Help! shrimp mysteriously dying

[abbytherookiehuman]

ok about 3 months ago I bought a batch of 10 rcs and slowly I started noticing that there were less and less in my tank. about one month ago I bought 20 more shrimp and they were doing great until about a week ago. I noticed one dead shrimp and just assumed it was random but yesterday there were two more and today there was yet another dead shrimp. and that’s just what I can see!
I also noticed two planarian worms three days ago and treated the tank with no planaria(shrimp safe). the next day was when I found two dead shrimp.
I did a small water change after the first death and another yesterday. I tested the water and found nothing wrong
can someone help me out and tell me what i’m doing wrong
it’s a 31gal planted tank with two sponge filters and it’s set to 22° celsius

one of the dead shrimp

a healthy shrimp

two dead shrimp

 

[richiep]

sorry to here this abby your wster looks good
that shrimp in the second photo can you siphon him into a clear tube and take s closer pic like my photo

 

[abbytherookiehuman]

I have a gala day today but i’ll get onto that when I get home

 

[jamieriedinger20]

Check ph.
They are sensitive to big drops.

 

[abbytherookiehuman]

Check ph.
They are sensitive to big drops.

look at above picture for water tests

so there were no dead shrimp today that I could see. richie.p did you want me to get a live one or a dead one?

 

[richiep]

A dead one don't stress the live ones, this is only to try and identify disease, if you can take close ups of the live in the tank we may be able to see something in its early stage

 

[abbytherookiehuman]

A dead one don't stress the live ones, this is only to try and identify disease, if you can take close ups of the live in the tank we may be able to see something in its early stage

Thank you. I can't see any dead shrimp today and all the live shrimp are acting really skittish like they'll be chilling still and suddenly theyll jump a few inches away. I can see 8 now and can't get any good photos but here you go

 

[richiep]

When did you do your last water change and how much

 

[abbytherookiehuman]

When did you do your last water change and how much

last one must have been 3-4 days ago. another dead shrimp yesterday but I couldn’t reach it

 

[Inner10]

First thing I'd do is check all water parameters. Your PH looks maxed out, check with a high range test. What's your KH? GH? What's the substrate in the tank?

 

[richiep]

last one must have been 3-4 days ago. another dead shrimp yesterday but I couldn’t reach it

Use a tube and suck it into it

 

[abbytherookiehuman]

Use a tube and suck it into it

It was away in a corner behind some rocks and I couldn't reach it with a tube

 

[barbiespoodle]

Maybe only me, but what is your water temperature?

I made the mistake of keeping my temps in the high 70 Fahrenheit, don't know what that is as far as Celsius. It was because my shrimp tank started as a grow out tank for my live bearer fry and I just never thought to change it.

I started having unexplained shrimp death, always the larger ones. Wasn't constant, I'd find one and then a few days or a few weeks later, another.

At first I'm like, ok, they are not long lived, maybe they were old.

But I have since learned that the higher the temp, the higher the metabolic rate of the shrimp, in short, they grow faster, but have a shorter life.

I slowly reduced my water temps to the low 70's and the babies are still fine and the older ones are also thriving.

Just a thought to consider.

 

[abbytherookiehuman]

Maybe only me, but what is your water temperature?

I made the mistake of keeping my temps in the high 70 Fahrenheit, don't know what that is as far as Celsius. It was because my shrimp tank started as a grow out tank for my live bearer fry and I just never thought to change it.

I started having unexplained shrimp death, always the larger ones. Wasn't constant, I'd find one and then a few days or a few weeks later, another.

At first I'm like, ok, they are not long lived, maybe they were old.

But I have since learned that the higher the temp, the higher the metabolic rate of the shrimp, in short, they grow faster, but have a shorter life.

I slowly reduced my water temps to the low 70's and the babies are still fine and the older ones are also thriving.

Just a thought to consider.

my tank is ~24° celsius so i’ll turn it down to 22 when I get home and see if anything changes. I counted 8 shrimp last night and haven’t noticed any deaths in the past couple of days. the tank is also finally crystal clear

 

[abbytherookiehuman]

I've just found my first berrie!!! She only seems to have three or four eggs though. Could there be a reason for this? I think this is her first clutch and I'm worried about her dropping them or dying. I'm too scared to touch the tank at all now in case I mess something up

First thing I'd do is check all water parameters. Your PH looks maxed out, check with a high range test. What's your KH? GH? What's the substrate in the tank?

High range had similar results. Substrate is a mix of river gravel, pisces black quartz and Oliver Knott sand that's really fine (iron sand?). I'll test the rest when I get home

 

[abbytherookiehuman]

Spoke too soon. Had another death today. I couldn't see a body huts a couple of hours ago and when I came out just now I saw two other shrimp nibbling at him (trying to eat his exoskeleton I think)

He was only little. Can someone tell me what might have happened to him?

 

[abbytherookiehuman]

First thing I'd do is check all water parameters. Your PH looks maxed out, check with a high range test. What's your KH? GH? What's the substrate in the tank?

kh is ~3 with gh at 5
TDs is 130
Ph looks like it might be around 8!!!

I’m pretty confident that ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all 0
Copper tested negative
What am I missing?

 

[abbytherookiehuman]

Another death! Can someone please offer me some guidance

 

[FantasyFanVII]

Are you running CO2? I've had issues with it and shrimp before.
What are you feeding them, and how often? Do they seem like they're eating normally? I know it's impossible to make sure every single shrimp eats, but a good sign is a large group of them congregating to where the food is whenever you feed them.
That test looks more like 7.4 Ph to me, although it can be hard to tell with them, especially in a pic. It shouldn't matter if it is 8 though. I've kept neocaridin shrimp in tanks with 8 Ph with no issues.
If all else fails, you could try general meds. I've used Aquarium Co-Op's before with shrimp and never had issues with it. I've only ever run them lightly though. I'll dose all the meds together at a regular dosage, wait a week, do a 40-50% water change, then do it again for one more week. If nothing in the tank has shown any sign of illness, they leave QT.
Of course it'd be better to identify exactly what's going on, but it might be worth trying.
This really is an odd one. All your water parameters seem fine, and there's nothing obviously wrong with the shrimp. Note: I'm not a vet, so I could be missing something. I'm sorry this is happening, and hopefully we can sort it out.

 

[abbytherookiehuman]

I’m not running co2 and I feed them varied commercial foods like micro pellets, snowflake sticks, shrimp cuisine and a few others. I feed them a small amount almost every day and usually they come together for a nibble. There are only about 10 in the tank right now including one carrying two eggs. I don’t want her to die and I want her babies to be healthy. I don’t want to go buy more shrimp and have them all die on me too.