# Cataclysmic shrimp deaths...boo.



## cydric (Nov 1, 2006)

Ok, about a week and a half ago my shrimp population was absolutely thriving in my 29g heavily planted aquarium. My RCS were reproducing like mad, almost all my females were saddled and/or berried. I had shrimplets all through my taiwan moss and all over my substrate. Now they're almost pretty much wiped out. I have no idea what caused the sudden deaths as my other fish which are H. rasboras and otos are completely fine. I know shrimp are more sensitive than fish but it seemed to be an instant thing when they all started dying. 

I first noticed one of my male RCS frantically swimming around the tank then just giving up and floating down to the substrate onto his back then kicking his legs and pleopods profusely. I also noticed that his normal transparent body was "milky" in appearance and this is also a sign that the shrimp is dying. 
This was the only shrimp I noticed doing this for the night until I woke up the next morning and noticed that my other shrimp were doing the same thing, some of my females and males both doing the frantic swim around the tank and had the "milky" appearance. I instantly checked all my water parameters that I actually have tests for and they were:

NitrIte: 0
NitrAte: 0
Ammonia: 0
PH: 7.4

I have DIY CO2 going in my tank via ceramic glass diffuser that shoots out a fine bubble mist(thanks HooHa). I don't have any other test kits such as KH; GH; FE; CO2; or anything that measures for heavy metals in the water. I hope to purchase these in the future. 

Now I don't believe it's a copper issue because I only use fish food that doesn't have copper sulfate in the ingredients. I use Hikari algae pellets to feed my RCS. I also fed them red granule pieces that is supposed to enhance coloring in fish/inverts also. I don't feed that to them too often, their main diet consists of Hikari algae pellets and what ever algae is in my tank.

As for the water changes, I didn't do any up until this point when I noticed my shrimp going crazy. I checked all the water parameters before doing the water change and everything still read '0' and PH was the same. So that'd elminate copper coming into my tank via water changes. 
Since that initial water change i've done about 3 more all being 50% water changes. Even after those water changes I still lost almost all my RCS. Now I only have roughly a dozen left and I'm still not sure if they're going to make it. I saw one of my berried RCS dropping her eggs as she scoured the substrate.  My Atyopsis Moluccensis barely comes out from underneath my driftwood to perch for floating food in my water.

Anyway, with the specs i've given, would anyone know why my shrimp decided to croak in 24 hours and not gradually? Seemed like "BOOM! time to die shrimp!"

Was it because of the lack of water changes? No other suffcient water test kits? I have other fish (h. rasboras and otos) but they never bothered my shrimp to begin with, they WERE thriving and reproducing like roaches.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

From the sounds of it, the shrimp are dying from stress of poor water quality despite what the test kits say. It sounds like there were no water changes for a long time...until the day you noticed problems. It's possible the tolerance level was exceeded and all of them started feeling the effects all at the same time. 

It's possible after the water change, the weakened shrimp couldn't adjust to the new clean water parameters. 

-John N.


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## Purrbox (Jun 1, 2006)

I also agree that there is likely a water quality problem that either your test kits and/or the testing didn't pick up. I would double check to ensure that you followed the directions exactly and that the kits aren't expired. Also ensure that you are using quality liquid test kits.


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## cydric (Nov 1, 2006)

The test kits are brand new and I followed the directions to a "T". I also redid the tests for accuate measurements and I still got the said results. I'll just be sure to do more water changes from now on.


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

As mentioned before, water quality is the culprit. How long it was before you made a water change?

Also, have in mind that in most parts of USA during the winter, water has higher amounts of chloramines. Your fish might not feel it, but your shrimp will.


-Pedro


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## cydric (Nov 1, 2006)

I suppose I am/was being naive about the water changes and here is my reason behind it: I'm not dosing any chemicals into my water such as Flourish or Excel. No fertilizers only fish waste as a fertilizer and the fish I have don't produce all that much waste. I was just topping off the water evaporation every week or two.


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## southernflounder (Nov 5, 2006)

When you're topping off the tank the DOCs are more concentrated each time you top off. By not doing a water change there won't be any dilution of the DOCs.

How long was it b/w the time of the last water change b/f you saw the deaths?


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## apistaeasy (Jul 16, 2004)

DOC I'm not familiar w/that acronym.

What about phosphates? Could high phospates be a problem????


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## Purrbox (Jun 1, 2006)

DOC = Dissolved Organic Carbon

There would also be a build up of any minerals, etc in the tap water which were not bing used by the plants.

Unfortunately if it had been an extremely long time since the last water change, the tank would have been suffering from Old Tank Syndrome. When this is the case you need to do several small waterchanges to avoid shocking the inhabitants. Since the shrimp were already in trouble, if the tank was suffering from Old Tank Syndrome large water changes would have made the situation worse.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

I don't know about the lack of water changes being the source. When I moved out of my parent's, the 10gal shrimp tank in my old bedroom went unattended for months before a small water change. I had my mom drop in half an algae wafer every Sunday night and top off the water when it got too low. There wasn't even a filter or a heater on this tank, just a small pump on the back wall. There was a ton of moss that filled this tank and maybe that helped keep things safe, but the Cherries and Amanos absolutely thrived! I think in the 10 months I kept the tank at my parent's house, I only did two water changes at most.


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

I hate it when something goes wrong and you have no idea how to fix it. Hopefully a few survive and can repopulate


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## cydric (Nov 1, 2006)

The water changes seemed to help out. I don't see anymore shrimp dying or the problem somehow worked itself out.


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