# Cherry Mortality



## dstephens (Nov 30, 2005)

I have a JBJ Nano that is 6 gallons with 36 watts of PC 6700k lights. There are about 50-60 shrimp of various ages in the tank. It is heavily planted with different mosses, a few stems plants, driftwood, etc. I keep an air diffuser on 24/7 and I do not add CO2. I add flourish and excel in very small amounts 2-3 times per week. I change water 2-3 gallons at least once per week. I have been finding dead shrimp on the average of one per day for about 5 days now. Everyone else looks great. I have 5-6 pregnant females, one pregnant male, and lots of small sub-adults and babies. There are no fish in the tank. I feed Hikari Crab Cuisine and Algae wafers and blanched zuchinni sometimes. Anyway, I don't know what the normal mortality rate is for these guys and if I should be concerned and start looking for the root cause or not. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks, Darrell S.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Have you tested for nitrates or ammonia? Those are the two biggest shrimp killers. The Crab Cuisine should be fine as it contains no copper. You may possibly be overfeeding. How much are you feeding them? For that many shrimp I would only give them about 2-3 pellets per day of the Crab Cuisine.


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## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

dstephens said:


> I have 5-6 pregenant females, *one pregnant male*, and lots of small sub-adults and babies.


Huh?


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

You don't mention the species of shrimp you keep but I believe some have short life spans. If memory serves, cherry shrimp and their immediate relatives(tigers, crystal, bumble-bee) only live ~18 months. I may be wrong though. Amano's can live for many years (maybe 10) and Hawaian reds can go 25+.


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## dstephens (Nov 30, 2005)

I think I may be over feeding based on Aaron's response. I have been feeding 2-3 times that many pellets. They have been all over them and it seems like they eat them all.... I also have 2 Amanos in the tank and they both run out and take at least one pellet the minute they hit the ground. I will test for ammonia and nitrates tonight. I did a 3 gallon water change and I noticed that the activity level picked up and the water looks better overall. Dennis, they are Cherry Reds. Sorry about the crummy photos. They look like an ant hill from 10,000 feet. Sooner or later I will figure my camera out. Okay, thanks everyone for the advice. More later. Darrell


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## magb321 (May 15, 2006)

So... what happened?


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## dstephens (Nov 30, 2005)

Consistent water changes, backed off on the minimal ferts already dosed and feeding fewer pellets. I am doing 50% water changes every 3-4 days, and small ones in between if the water looks the least bit off. I also tested for everything and all parameters came back at normal readings. More later. Darrell


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

hm, you have 6 gallons of water and 36 watts of lighting? i'd think that either high temperatures or sudden shifts in temperatures are causing your cherry deaths. keep an eye on your temperature throughout the day.


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## yoink (Aug 31, 2005)

How can you tell the male is pregnant? Does he look just like a pregnant female?


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## jeff63851 (Feb 23, 2005)

I think dstephens just made a typing error.

I recently had a big tank disaster...there was an overnight bacteria bloom in one day, then the next day the bacteria bloom just left. I found all of the shrimps on the surface of the water.

I think that the shrimps are just sensitive to the water. Could it be the uneaten food polluting the water? I think that's what happened to me. You might want to check your water parameters.


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## dstephens (Nov 30, 2005)

Well, things seem to be stabilized. I had one more death. A pregnant female. Very sad. About the pregnant male, I just threw that in to be messing around............... I figured a few people would look at it and pause. The problem I'm having now is the water color. It has a yellowish tinge to it. I added a carbon bag to the back overflow to clean any extra pollutants out and that may be the culprit. I keep the fan on the tank 24/7 which here in Texas keeps the water temp between 73.5 and 75 throughout the day. The shrimp are thriving. I have babies all over the moss right now, I mean the ones you can barely see because they have no pigment at all.... They are awesome to see though. They look just like a minature adult. Let me know if you got any ideas about the yellowish water. Thanks, Darrell


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## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

Aaron is right, the biggest culprit is nitirite and ammonia. Dosing ferts and Excel have no negatvie effects on the Cherry shrimp I keep - I use to dose 7mLs of Excel daily on my 20L and I haven't witnessed any carcasses, unless of course it's the juveniles who are affected; I don't notice them as much. 

Out of the 8 I started with, 2 died during the initial cycling - now there's more than 40 in there. Don't worry about the temperature, mine are doing great at 84-86F; currently all the females in the tank are carrying eggs with very sparse feedings - they only get the leftovers.

For the water problem, I had it too as it seems the driftwood is still leeching tannins after 4 months. Dropped in a bag of Purigen into the canister and the water has never looked better. Since you're using the JBJ sump, put it into the slot inside the second chamber, that should really help the water quality especially since your 6G is overstocked.


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## dstephens (Nov 30, 2005)

Thanks for the feedback. I will pick up some Purigen today. I keep doing water chnages thinking it will clear up to no avail. I am getting ready to move some of the cherries to my 90 gallon planted tank to reduce population stress, although you could look in there first thing in the morning and only see 4-5 shrimp, then drop in the bfast pellets and in 5 minutes it looks like a fire ant hole emptied out onto something. It's crazy! Thanks, Darrell


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## Intros (Apr 26, 2006)

I have a question regarding cherry reds - which is the lower CO2 induced pH level these shrimps support? I believe they like an over 7 pH. Is this true? I had some losts since I introduced a pressurized CO2 with pH going down around 6,9 from 7,4 before CO2.


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## turbomkt (Mar 31, 2004)

I've got a bunch in my 50g with CO2 and I run it around 6.4.


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## dstephens (Nov 30, 2005)

Well, I decided to take out the carbon bag last week and when it was time to change water, I did. I added some filter material to the back compartment that contains the pump and return pipe. The water cleared up very nicely after 2 days!!! I think the lighting will always cast a somewhat yellowish look to the tank, but for now, much improved. I now have a few low grade Crystals in the tank as well. I came across them at the lfs last week. Quite a find. Anyway, I palnted some HC in the open foreground of the tank over the wekend and it is looking good for the moment. Darrell


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