# Cherry shrimp help



## XZero38 (Aug 22, 2011)

I have a planted tank that has been set up for roughly a month now, its my first planted tank and its doing quite well. I dose with flourish potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen every monday and thursday.
I decided to also make it a shrimp tank as well, so i added some cherry shrimp a few days ago, but a bunch of them have already died. There is also an otto in there as well, its been in there for a week and is doing fine. 
There is lots of algae growing on the piece of driftwood in there and i put in half of a omega one veggie round for the otto every couple days. Any insight as to why the shrimp are dying off? 

KH 40ppm
GH ~150ppm
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
ph 7.2


----------



## Gordonrichards (Apr 28, 2009)

They like clean water. Possible that your nutrients bothered them in a way.
Not 100% sure, as they tend to be cockroaches.

Where did you purchase them from?

How long did it take for them to die? 24 hour period of time?

What temperature is your water? Is it over 80 degrees?

Is there any reason why you dose your tank twice a week?
I think I dose NPK once a month in my most heavily planted tank once a month.

-Gordon


----------



## Nat N (Jun 6, 2010)

Hi,
The first thing which comes to my mind reading your description is heavy metal poisoning. Do you use tap water? If you do, what tap water conditioner do you use? You need the one which not only neutralizes chlorine and chloramine but binds heavy metals, too.


----------



## XZero38 (Aug 22, 2011)

i got the shrimp from theshrimpfarm.com, the ones that died did so 24-48 hours after i put them in the tank. temp stays around 78 F

I do use tap water but i treat it first before i put it in the tank. i use stress coat+ and stress zyme+.


----------



## Nat N (Jun 6, 2010)

Yes, it is definately something in your tank - non-organic - which is poisoning them. Your ferts regime is far too extensive and there is a possibility that something's leaking from your substrate (depends what you used). 
Last winter, I decided to get rid of riccia from my tank with Cherries. I pulled it out but undecided if I want to re-use it elsewhere, I put it in a small plastic tab with some aquarium water... and forgot about it as I put it in the concervatory and it was far too cold to visit very often... I know, this does not speak much for my housekeeping routine... Anyway, when I rediscovered the tab eventually, the water was all murky and green - and there were 6 (!!!) Cherries in there. They obviously got caught in the riccia being babies and grew there! The only thing they had was light from the window, riccia and rampant algae to eat - and that's it. No heater, filter, water changes... nothing.
So, they are pretty tough unless there is something inorganic which is bothering them. I suggest you have a look into the possible sources of excessive inorganic "stuff" and this should sort the problem. Of course, you need to make sure your tank is suitable again before you decide to add another batch...
I hope this helps and this fiasco did not put you off...


----------



## XZero38 (Aug 22, 2011)

i think its seachem brand, but the gravel is red. i really dont remember the name.

here is a link to my flickr which has pictures of my shrimp tank.

__
https://flic.kr/p/6104583819


----------



## XZero38 (Aug 22, 2011)

i checked its flourite red substrate


----------



## dstrong (Feb 13, 2011)

How thoroughly did you aclimatize(sp?) them to your tankwater before adding them? Your temp is fairly high if you were just going to dump them in your tank. Add that to a possible ph difference, stress from light and shipping and its pretty easy to kill shipped livestock if your not careful.

Also how often do you dose micros and how much?


----------



## Disturbed (Aug 17, 2011)

Like everyone is saying cherries are pretty hardy. It could of been a combination of things as well. The stress from shipping then if they were low ph raised and dumped into a high ph tank or vice versa that could do it. Along with the high fert doses. I would be willing to bet it was the combo of things and not just something wrong with the water. By looking at your pic you don't have anything out of the ordinary in there to reek havock. How are the rest doing now?


----------



## XZero38 (Aug 22, 2011)

i acclimated them over a 4 hour period before i put them in the tank.

I was adding ferts twice a week, but i think im gonna try only once a week. I only added 1 ml of each twice a week.

the rest seem to be doing alright, i havent found anymore dead shrimp yet.


----------



## dstrong (Feb 13, 2011)

Weird were they the same ph?


----------



## koebwil (Sep 28, 2011)

I would swap from flourish to something without copper in it. It's not a lot in there, but that's really all that I see that's wrong with this setup, aside from the too much ferts someone mentioned before. Where did the driftwood come from?


----------



## dstrong (Feb 13, 2011)

I use yamato green in my shrimp tank for over a year with no problems. I was even using the max dose for several months. Shrimp seem to be able to handle some copper but I'm not sure what the toxic level would be. If you looked that up and compared it to the amount per dose you are using you might be able to confirm or eliminate that as the problem.


----------



## wHeEzO (Feb 8, 2006)

shouldn't be metal poisoning if not all your shrimps died. maybe a few that are stressed. but if the rest died, then it may have something to do with your tap water or something that you're dosing.


----------

