Shrimp Die Off

[Theplatymaster]

I am trying to figure out why all my shrimp have slowly died in my 2.5gallon shrimp tank.

Here are water parameters:

water parameters:

Nitrate:10ppm

Nitrite:0ppm

Ammonia: 0ppm

Hardness: 150ppm

KH: 180ppm

PH: 8

Chlorine: 0

and im trying to figure out what is going wrong.

Ive been feeding them crab cuisine for calcium, and the small snails (bladder,mini ramshorn) are thriving,

is the tank just not "seasoned" enough?

I can  squeeze out some sponges into that tank next time i do a WC to seed the tank some more if that would help.

Please help!

@nabokovfan87@Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

I’m sorry you are having a rough time. Try feeding some fine powdered foods for variety. Also, baby shrimp stay where they hatch out at for a while so they need to have access to food wherever they are and if your Snails are heavily populated, they could be eating too much of the food.  

Edited March 21 by Guppysnail

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Based on your parameters, looks like it’s cycled. Do you have some mosses, plants, and wood for them to pick at? 

[Furbs]

I found my shrimp really love to eat crushed snails. If you have a large snail population the shrimp could be struggling for food. 
 

How often and large are you water changes? Is the water going in similar to the water coming out?

[Theplatymaster]

On 3/21/2023 at 7:44 PM, Guppysnail said:

I’m sorry you are having a rough time. Try feeding some fine powdered foods for variety. Also, baby shrimp stay where they hatch out at for a while so they need to have access to food wherever they are and if your Snails are heavily populated, they could be eating too much of the food.  

we started with 6, and only decreased in population.

On 3/21/2023 at 8:50 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Based on your parameters, looks like it’s cycled. Do you have some mosses, plants, and wood for them to pick at? 

yep! some wood, tons of random plants (hornwort,anarchis,PSO,anubias java fern), and not that much moss though...

[Cinnebuns]

I would never keep shrimp with pest snails tbh. They compete for the same food and the shrimp are easily out competed. That's what my guess is what's going on. I have 1 nerite snail in mine but they don't compete the same. 

On 3/21/2023 at 5:39 PM, Theplatymaster said:

is the tank just not "seasoned" enough?

It's possible. But regardless of how seasoned it is, the ramshorn and bladder snails would be eating that same food source too

[Procrypsis]

2.5 gallon tank is way too small in my opnion.

Shrimp do not like water quality changes and with a 2.5 gallon, it is hard to keep water quality stable.  

With 6 shrimp in the tank you should not be feeding them much at all - they prefer algae and detritus, fish food fouls the water if uneaten food is not removed within a few hours.

Shrimp tanks hould be cycled for at least 4 weeks, preferably 6-8.

Aqua soil helps, too.

[Theplatymaster]

On 3/22/2023 at 6:26 AM, Cinnebuns said:

I would never keep shrimp with pest snails tbh. They compete for the same food and the shrimp are easily out competed. That's what my guess is what's going on. I have 1 nerite snail in mine but they don't compete the same. 

ive seen the shrimp eating, and they are faster then the snails.

On 3/22/2023 at 6:31 AM, Procrypsis said:

2.5 gallon tank is way too small in my opnion.

Shrimp do not like water quality changes and with a 2.5 gallon, it is hard to keep water quality stable.  

after cycling, there were no water quality issues due to all the plants.

[Cinnebuns]

On 3/22/2023 at 5:37 AM, Theplatymaster said:

ive seen the shrimp eating, and they are faster then the snails.

There's still less food for them overall. Shrimp require foraging all day long not eating a few meals. 

[Theplatymaster]

On 3/22/2023 at 7:04 AM, Cinnebuns said:

There's still less food for them overall. Shrimp require foraging all day long not eating a few meals. 

is there now a good way to get rid of the snails?

they are pretty much the entertainment of the tank now that all the shrimp are dead.

[Cinnebuns]

On 3/22/2023 at 6:12 AM, Theplatymaster said:

is there now a good way to get rid of the snails?

they are pretty much the entertainment of the tank now that all the shrimp are dead.

Best and easiest way I would say is to leave the tank dry for a few weeks. That will also kill off any eggs. 

Better idea is reverse respiration. Soak it in seltzer for 8 hours or so. 

[The endler guy]

I’ve found it may take a couple attempts to kickstart a breeding population with so few shrimp 

[JettsPapa]

• I agree that keeping them in a tank that small will be difficult, but it shouldn't be impossible.
• I also agree that in a well seasoned tank you shouldn't need to target feed six shrimp.  The most likely result of that would be increasing the snail population, or decreasing the water quality (or both).
• I wouldn't break the tank down and start over to get rid of the snails.  I have rams horn, bladder, and Malaysian trumpet snails in all my tanks, and they coexist with the shrimp just fine.

[Theplatymaster]

On 3/22/2023 at 9:30 AM, JettsPapa said:

I also agree that in a well seasoned tank you shouldn't need to target feed six shrimp.  The most likely result of that would be increasing the snail population, or decreasing the water quality (or both).

 

On 3/22/2023 at 6:31 AM, Procrypsis said:

With 6 shrimp in the tank you should not be feeding them much at all - they prefer algae and detritus, fish food fouls the water if uneaten food is not removed within a few hours.

so i shouldnt feed?

or just feed very small amounts?

[JettsPapa]

On 3/22/2023 at 8:36 AM, Theplatymaster said:

 

so i shouldnt feed?

or just feed very small amounts?

If the tank is well seasoned you shouldn't need to feed at all, but if you want to anyway it should be a very small amount.  One example would be food made for nano fish, that's in very small pieces, I'd only feed one piece for every 2-3 shrimp.  Of if you have some of the Xtreme shrimp pellets, that are about the same diameter as a pencil lead, feed one small one for every ten shrimp.

[Theplatymaster]

On 3/22/2023 at 9:52 AM, JettsPapa said:

If the tank is well seasoned you shouldn't need to feed at all, but if you want to anyway it should be a very small amount.

its not super cycled, but i can squeeze out some dirty sponge into it to seed it better.

[JettsPapa]

On 3/22/2023 at 8:54 AM, Theplatymaster said:

its not super cycled, but i can squeeze out some dirty sponge into it to seed it better.

To get a tank ready to give shrimp the best chance it needs time to build up biofilm on all surfaces, in addition to being cycled.  Squeezing out a dirty sponge would be a good idea, but I'd still recommend giving it time.  I generally recommend letting a tank run for three months before adding shrimp.