Shrimp Death?

[Algaefishowl]

Hello I did a pretty big water change recently as I was moving up tanks. The filters are cycled since I moved them over to the new tank, pH is 7, Nitrite and nitrates are low, KH and GH are high and the other fish appear fine and swimming with no irritation. It is a planted aquarium and the plants don't have any rot.

There are many shrimp in the tank, but I have noticed there to be an increase in shrimp death where it used to be not common. Any idea why this change would occur or what needs to be checked?

Thank you for your help!

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

They don't do well with change. They get very used to the parameters and food sources when they change or the amount of biofilm changes they don't do as well. Younger baby neos only stay in a 6"x6" radius and once they are juvies and get stronger can then muster the energy and stamina to go hunting for food.  I think that it is either a lack of food and or biofilm or the stress of moving tanks. Also mineral content of the water can effect molting and failed molts after happen more when they are under stress and with different paramters. 

[kahjtheundedicated]

Yeah water changes can be bad news for shrimp. Of my two tanks, I can only manage to keep them in one. And I do that by doing zero water changes on the tank with shrimp, and top off with water from my other tank. Any time I've tried to do a water change with shrimp, I get deaths even with as small as a 5% water change dripped in if it's just dechlorinated tap water. But maybe my tap water is just unusually hostile for shrimp

[Algaefishowl]

Ok, thank you that makes sense. I think it is stress induced because of the all the tank movement and adjustment; I had to take out two algae eaters and that was hard because they were hiding. Hopefully the shrimp will adjust.

Is there a way to vacuum while not doing a water change?

[Guppysnail]

On 7/27/2022 at 7:57 AM, Algaefishowl said:

Is there a way to vacuum while not doing a water change

Vac into a bucket. Let the mulm settle and put the water back our vac into  a fine mesh strainer in a bucket then reuse the water. 

[JettsPapa]

Hello,

I change the water in my shrimp tanks just as often as I do in the tanks with fish, and I believe they need fresh water just as much as fish.  However, you do need to be more careful.  You said you had done a large water change.  I suspect that the temperature of the fresh water was too far off from the tank water and it shocked the shrimp.  As mentioned above, they don't do well with sudden changes.  They can handle wide temperature swings, but only if they happen gradually.

If it had been a while since you had done a water change it's also possible that the parameters were too far off between the fresh water and the tank water.

In the future I'd recommend doing water changes, but keep them to 15% or less.  I typically do 25%, but it's very important to closely match the water temperatures if you're changing that much.

[MrWestCoast]

On 7/27/2022 at 4:57 AM, Algaefishowl said:

Ok, thank you that makes sense. I think it is stress induced because of the all the tank movement and adjustment; I had to take out two algae eaters and that was hard because they were hiding. Hopefully the shrimp will adjust.

Is there a way to vacuum while not doing a water change?

You can buy a gravel vacuum that filters your aquarium water through a mesh bag

[tolstoy21]

On 7/26/2022 at 2:13 PM, Algaefishowl said:

Hello I did a pretty big water change recently as I was moving up tanks. The filters are cycled since I moved them over to the new tank, pH is 7, Nitrite and nitrates are low, KH and GH are high and the other fish appear fine and swimming with no irritation. It is a planted aquarium and the plants don't have any rot.

There are many shrimp in the tank, but I have noticed there to be an increase in shrimp death where it used to be not common. Any idea why this change would occur or what needs to be checked?

Thank you for your help!

I would ask the following:

What type of shrimp?
How old are they (and were the dead older, younger, both)?
Did the water temp swing wildly?
Are the parameters widely divergent from what they were before the water change?

I sometimes do some pretty massive water changes on my shrimp tanks. I find as long as the water going in is roughly equivalent to the water coming out in terms of GH, KH, PH and temp, the shrimp can handle it fine. Obviously, massive changes downward in the bad stuff, like nitrates etc. is a good thing. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/27/2022 at 9:34 AM, JettsPapa said:

I change the water in my shrimp tanks just as often as I do in the tanks with fish, and I believe they need fresh water just as much as fish.  However, you do need to be more careful.  You said you had done a large water change.  I suspect that the temperature of the fresh water was too far off from the tank water and it shocked the shrimp.  As mentioned above, they don't do well with sudden changes.  They can handle wide temperature swings, but only if they happen gradually.

Agreed.

If you're having to run a lot of buffers to adapt your water to the shrimps needs (not just using tap water) then I would recommend trying to condition the water before you perform the water change.  I always do 50% WCs on my tank and I have had shrimp in them for a very, very long time.  Neocaridina and other varieties are going to be a lot more sensitive than my amanos, but the idea being that they want clean water to do well.  If the water going in the tank is vastly different than the water you're taking out, that's old tank syndrome or an issue of having to use a ton of buffers, which just goes to preconditioning the water as if it was a saltwater tank.

[Algaefishowl]

Thanks for the feedback! I'll have to be more careful with the water changes because they usually go well but the temp etc was probably off this time around in addition to changing tanks recently. The tank has a mix of cherry shrimp and wild type Neo. All ages but mainly adolescents ones are dyeing and some older ones.