# HELP, can't keep shrimp alive?



## elaphe (Aug 24, 2006)

I have tried Ammano and Ghost Shrimp. All end up the same, DEAD! They aren't being killed by fish. They seem to molt and die? Before this, all they do is stay in one spot and "rock" back and forth. They never run around and eat anything?

I was using 100% RO/DI water with Barr's GH booster and baking soda for the KH. I was running my pH around 6.2, 5 dGH and 3dKH. With this I killed off many Ammano and Ghost shrimp.

I was thinking they were missing something, so I started making water changes with 75% RO/DI water and 25% tap water. This is giving me a pH of 6.2, 8 dGH and 2.5 dKH. I bought 4 Ammano's Monday and they are all rocking back and forth and not eating. I even check them at night and they are doing the same thing. None have molted yet.

Will the tap water give them all the traces that they need?

Do they need Iodine? More Ca? More KH, GH?

I really want shrimp, but they don't seem to want me?

BTW - water temps are 74 to 75 and I'm injecting 1 bps of CO2. Fish and plants are doing great!

Thanks for the help,
Brian


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## Burks (May 25, 2006)

Does your tap water contain any heavy metals? Like copper?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I wonder if they are healthy stock to begin with? The RO system should be removing any heavey metals and chloramine from the water so that's likely not the problem.


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

The carbon that comes in all RO units do not remove chloramines and things that produce ammonia. I have an RO unit and have to dose Seachem Prime to the water. You might want to test the RO water for ammonia.

-Pedro


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

elaphe said:


> Will the tap water give them all the traces that they need?


It might it might not.



elaphe said:


> Do they need Iodine? More Ca? More KH, GH?


No need for iodine. You KH/GH seems fine. A varied diet witll give them all the nutrients needed.

-Pedro


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## Musket (Jun 7, 2006)

I think you need to treat your water, no matter what kind for chlorine and chloraminines. I have used START RIGHT for years with great success. It wasn't till I ran out and the store also had none *so I used something else that others have luck with* and had many many losses -- fish, shrimp and snails.
It's worth a try anyway.


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## kaganesti (Oct 1, 2006)

perhaps it's a acclimation problem?
The shrimp died from a pH shock? Temp shock?..etc


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## JohnPaul (Aug 28, 2006)

What are your other water parameters? Most dwarf shrimp species (incluing ghost and amano) can be very sensitive to nitrates. Nitrate levels of 40 ppm can be fine for fish and great for plants, but wipe out shrimp.

People who are hardcore shrimp keepers insist on nitrates never being higher than 5 ppm in shrimp tanks. Perhaps that's your problem.

The other possibility is copper. Have you ever dosed that tank with anything (i.e. disease treatment) that contains copper? Do the ferts you are dosing in the tank contain copper? For whatever reason, shrimp are just super sensitive to copper, so that could be a potential reason also.


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## elaphe (Aug 24, 2006)

I already had 4 Amano shrimp in there and they weren't doing so well. They tend to double over and "pick" at their swimmeretts, when they aren't rocking back and forth. I added 4 ghost shrimp, just to see how they would act. Everyone was just kind of there, not thriving, but not dieing.

I then added a double dose of Prime. Within 30 min, the Amanos were out picking at algae, and the ghosts where moving around.

I tested my nitrates and amonia. Nitrates were at 20ppm and amonia was at 0ppm. I then tested my tap water. Nitrates were off the scale and amonia was 1.5ppm. Then tested my RO/DI water both were 0ppm.

I'm going back to 100% RO/DI water for changes with Barr's GH boster and baking soda for GH. This way I can control what is in the water. Our lake levels are very low right now, and this could have some affect on the quality of our tap water? I know my prefilters on my RO unit are taking a beating, I'm having to replace them about twice as much as normal right now.

I'm wondering if the CSM+B could have anything to do with it? 2 years ago I had a tank setup with some easy plants and was dosing the full Seachem line and was able to keep Amano and Ghost shrimps alive then. On this new tank that I have I went with the dry ferts to save money. Do you think the dry ferts could have anything to do with it?

Dosing
1/4 tsp N 3x week
1/32 tsp P 3x week
1/16 tsp K 3x week
1/32 tsp CSM+B 3x week
1/64 tsp 10% Iron chelate 1x week

Accoring to the Fertalator, these numbers are all within check and my plants are doing great. Crypt parva and Toninia are growing like weeds!

I'm thinking about ditching the CSM+B and going with Fourish or TMG for the traces.

Thanks for all the help,
Brian


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