Why Can’t I Keep My Shrimp Alive?

This is my first real fish tank and I need some help. First, my water parameters.
pH- 7.4
Nitrite- 0
Ammonia- 0
Nitrate- 10-20 (I can’t distinguish between the two colors)
Temp- 82 F

I have a ten gallon planted tank using eco-complete substrate. I have drift wood, anacharis, moss balls, and some other hardy plants.

The eco complete says it allows instant addition of fish, of course I took this lightly and still did a fishless cycle for two weeks and tested my water every day with weekly water changes. The plants are growing beautifully. I took a risk and added two platys, and am still testing my water every day. I haven’t had the ammonia OR nitrite raise from above 0 I’m happy to say (however the increase in nitrates is making algae grow on my plants, and the tap water I use has the same amount of nitrates so I have to find another way to bring them down).

I have since added a few more fish, but every time I add shrimp they don’t last very long... I’ve read that cherry shrimp are very hardy and will do okay in the eco complete substrate with a slightly basic ph, so I bought three from Petco and they all died in two weeks. I blamed the poor quality of Petco and went to my LFS. He said it should be okay to try Amano shrimp so I brought home two and they died in three days one of them turned slightly pink before it clocked out.

Please someone help!! This is my first real tank and I’m stressed to the limit because I don’t want to kill anything else in my tank. What am I doing wrong?

One of my platys hasn’t eaten in over a week on top of this, and now they are both hovering near the surface of the water but not gasping for air. Can anyone give me some insight?

 

What wood are you using. I kept losing inverts in my tank and tried everything the last thing I did was take the wood out it was going soft and evrything started living.

Also have you ever added any copper based chemicals.

 

You should check your GH and KH, also did you ever use medication in the tank?

 

I just found out that my water is a bit too soft for my shrimp and my livebearers. My platys had some issues with my tank gh at 4 and kh at 23. My shrimp tank is at a paltry 1. If this is your issue I heard that bee shrimp gh+ will help raise gh but not kh. I should be getting mine in a few days

 

You should check your GH and KH, also did you ever use medication in the tank?

I don’t have a test kit for that yet, but because I have the eco complete I can suspect the water is harder rather than soft. I used prazipro yesterday and found my shrimp dead today but I used half the dose that was recommended for a ten gallon in fear of killing my shrimp.

 

What exactly is the stocking of the tank? The temp seems quite warm as well.

 

My thoughts are that the tank is not yet mature and stable enough to support shrimp.

Shrimp need very clean water with an established cycle, and plenty of algae and biofilm to graze on. This is their main food supply; shrimp will starve in young tanks.

Preferred temps for shrimp are 68-75 F. Anything warmer than the upper 70s can cause issues.

Shrimp are also very sensitive to raised nitrate levels. In a shrimp system, keeping it as close to 0 as possible will get you the best results. My recommendation is to get some floating plants like duckweed, they are nitrate sponges and will help negate the tap water issue.

And, finally, it is possible your fish are killing them, through physical means or by stressing the shrimp out. Platies killed almost all the Amano shrimp in their tank at my job by chasing them constantly to the point they died of stress and exhaustion.

Give the tank about a month before trying shrimp again. Get some moss and floating plant cover and ensure that the wood you've added is tank-safe. While cherry shrimp do well in most conditions, investing in a GH and KH kit (and if you're really serious a TDS meter) isn't a bad idea.

 

My thoughts are that the tank is not yet mature and stable enough to support shrimp.

Shrimp need very clean water with an established cycle, and plenty of algae and biofilm to graze on. This is their main food supply; shrimp will starve in young tanks.

Preferred temps for shrimp are 68-75 F. Anything warmer than the upper 70s can cause issues.

Shrimp are also very sensitive to raised nitrate levels. In a shrimp system, keeping it as close to 0 as possible will get you the best results. My recommendation is to get some floating plants like duckweed, they are nitrate sponges and will help negate the tap water issue.

And, finally, it is possible your fish are killing them, through physical means or by stressing the shrimp out. Platies killed almost all the Amano shrimp in their tank at my job by chasing them constantly to the point they died of stress and exhaustion.

Give the tank about a month before trying shrimp again. Get some moss and floating plant cover and ensure that the wood you've added is tank-safe. While cherry shrimp do well in most conditions, investing in a GH and KH kit (and if you're really serious a TDS meter) isn't a bad idea.

Thank you for your reply. I originally had my temp at 75, but when my cherry shrimp died my LFS said it might be that the temperate is too low. I figured since I saw them eating left over flakes that they’d be okay. I will definitely invest in duckweed, moss, and a GH/KH kit. What are the appropriate levels for most shrimp? Also, the wood I have is driftwood, and came from an established tank so it’s covered in algae already and is pretty soft. I believe it’s safe, but is there anything else I should consider about the drift wood? It’s helped lower my pH from a 7.8-7.4. I was keeping a very close eye on the shrimp and hadn’t seen any of the fish bullying them. I should add that the platys were small and about the same size as the shrimp. When I first got the fish a few weeks ago I added a very small amount of freshwater aquarium salt, but that was many water changes ago. Could the left over salt have still harmed the shrimp?

 

Thank you for your reply. I originally had my temp at 75, but when my cherry shrimp died my LFS said it might be that the temperate is too low. I figured since I saw them eating left over flakes that they’d be okay. I will definitely invest in duckweed, moss, and a GH/KH kit. What are the appropriate levels for most shrimp? Also, the wood I have is driftwood, and came from an established tank so it’s covered in algae already and is pretty soft. I believe it’s safe, but is there anything else I should consider about the drift wood? It’s helped lower my pH from a 7.8-7.4. I was keeping a very close eye on the shrimp and hadn’t seen any of the fish bullying them. I should add that the platys were small and about the same size as the shrimp. When I first got the fish a few weeks ago I added a very small amount of freshwater aquarium salt, but that was many water changes ago. Could the left over salt have still harmed the shrimp?

Recommended parameters are GH should be at least 4, KH 6. That being said I have cherry shrimp in GH 3 and KH 0 doing just fine... for now anyway. They are molting and doing quite well.

Higher temps are stressful to shrimp. Higher temps equal faster metabolism, shorter lifespan, and lowered oxygen levels present in the water. The higher temp may actually be what's affecting your pH, as the water temp rises more free hydrogen molecules are ionized, which makes the water more acidic. It takes a lot of tannin-rich driftwood to make a dent in your pH.

If the driftwood is soft, it may also be rotten... take it out and give it a sniff. Spongy wood is rotten wood. With the exception of cholla (which, btw, absolutely stinks of sewage and gets covered in white mucus for several weeks when put in a tank), I would not put any soft woods into an aquarium. Cholla is a shrimp tank staple and once it gets out of it's gross phase is an awesome medium for shrimp breeding and feeding.

Not sure about the salt, I know most freshwater shrimp do not really tolerate salinity. Amanos may be conditioned to brackish but otherwise I'm unsure.

 

Recommended parameters are GH should be at least 4, KH 6. That being said I have cherry shrimp in GH 3 and KH 0 doing just fine... for now anyway. They are molting and doing quite well.

Higher temps are stressful to shrimp. Higher temps equal faster metabolism, shorter lifespan, and lowered oxygen levels present in the water. The higher temp may actually be what's affecting your pH, as the water temp rises more free hydrogen molecules are ionized, which makes the water more acidic. It takes a lot of tannin-rich driftwood to make a dent in your pH.

If the driftwood is soft, it may also be rotten... take it out and give it a sniff. Spongy wood is rotten wood. With the exception of cholla (which, btw, absolutely stinks of sewage and gets covered in white mucus for several weeks when put in a tank), I would not put any soft woods into an aquarium. Cholla is a shrimp tank staple and once it gets out of it's gross phase is an awesome medium for shrimp breeding and feeding.

Not sure about the salt, I know most freshwater shrimp do not really tolerate salinity. Amanos may be conditioned to brackish but otherwise I'm unsure.

I don’t mean soft driftwood as in spongy, I just mean there are no rough edges. Thank you for your advice, I’ve already turned down the temperature!

 

I don’t mean soft driftwood as in spongy, I just mean there are no rough edges. Thank you for your advice, I’ve already turned down the temperature!

Platies, however, will need their water in the upper 70s.

 

I disagree with the temp being too high, it was recommended to me when I first started that a higher temp 77-80, would increase breeding and it did, in my tank anyway. Not sure about salt personally but I have read of ill affects so that’s a possibility. Also, could the platies be harming them? My dad tried putting shrimp in his platy tank, they attacked and killed them quickly but will not eat them.

 

It may increase breeding, it may also shorten their lifespan since warmer water speeds up metabolism. I think that 80+ should probably be avoided.

 

I disagree with the temp being too high, it was recommended to me when I first started that a higher temp 77-80, would increase breeding and it did, in my tank anyway. Not sure about salt personally but I have read of ill affects so that’s a possibility. Also, could the platies be harming them? My dad tried putting shrimp in his platy tank, they attacked and killed them quickly but will not eat them.

Higher temperatures do increase breeding but also shorten their lifespans and increase their metabolism

 

It may increase breeding, it may also shorten their lifespan since warmer water speeds up metabolism. I think that 80+ should probably be avoided.

Yes, probably so, I should add that I’ve since turned it down to about 75-76 so I wouldn’t know if life span was affected. I just don’t need more than the 2-300 I have in my 5gallon. Lol