# CO2 = shrimp death?



## gforster (Jul 30, 2006)

So i decided to up my co2 input in my 10 gal tank to two bottles of diy co2. That was last night. This morning, i wake up to find all of my cherry shrimp dead. i really liked those guys. do you think it was a change in ph or a lack of oxygen? i would like to know as i plan on getting more cherry shrimp in the future. they were some of my favorite critters.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

A 10g shouldn't need two bottles.....


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## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

if it was too much co2 then there was a lack of water movement-oxygen in the water to compensate for the co2 addition. I also dont think u need 2 bottles on a 10 gallon


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## gforster (Jul 30, 2006)

well, what i was attempting was a smooth change as one bottle was dying out and the new one started up. hindsight being what it is, it wasn't the greatest idea. i should have just stuck with what worked.

what i would really like to know is if the death was caused by lack of O2 or a ph change, or both.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

Too much CO2 was the problem, tank water usually has an abundance of O2 in it anyway.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Death was probably caused by an excess of CO2. O2 would have no reason to be any lower than it was previously. Both gasses dissolve into the solution quite independent of one another. pH was probably low too, but this was a byproduct of high CO2 concentrations.

Higher animals, even inverts like shrimp require a blood stream to carry gasses around to their tissues. When CO2 levels (normally a waste product of metabolism) get too high, the carrier proteins (hemoglobin in humans) can't effectively carry O2. O2 levels in the water were probably just fine. O2 levels in the shrimp were probably not. Asphyxiation resulted from CO2 poisioning, not O2 depletion.


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## gforster (Jul 30, 2006)

thank you, that really helps my understanding. I have fixed my problem and actually noticed one lone shrimp roaming hte tank this morning. that poor guy must be lonely. I have no idea how he survived.


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## Purrbox (Jun 1, 2006)

If you want to use two bottles for DIY CO2 on your tank, just switch to using 1 liter bottles instead of 2 liter bottles. This will give you the consistancy of two bottles but the CO2 levels equivalent to only one 2 liter bottle. This is what I use on my 10 gallon and it seems to be working really well.


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## FobbyBobby23 (Mar 8, 2005)

turtlehead said:


> A 10g shouldn't need two bottles.....


I use 2 2 liter bottles on mym 10 gallon. Granted I have an Aquaclear Mini running on it, but I've never had any CO2 related deaths or anything. And I'm pretty densely planted....

Gforster I do the same thing you were attempting to do. And I have lots and lots of cherries in my 10 gallon, which grew from an initial colony of like 10 or so. Perhaps it's our mixtures that differ?


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