# still loosing shrimps



## Anafranil (Mar 15, 2005)

Unfortunally I am still loosing shrimps.I bought 15 glass and 3 amanos a month ago and I was loosing shrimps occasionally until now that I'm left with half.I also lost cardinals which died one by one in one and a half week.My parameters are fine and I definately don't have any ammonium.I came up with only one hypothesis,my water is very soft and fishes were not acclimated for a long time.The dealer's waters were very hard in both shrimp and fish,may the difference in osmosis was too much for the ardinals to handle.I don't know if it is also true for shrimps.This is the only reason I can think of,any suggestions?


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

How do you acclimate them? Have you increased the buffering like I had suggested with Calcium carbonate or coral shell? This also helps them with their exoskelatal development. I also suggest a bit of nori (unseasoned seaweed) or a drop or two of reef Iodide/iodine with water changes.


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## Anafranil (Mar 15, 2005)

I haven't because I wanted to maintain the pH I had,if I raised the carbonate hardness I should lower pH too to keep the balance of co2,how important is Ca to their exoskeleton?Can it low Ca end lethal?To be honest with you is not loosing the shrimps that bother me so much but a bit more concerned about my water,how about something is wrong with it,that's why i keep mentioning cardinals.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Well what is your KH and how much co2 are you injecting? Do you inject 24 hours or only during the daytime? If you are injecting 24 hours, I would recommend a kh of at least a 3.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

You mention no ammonia, but what are your nitrates running? If that's running on the high side, it could certainly cause the losses.
Also, what are the pH, GH and KH readings? With that info, it may help us uncover what might be going on in your tank. It's really tough to go on "my water parameters are fine", if we want to really dig into it.

Keep us posted.


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## Anafranil (Mar 15, 2005)

I am sorry for not giving you more info,my mistake,it's because i've gone over and over these things so many times I thought should be ok.I raised my KH from 4 to 6 after suggestions from Psicesgirl.GH should be about 7-8.I didn't thing minerals would be so vital to shrimps.I never studied them seriously.Some of them died before I started feeding them algae wafers.I thought they could live on algae,I had them for 2 weeks don't know if not feeding them had anything to do with it.but the last couple of shrimps I lost were after I fed them.Anyway thanks a lot for your help and I would like some comments on the shrimp's preferences on water chemistry...
Is it likely they died of mineral deficiency?

PS:my nitrates are about 20ppm


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

I'm not so sure if it was mineral deficiency if your kh was 4 to begin with -- well, depending on how you raised the kh. What did you use to raise your kh? 4 was probably ok, I had thought it was less than that because you stated that your water was very soft. NitrAtes at 20 are fine. It may just be that we don't find a solution to your shrimp problem. They may have been sickly to begin with. 

Has there been any copper in that tank -- like ick medications, etc?


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## gnome (Jan 27, 2004)

Temperature? 

Dechlorinator/dechloraminator?

Do you use ferts? Which ones and how much?


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## Anafranil (Mar 15, 2005)

no,no copper in the tank.I'm dosing the regular macros and traces.Anyway thanks a lot,I'm probably too unlucky to have shrimps


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## Anafranil (Mar 15, 2005)

I just wantet to inform you I stopped loosing Shrimps,I raised my water hardness to 10GH and saw no problems from then.In fact some of the Shrimps I considered dead they were just hiding.anyway maybe water hardness is a critical factor afterall


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## mrmagnan (Jan 29, 2005)

gnome said:


> Temperature?
> 
> Dechlorinator/dechloraminator?
> 
> Do you use ferts? Which ones and how much?


I second temperature. Cardinals are kept at 86F in our local fish store because they are shipped at high temps to reduce mortality (so I'm told). Kept losing them until I upped the temperature when I got some new ones and then slowly brought it down back to normal.

Don't move more than 2F per day.

mrm


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