[Raymant87]

Need help, I am not sure why my shrimp are dieing. I have Blue Carbon Rili's. According to people I've talked to my tank parameters should be OK.

Water parameters:
pH - 7.8-8ppm
Ammonia - 0ppm
NO2 (Nitrite) - 0ppm
NO3 (Nitrate) - 40-80ppm
KH - 5
GH - 11

6gallon fluval edge with java moss (tied down to stainless steel) and cabomba plants. Black shrimp sand sediment. I use Prime solution to treat my water and nothing else. I also have red algae in my tank at the moment.

I'm pretty sure it isn't a molting problem because I've seen many of them molt their outer layer with no issues. The shrimp are dieing 1 by 1 slowly I get about 1-2 deaths a week.

I've seen 2-3 shrimp die with the shells on their heads fanned opened after death. I've seen 2 die right after a 1 gallon water change. The rest are just dieing 1 by 1 with no cracks in their shells or anything. I've seen a few look like they are alive and well and then an hour later they are just standing in the same spot but dead.

I'm out of ideas on why they are dieing any help would be very appreciated.

 

[Raymant87]

hmm some people have suggested to lower pH levels but others say that they have a high pH level like mine and they aren't having issues so I wasn't sure if I should lower mine or not. How do I go about lowering the pH levels?

Is there a solution for lowering nitrates? or should I get more plants to absorb the nitrates?

I am not adding any shrimp minerals to the water.

I have no idea what my TDS is, I have no testing kit for this

As for the water I used to use straight from the tap but they seemed to be dieing a lot faster. So I decided to use filtered drinking water and did a half tank water change with that and I didn't get any deaths for about 1 week until they started dieing again.

 

[Raymant87]

Thanks for the info guys. I have purchased a tds pen and it will arrive early next week.

When I used the tap water i did let it sit with prime solution for 24 hours. Honestly I think at one point i did do the to much prime issue I will have to be more careful with that.

And i will have to look into lowering the nitrate levels. I will probably have to get a few moss balls so that i can counter the nitrate.