Neo Tank Crisis

[Saltinthedesert]

I’ve had a thriving Neo tank for about a year, and in this last week suddenly there have been at least one or two deaths every day. Most have shown signs of white ring disease which I know means that the GH is too low for them to properly molt. My water tests confirmed that, which is confusing why it’d be so low suddenly. My question is how quickly can I safely raise GH in a 29g tank?

[Chris287]

 Add cuttlebone I have one in all of my shrimp tanks and they last over a year and have never had a molting problem I also have a water softener so I have to add calcium.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Chris287

[Irene]

I have very soft water and I highly recommend using Seachem Equilibrium because it's easy to measure, raises GH quickly and safely, and contains calcium, magnesium, iron, and manganese. It does cloud the water if you dump too much of it all at once, so aquariumcoop.com says:

Quote

To raise mineral content/general hardness (GH) by 3 degrees hardness, add 16 g (1 tablespoon) for every 80 L (20 US gallons) when setting up an aquarium or when making water changes. For optimum solubility, Seachem recommends mixing with 1 L (1 qt.) of water (the resulting mixture will have a white opaque appearance). When this mixture is added to the aquarium, it will impart a slight haze that should clear within 15–30 minutes.

Also, you can feed calcium-rich foods to your shrimp like Hikari Shrimp Cuisine or Shrimp King Mineral. Hope that helps!

[Saltinthedesert]

7 minutes ago, Irene said:

I have very soft water and I highly recommend using Seachem Equilibrium because it's easy to measure, raises GH quickly and safely, and contains calcium, magnesium, iron, and manganese. It does cloud the water if you dump too much of it all at once, so aquariumcoop.com says:

Also, you can feed calcium-rich foods to your shrimp like Hikari Shrimp Cuisine or Shrimp King Mineral. Hope that helps!

@IreneYep, I use both equilibrium and Shrimp cuisine. Other than a pair of plants and more shrimp I haven’t added anything else to the tank. Is there anything else that would cause the GH to crash?

 

 

[Demobanana]

Well......whatever happens....I hope you get through it! Without any more shrimp deaths of course.

[Hobbit]

Plants can use up GH, but I’m not sure why it would crash all of a sudden. ☹️ Another way to raise GH is to buy calcium carbonate (crushed limestone), dissolve it in water, and add small amounts until you get your GH back to where you want it. 

[Eric R]

What's the gh of your tap water? 

[Saltinthedesert]

7 hours ago, ererer said:

What's the gh of your tap water? 

Around 1. 

[Saltinthedesert]

So the white ring of death has stopped showing up but I’m still losing 1-2 shrimp a day. Juveniles, adults, everyone. Only CPDs in the tank and a lemon BN. 
 

Added a cuttlebone last week as advised above. Nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia are 0. (According to a proper API water test tube). GH is 5. pH is 7.1. 
 

What the heck is happening. So bummed. 

Edited April 25, 2021 by Saltinthedesert

[Saltinthedesert]

Random but could they be getting stressed from the lights in the room (not the tank) being on late each evening?

[Isaac M]

Hi @Saltinthedesert, I am sorry to hear about what is happening to your shrimp. Would you be able to provide a picture of the aquarium? You mentioned the tap water gh is 1, that is very very soft, by how much do you raise it with seachem equilibrium for water changes? Typically you would like to see a gh of 6 or more for the shrimp. How often do you do water changes? 

[Patrick_G]

Let’s troubleshoot this problem. 
 

currently:  

GH 5 PH 7.1 - good for Neos                          

The problem could be:

-Something in the water like a buildup of copper or some compound toxic to shrimp                                                 
-Parasite or disease                                      
-Temperature                                                 
-Old age                                                          
-They might be still recovering from the GH crash

Are there other possibilities? 

 

 

[Patrick_G]

@Saltinthedesert

BTW, I’m very jealous of the huge German Brown in your profile. What a monster! 

[Saltinthedesert]

Here’s a picture. 
 

 

[Saltinthedesert]

Also, copper test came back negative. 
 

 

[Saltinthedesert]

Water changes once a week unless there are no deaths, but that hasn’t been for a while. 
 

13 hours ago, Isaac M said:

Hi @Saltinthedesert, I am sorry to hear about what is happening to your shrimp. Would you be able to provide a picture of the aquarium? You mentioned the tap water gh is 1, that is very very soft, by how much do you raise it with seachem equilibrium for water changes? Typically you would like to see a gh of 6 or more for the shrimp. How often do you do water changes? 

 

[Hobbit]

How do the shrimp look when they die? Are they white/pink? Or just normal? (In your original pic they look pretty normal.)

I wonder if they’re just still getting the calcium back in their systems.

[Saltinthedesert]

17 hours ago, Hobbit said:

How do the shrimp look when they die? Are they white/pink? Or just normal? (In your original pic they look pretty normal.)

I wonder if they’re just still getting the calcium back in their systems.

 

[Saltinthedesert]

I have crushed coral in a baby box above the sponge filter so that the water agitates it and spreads it around. I use half a teaspoon of equilibrium on water changes and there is a cuttlebone. This one looks like he failed to molt (most of them don’t have the white ring) but I honestly can’t understand how they would not be getting enough calcium?

[darkG]

Magnesium is as important, but Seachem Equilibrium has got some, as has cuttlebone. Are there many males? I hear that this may stress them out, leading to failed molts.

[Saltinthedesert]

Seems like a good balance of both to me. 
 

1 minute ago, darkG said:

Magnesium is as important, but Seachem Equilibrium has got some, as has cuttlebone. Are there many males? I hear that this may stress them out, leading to failed molts.

 

[Saltinthedesert]

Is it possible that it’s parasites? There are tiny dots on some of them. (See pic)

[Hobbit]

@Saltinthedesert The issue isn’t so much that there’s not enough calcium now, but that it takes time to build that calcium up in their bodies. Just like us—we can’t just drink a ton of milk for a week and get noticeably stronger bones. We have to be getting calcium all through our first few decades of life to have optimal bone strength.

So while the newest shrimp probably have enough calcium, any shrimp that lived through the calcium “drought” might not be caught up yet.

I can’t see any dots on that picture... are you talking about the uneven color on the legs?

Either way it’s a gorgeous bright color!

[Saltinthedesert]

@Hobbit I circled them to make it a bit easier to spot. There is definitely one on her mouth parts, and one on her leg.I circled them to make it a bit easier to spot. There is definitely one on her mouth parts, and one on her leg.

[Saltinthedesert]

Also, The cuttlebone is the only recent addition. I have consistently used equilibrium and had the crushed coral in there for the life of the tank.