# Bamboo shrimp keep dying



## slvrknght8 (Aug 24, 2006)

I've seen multiple threads on Bamboo shrimp and how everyone has kept them for some time. Unfortunately this is not the case for my shrimp. I've brought two home and the first one died overnight and the second after a few days. After the first one died, I checked my water and saw I had some nitrites anywhere from 0-5 (inconsistent test kit), and nitrates at about 30 ppm. Everything else was as follows:

pH: 6.4
Ammonia: 0 ppm
gH: 260 ppm
kH: 50 ppm.

This is all in a mid-heavy planted 20 H tank with 3.2 wpg, DIY CO2 (2 X 2L bottles). I run the C02 for ten hours a day through a powerhead which provides them with a current. I havent started fertilizing yet so that cant be it and the tank has been up and running for about 5 weeks with the lasts few plants recently planted a few days ago. This is all the info I can come up with right now. Any ideas as to why they would keep dying on me? I would love to have these guys running around my tank but I cant seem to keep them alive and I don't want to kill another one.


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## tfmcder (Feb 22, 2006)

Do you have any fish in the tank? They are pretty defenseless little guys and get picked on by nippy fish. I have one and it got attacked by my baby loaches and had to be moved.

My bamboo shrimp is happy and healthy (and fat) now in his new home with more peaceful tank mates. He has been in there for about six months now. 

My tank specs are:

PH:7.5
GH:150ppm
KH:180ppm
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:20ppm

I also have DIY CO2 fed through a powerhead for ~12 hrs/day.
O, and the tank is a heavily planted 30 gallon extra high...so i don't get to see him as much as i'd like.

I know this post isn't really an answer but I hope it can give you some insight or maybe a place to start researching.

Another thing you may want to check is the parameters of the water that they are coming from. The guy at my LFS told me to be very careful acclimating them to my tank. He said that while they were hardy they also were like a lot of other inverts and are pretty sensitive to sudden shifts in their environment. Hope this helps a little.


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## YuccaPatrol (Mar 26, 2006)

Nitrites, even in small amounts, will kill invertebrates pretty easily. 

You may want to wait a couple months until your tank stabilizes before trying again.

Also, you could just be getting weak/sick shrimp from the store that would have no chance regardless of your water conditions.

Have you tested your pH at a range of different times during to day to ensure that your CO2 is not causing large pH swings? 

Just some ideas.. . . .

Ideally, you'll want zero ammonia and nitrite, and keep nitrate as low as possible. These shrimp also need good structures to climb on so that they can get to an area of high water flow for filter feeding.


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## slvrknght8 (Aug 24, 2006)

Thanks guys for those replied. They were both helpful and gave me some insight. I don't have any fish in the tank and it might have been the nitrite. I'm assuming there may be a pH swing going on since my kH is so low but i'll have to check on it today. Would it be a good idea to increase my kH with something like baking soda to stabilize pH swings somewhat? If not what would be a better way fo doing this? Also, how do you guys acclimate new animals, be it fish or inverts into your tank? How can I make a drip tank like the LFS's do?


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## itchy201 (Aug 28, 2006)

slvrknght8 said:


> Also, how do you guys acclimate new animals, be it fish or inverts into your tank? How can I make a drip tank like the LFS's do?


Most lfs that i have seen puts the fish in a bucket and use a a piece of airline hose with a knot on it to drip acclimate the fish.


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## thekarens (Sep 5, 2006)

You can put your shrimp (or fish) in a container with enough water from the store. You can buy an airline valve at Petsmart, Petco, whatever for less than $2. You put the airline in the tank, adjust the flow to just drip. Once the water volume doubles you pour out half the water and do it again. Ideally invertebrates should be acclimated VERY slowly, at least a couple hours. The drops should be very slow and that's why it takes so long. My only experience doing this is with a reef tank, but I can tell you it does make a difference. Inverts are sensitive.


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