# Is my tank Cherry Shrimp Tank a death trap?



## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

OK heres the deal:

10 gallon
Aquasoil Amazonia
HEAVILY planted
Dose KH2PO4, Plantex CSM+B, Flourish Iron
DIY CO2
PH 6.0 (could be less; this was the lowest the test would go....) 

Tank in habitants are only Otto's, snails, and cherries.

Tank has a nice piece of driftwood.

If I put a Hikari Algae Wafer in the tank the shrimp rarely even go after. I think maybe there is enough stuff in the tank to feed them.

I only see about 4-5 cherries out and about at a time. The tank is very very heavily planted so there are many places for them to hide. I have seen and extracted 5 dead cherries, but of course there could have been a lot more dead in the mass of plants and eaten by the snails.

I am really worried that most of my cherries are dead and that is why I don't see many. I am also worried that the low PH is killing them. Please let me know what you think based on what I have told you....

Am I over reacting? Are the cherries just good at hiding? Would I find a lot more dead cherries instead of just 5 if they were all dying?


Thanks,

Ryan


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## bristles (Mar 7, 2006)

I'm not a cherry expert but, I have kept them in a number of different tanks under different water parameters & I lost all my cherries in the tank with a low PH. It never got to PH6 it was in the 6.5 range. This is just my experience, I'm sure that the invertebrate experts will chime in soon with a more definitive explanation.


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## duchessren (Sep 16, 2006)

The cherry reds like their pH a little higher than 7.0 in the alkaline range in my own experience. They breed better and get redder. I've never had my pH that low, so I don't know if that should be killing them or not. My pH is around 6.8ish and they breed very well for me, though I know they'd like it higher. I suppose if I were you and didn't have other tank inhabitants that needed such a low pH, I'd work on getting that up a bit for the shrimps' sake. Good luck!


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## Shrimp&Snails (Mar 27, 2006)

I would also raise the PH for the snail's shells. A low PH causes shell erosion.

The additives could have something to do with the shrimp deaths....I don't add anything (except declorinator) to my tiger and cherry tanks since they don't like metals such as iron and copper.


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

How can I raise my PH safely without chemicals?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

If your PH is 6 then that is too low IMO. I shrimp tank stays at between 6.5 and 7.0 PH. I would reduce the amount of C02 being injected and see if that brings the PH up. Also make sure that the KH is 3 or above, which will keep the PH more stable.

Plantex CSM+B has a good amount of copper in it, this is way I stopped using it in my shrimp tank. I now use Kent micro for the shrimp tank and very little of it.

Cherry's are very good at hiding and may be alive some where in the tank. On the other hand they could also be dead, since you've already found bodys. I never see all my Cherrys at once, usually only one or two (I have 6).


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## duchessren (Sep 16, 2006)

If you're not going to raise the pH a whole lot, I might add some Kent Iodine. Its in the marine section. I use this even with harder water as its good for the invertebrates anyway. Do you use RO water?


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

No. I use straight tap water. Tap PH is 7.4. I think the combination of the ADA Amazonia, Driftwood, and DIY CO2. It is dropping the PH a whole lot...

Sucks because my tanks always used to be 7.2 before I added driftwood and ADA AS.

-Ryan


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

Your tank is fine, I've been keeping Cherries for three years now and the only think that should be wrong is your Ammonia levels, or sudden ph changes due to co2 or something. Other than that your shrimp should be fine and breeding like rabbits. And inverts mostly come out at night or when it's pretty warm so you shouldn't bee too worried about it.


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## DJKronik57 (Apr 17, 2006)

My opinion: the CSM+B is killing your shrimp. Not everyone will agree, but for me it was definitely the culprit. At first I thought it was Excel, but then I stopped CSM+B and my shrimp stopped dying. 

They did the same thing as yours: hid all day. I saw maybe 1 or 2 out and about, but most of them hid all the time. They didn't eat when I dropped in food either. Then I found one half dead, twitching. That's when I knew something was wrong. Through the process of elimination (I add all fertilizers except CSM+B to my tank now with no problems) I'm concluding it was CSM+B, which contains some heavy metals that may be toxic to shrimp.

Now I see shrimp out and about all the time and haven't lost one since I got a new batch a few months ago (to replace the ones CSM+B killed).


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

Do you mix your gw ferts in water before you dump it in or do you just dump it in? And excel overdose never kill shrimps.. Even at a 5x overdose.


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## GlitcH (Aug 21, 2006)

Hey Ryan.....when u do PWC's what percentage do you change?

Your tap being at 7.4 and your shrimp being use to 6.0 or under may be the cause of the deaths if you're doing a sizeable PWC. At the very least I am sure that would stress out my shrimp.

I also agree that CSM+B can cause deaths if you are not doing a significant weekly PWC. 

Your tank/tap PH makes it tough to do a good size water change without causing stress on the RCS so you may want to cut out the dosing for a while and see how things go.


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

Thanks everyone. 

I have stopped using CSM. I also only change 30% of the water, and I may cut that down even more maybe to 20% 2x week.

I have added a bubbler to the tank which goes on for a while at night and periodically during the day. It has raised the ph to 6.5 and I am trying to keep it steady at about 6.8. I am testing the ph a lot and mixing up the bubbler times in order to achieve constant ph at 6.8.


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