substrate I suppose, but I've done the same thing before without ill effects. I didn't dig down in it or anything, I just touched it with the cleaning sponge thing, and I didn't notice any smell. I think part of this will always remain a mystery.

I think how I'm going to move forward, is to get the tank back to GH 4 - 5, let it stabilize a bit, then order some more Crystal Reds.

I'll do only 5% water changes from here on out, and do them more often if needed. I suspect the very small size of this tank, and the fact that I can't drip the water in is what ultimately lead to this event.

Does that sound like a good plan?
Whiskey