White Ring Of Death In Shrimp

70% once s week is way to much and will shock them and that lead to the white ring, I only do 15% some do a little more and some less, feeding veg will help with calcium and parameters need to be checked

 

70% once s week is way to much and will shock them and that lead to the white ring, I only do 15% some do a little more and some less, feeding veg will help with calcium and parameters need to be checked

I have fish and snails in the tank too,it’s also a planted tank. How much would you recommend for a water change?

 

I have fish and snails in the tank too,it’s also a planted tank. How much would you recommend for a water change?

I'd say 50% is the limit, but I'm going off others experiences. Really just depends on how many nitrates at water change time.

 

This now depends on your fish stocking and as mentioned by RomanNoodles96 your water parameters, these are problems people face when mixed tanks, doing bigger changes also means you must be close with temperature of new water going in to that coming out, you can also have problems if your ph is higher or lower by .5

 

This now depends on your fish stocking and as mentioned by RomanNoodles96 your water parameters, these are problems people face when mixed tanks, doing bigger changes also means you must be close with temperature of new water going in to that coming out, you can also have problems if your ph is higher or lower by .5

55g tank, stocking is 5 adult platys, 3 younger platys, 10-15 baby platys, 2 mollies, 1 swordtail, 1 bn pleco, 7 mystery snails, 7 nerite snails, some Malaysian trumpet snails, and cherry shrimp. I will be testing nitrite, nitrate and ammonia after this post

 

How many gallons?

 

55gallons
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 80 and 160 (I’m guessing 120ish??)
Did a 70% water change 6 days ago
Ph of tank is also 7.6-7.7
I have well water at my house and the well water tested at zero for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and ph is same as tank water

 

I just did a 35% water change to try to lower the nitrates, I was thinking of doing another 25-30% water change in 3 days to try to lower the nitrates because they are so high, or should I not for the shrimp? None of my fish, shrimps or snails seem to be exhibiting signs of too high nitrates....
Another note on the high nitrates, I just happened to remember that 3 days ago I stirred up the gravel in my tank to try to get some of the build up out of the gravel, I can’t really gravel vac around my tank due to shrimp and baby shrimp EVERYWHERE and also I have plants and decor everywhere so it makes it hard also... I am going to test the water parameters again in a day and see where they are and also going to test the gh and kh in my tank and we’ll water at my house as soon as I can get a test kit.

 

To start off, I apologize for the length of the post. I know myself and I usually can't do that perfect, short response. I take a lot of words to get there!

I have a 55 gal community tank with different fishes, snails and shrimps; and some plants.

I have found it's easier to maintain with light stocking on the fish. This helps keep the nitrates from getting too high and requiring large volume water changes. Plus, there are fewer mouths to catch shrimplets.

Yes, I gravel vac. I use Eheim’s Quick Vac. After vacuuming, I empty the "filter unit" into a large white bowl and use a turkey baster to catch the shrimplets for return to the tank. The white bowl makes it easier to see tiny shrimplets. And, if you want to save as many shrimplets as possible, be aware I have spent hours leaning over that bowl with a light angled across it catching babies. Sometimes there aren't many, but sometimes... there's definitely a lot. I've had well over 50 to catch at a time. You'll definitely want to find a good location for putting the shrimplets back into the tank. If they have to swim in the open, they'll be eaten. Our fish already associate our hand above the water with food, so there's a strike against the babies making it to safety right there.

I don't use the vac for the water changes. I do the WC's and Vac'ing completely separate. I don't vac every WC, either. I vac like once every 3 or 4 months. Having a lighter stocking on fish helps here, too.

It's going to be figuring out how to make it work for your tank. But, in my opinion, you've got to get those nitrates down to a level that is manageable with a much lower % WC than 70. Otherwise, you're going to be doing A LOT of small changes... think about 10-15% every day if you're needing to do 70% a week.

If you can get the nitrates to a more manageable "weekly WC level" and get a "good match" on your replacement water, you might can get away with 20-25% weekly WC, but 15% is a good percentage to aim for, as richiep said; 70% really is a lot.

So, what's causing the high nitrates? This is what I'd be asking myself rather than trying to determine if the high nitrates are causing issues. The high nitrates lead to large volume water changes which can lead to moltings issues.

Of course, in addition to the WC's is proper nutrition, as mentioned above.

Before venturing a guess as to whether you should be adding additional calcium, I think it would be better to know the size of your colony (if you posted that, i missed it), have a look at your feeding schedule (actual specifics, not just a list; like 1/2 scoop bacter ae on Monday, or what type of veggies and how often, what's in your snello, etc), and wait on your other tests to come in and get some results. ......Besides the fact that it could be the large water changes causing the molting issues rather than not enough calcium.

 

Oh wow that's crazy high nitrates. Might be feeding too much and not enough plants to suck up all the nutrients....

I would bring the nitrates down before worrying about calcium and KH and other parameters (Nitrates higher than 40ppm is toxic to shrimp).

 

Oh wow that's crazy high nitrates. Might be feeding too much and not enough plants to suck up all the nutrients....

I would bring the nitrates down before worrying about calcium and KH and other parameters (Nitrates higher than 40ppm is toxic to shrimp).

I am doing daily 10-15% water changes to lower the nitrates

 

Nitrates are down to about 30-40ppm now. My gh/kh test kit should be here today, in a couple hours so I’ll post the results of that also

 

Just spotted another dead shrimp
It seems like the only ones dying are the adult shrimp. The one I just found doesn’t look to have the white ring or molting issues. Looks like a normals shrimp...just dead. Shrimps and snails are eating it....I hope I can figure this out before I loose my shrimps
I am using the api liquid gh/kh test kit.
for my kh it took 7 drops and for my gh it took 17 drops


What is everyone’s thoughts on these results? Are they good or bad?
I think I figured out my problem!
Like stated above, my tank water tested at
Kh 7 drops
Gh 17 drops

I just now tested my tap water and kh was 7 drops and gh was 9 drops, could too large of water changes be causing shock to my shrimp from the gh fluctuating too much from replacing high gh water with lower gh water?

 

Can anyone help? richiep

 

Generally, we shoot for around 10% water change to not shock the shrimp. If you've been doing more than that this might be one problem.

Sorry your having back luck, I'm sure richiep will be making rounds soon and respond here.

 

Just spotted another dead shrimp
It seems like the only ones dying are the adult shrimp. The one I just found doesn’t look to have the white ring or molting issues. Looks like a normals shrimp...just dead. Shrimps and snails are eating it....I hope I can figure this out before I loose my shrimps
I am using the api liquid gh/kh test kit.
for my kh it took 7 drops and for my gh it took 17 drops
View attachment 749311
What is everyone’s thoughts on these results? Are they good or bad?
I think I figured out my problem!
Like stated above, my tank water tested at
Kh 7 drops
Gh 17 drops

I just now tested my tap water and kh was 7 drops and gh was 9 drops, could too large of water changes be causing shock to my shrimp from the gh fluctuating too much from replacing high gh water with lower gh water?

That might just be your problem. Whenever a shrimp dies do you leave it there to be eaten? If you do then the infected shrimp might be passing it’s parasites or Illness to the next

 

That might just be your problem. Whenever a shrimp dies do you leave it there to be eaten? If you do then the infected shrimp might be passing it’s parasites or Illness to the next

I don’t always leave it, I’ve taken some out and looked at them and nothing looked off other than the white ring
I’m going to start doing 10% water changes every 4 days, unless that’s too often?

 

The dead you are finding now are probably from high nitrites, you are not going to solve your issues until you get stability in the tank.
Those big water changes are no good when done constantly, that high gh will have a long term affect on shrimp so need to come down to around 8 and nitraits as low as possible.
With a pleco and the snails says you need 50% water change to cope with the waste but while you try to keep them happy your shrimp suffer.
The only way out of this is to give your shrimp their own tank or you'll keep fighting one against the other so something must suffer and at the moment its your shrimp

 

I stopped putting wonder shells in my tank a little over a month ago and I just tested my ph and now it’s at 8.2, when before it was 7.8 and my tap water tests at 8.0.
kh is now 7 drops
Gh is now 14 drops

 

l, I can’t really gravel vac around my tank due to shrimp and baby shrimp EVERYWHERE and also I have plants and decor everywhere so it makes it hard also..

I vacuum my 6 gallon Aqueon Ascent Blue Velvet shrimp tank every other week.
I just check the bucket for bodies afterwards to make sure none make it in.

Shrimp are pretty hardy.

The young babies who are weak tend to live off biofilm on glass and avoid the vacuum that way.
I also remove decor, plants & stir up tank to avoid gas pockets of decaying matter.

Vaccuming a 55 gallon is fine, the shrimp will move just disturb the area before so they avoid the vacuum.

Every day, when I turn on their light, there's a mass exodus off the duckweed. They know I'm going to disturb it to feed them. I have trained my shrimp!