Shrimp turning inactive and dying

Hello again! Soo I prepared even more carefully for my new blue dream shrimp this time around, and still seem to be having issues of the shrimps starting to turn white/paler, getting sluggish, and then dying! I received a little over 20 on 8/22 and so far I have lost about 10 of those over the course of the past 9-10 days I can’t figure it out! They are in a 5g tank (pic attached) that has been cycled a long time (used to have one betta in it, now it has just the shrimp and bladder snails that snuck in but I don’t mind them lol) I have a ton of diff live plants and java moss, cholla, moss balls, etc that they seem to like and I verry slowly drip acclimated them over the course of several hours when I first got them ... my water parameters seem okay to me, and also have been remaining pretty stable since I got them

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
GH : 6 (107.4)
KH : 3 (53.7)
PH : 7.6
TDS : 268-271

I have no heater in there , but my house is pretty warm and sometime the water temp does make it up to about 82.. maybe that is it? or do these water parameters look off?

Any advice would be much appreciated! I hate seeing my little adorable shrimps die when I’m trying so hard to do the right thing! (I’m also starting to wonder if I should have just tried with some cheaper cherry shrimp! ‍♀️ I just love that gorgeous blue! )

-Steph

 

Yeah I’m planning to do a partial water change soon to try to get rid of some of them , although now I am super nervous to do any water changes but it’s a necessity...

 

Yeah I’m planning to do a partial water change soon to try to get rid of some of them , although now I am super nervous to do any water changes but it’s a necessity...

Go easy on it
Those weren't planaria and shouldn't be harmful

 

Go easy on it
Those weren't planaria and shouldn't be harmful

Oh phew , that’s good to know!

 

Noobie question here. Trying to follow and maybe misunderstanding. Are we leaning toward the possible cause of death being Muscular Necrosis or something else like dying from failed molting? If failed molts, what about mineralizing with shrimp salt or calcium?

 

Hi Thaijade, I don’t think they were failed molts, they were just dead and turning white / pink - so far no more deaths though and a couple more successful molts so my fingers are crossed !

 

Well I came home tonight and found another poor dead shrimp - it looks like I got to this one pretty soon , it doesn’t seem to be turning white yet ... I also found this shed skin that looked a little weird, but maybe I’m just being paranoid now lol not even positive it’s related to the same shrimp that died but it was in the same area of the tank

 

Ahhh another one from earlier today it seems to happen just as soon as I start to think the rest are going to be fine! Today they are super active again and I noticed the female was fanning her swimmerets around a whole lot last night/this evening , hoping that’s a good sign as I would absolutely love to see some baby shrimps! I’m wondering if you guys think it’s a good idea to try to a few shrimp from a diff place if my water params are remaining stable ? (Not that There was anything wrong with these ones disease-wise but maybe they can’t from water that was just to different ? )

Also I have a few questions I feel stupid about asking but I’m reading all diff stuff online - I held off on the water change last time as I didn’t want to stir anything up.. how often would you guys do PWC on 5g that has just the shrimps and bladder snails? Should I go really easy on the gravel vac? (I have a turkey baster I can Use instead of the gravel vacs )

I also read that in a mature tank with algae and biofilm that they don’t need to be fed everyday so a few times a week as a treat I have been putting in some shrimp pellets and they go NUTS for them! They even seem to fight over them until they all have a piece - it makes me feel like maybe a few times a week is not enough? They seem ravenous when they get the pellets and it makes me feel guilty ! Lol

Thanks all ! Have a good night !

 

Hi again.
I have been following the thread since post #9 when I questioned the KH in your water being able to hold the PH stable and was told my information was not applicable.

Today You ask about feeding and water changes.You say you are already finding multiple choices on what people do. This is my routine.
I feed the shrimp only tank every second day with dry pellets (crab cuisine) and there is often a mulberry leaf in the tank . Zucchini about once or twice a week. Tanks that are fish fry grow outs get no shrimp food but the fish fry are getting feed 4 times a day and there is always fish food on the bare bottom tank.

My theory with water changes.
Changing water often and in fairly large volumes ( 40%) once or twice a week means the water is always fresh or it’s always the same . It’s always tap water ( with conditioner) . Any new water is the same as what was added a few days ago.
In my fry grow out tanks that get as many as 3 45% water changes each week I find the cherry shrimp thrive.

I have tried changing once a month and the shrimp did not die but they did no explode in numbers.


screenshot of young plecos in a small grow out tank with a few shrimp as live food.

 

I feed my shrimp tanks daily, and do 10% to 15% water changes weekly. It's my understanding that shrimp are more susceptible to changes to water parameters than fish, which is why it's a good idea not to do big water changes. I know there are experienced shrimp keepers who do larger water changes, but I'm not there yet.

 

Doing a small water change means the tank water gets further and further away from your tap water. After a few months the water from the tap is very different from tank water.

By your own word shrimp are susceptible to changes to water parameters.

Take my example to the extreme.
Change 40% of the water 3 times a day and the parameters are never changed.
Change 15% of the water once a month and the parameters of the chance water are very different each month.

I definitely would not do one 40% change once a month.

 

Ahhh so wait, for the shrimps I should actually be doing more frequent and larger % water changes?

 

In post #12 you mentioned adding equilibrium . Each time you mix a bucket of change water you should add the same amount of powder.?

I have read though the thread and can’t see anywhere that the current water change routine is written. I can’t answer your question if I don’t know your current routine.


If you change water each week a 30% -40% change just like a fish tank its ok for cherry shrimp.
If you change water only once a month a 40% change is possibly going to shock .

 

Thank you for clarifying Flyfisha , now I got what you were trying to say !

 

Just wanted to let everyone that was following this thread from a few months ago that the mysterious die offs stopped shortly after my last post! I don’t know what changed, but so far I have 8-9 shrimps left and they are getting bigger! So exciting! I couldn’t have done it without you all, so thank you!

 

Just wanted to let everyone that was following this thread from a few months ago that the mysterious die offs stopped shortly after my last post! I don’t know what changed, but so far I have 8-9 shrimps left and they are getting bigger! So exciting! I couldn’t have done it without you all, so thank you!

That's good to know, hope the problem is solved for good.