Shrimp dying

[lighting13]

 

 

I Started the shrimp hobby at the end of December and since then I had multiple deaths. This time I bought  5 shrimp at petco in el paso on Fri  5th and one is pregnant,  i keep the house at 66 to 69 with a sponge filter. I have test strips which I been testing with tetra and my numbers are 0 all except nitrates which are low as you can see  and it's been Consistent in this new tank setup .  I use prime 2 drops in a one gallon with stability 5 drops. I have hornewort with cholla wood. The only new thing I added after 1 rencent death was cappta leaves and I also threw in a sungrow rock with calcium and Magnesium  Ive included pics because i dont know if its stress or disease they are dying from . I'm assuming they have white on there nostrum. Please help 

 

The yellow is berried and the blue on rocks is not looking so good . 

They have been eating since I got them and not darting or odd behavior.  

 

 

[JettsPapa]

Hello.  I'll try to help.

 

First, you don't need to be adding any calcium.  You probably don't need magnesium either (I'm not sure what it's supposed to be good for).

I'm assuming you don't have a heater in your tank, since you mentioned the room temperature.  That's fine.  Shrimp struggle with sudden temperature changes, but they're fine with a wide range of temperatures as long as it changes gradually.

Now that I have that out of the way, how long has the tan been running?  It's not uncommon for shrimp to struggle in tanks that haven't been running for 60 days or so, since they graze pretty much constantly, and new tanks haven't had time to build up a good layer of biofilm for them.  Also, have you tested for ammonia?  It's one of the most common problems, but standard test strips don't test for it.

And finally, it's not uncommon for adult shrimp to struggle with being introduced to a new environment.  You said you have a shrimp that's berried.  If she can hold on long enough for the eggs to hatch and the baby shrimp to be released then the next generation stands a good chance of being okay.

[MattyM]

I don't know if I agree with the not adding calcium - it depends on your water source. I was having weird shrimp deaths until I added cuttlebone to my tank, in addition to feeding Crab Cuisine, so my shrimp and snails have enough calcium in the water and in their diet. This stopped the deaths. 

I do agree that shrimp tend to need a seasoned tank, and need to be drip acclimated when introduced to a tank.

Is this a 1 gallon tank? The less water volume you have the harder it is to keep stable params. 

[lighting13]

When I first started the shrimp hobby I had water from my bettas tank to a planted one and it created Enough alge and bio film in the 2 months then I transported gravel from the main tank to shrimp 1gallon with plants and the first batch of shrimp all died so then I restarted the whole thing and added old fish water that was not that aged but the cholla wood and plants had bacteria alive on it then I started stability 5 drops every day for 7days  along with prime dosing every 48hrs 1drop . I use tap water and give hikari crab cuisine but I cut a small amount off since they graze on biofilm more and occasionally eat food pellet or frozen . I been testing every single day with 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and safe under 20 nitrates all others parameters are good too and have been stable in the new 5 shrimp for 7days now who are very active grazers and I was starting to think they may have a disease because maybe petco shrimp are not the healthiest to start a colony but rather as a food source. I'm very sad that these adorable creatures keep dying on me and I want to be successful at it. I did a 10%water change after 5 days to get some food out and drip back the good water after letting it sit and they are fine . I leave a lid on it so contaminates don't get in and I only put my hands on once but washed first. 

[JettsPapa]

On 1/12/2024 at 11:54 AM, MattyM said:

I don't know if I agree with the not adding calcium . . . 

Maybe I'm wrong, but I was basing it on this:

[MattyM]

On 1/12/2024 at 1:13 PM, JettsPapa said:

Maybe I'm wrong, but I was basing it on this:

Ah... yeah you got a point! Maybe it's more of a diet and/or new tank thing then. My water is pretty hard but not that hard. 

[lighting13]

On 1/12/2024 at 1:49 PM, MattyM said:

Ah... yeah you got a point! Maybe it's more of a diet and/or new tank thing then. My water is pretty hard

Its day 10 and the shrimp are doing well,  the rock i added I see them only occasionally grazing and I'm not sure if the water absorbed it because my parameters have not been affected.  I give frozen once a week but to be fair they won't survive long enough.  I'm very nervous right now because I'm going to hopefully be a foster mom to 40 shrimplets and there's so alot off videos showing they mix many foods together and not one alone and I would like to only add one powder formula so any advice would be great on this.  Thanks

 

[lighting13]

I uploaded photos but I guess no one can really tell me if my shrimp have any disease or not!!

I've lost other blue about 2days ago and it's been 3 weeks since I had them. I'm still not sure why they keep dying on me and hope someone with knowledge can help

[JettsPapa]

On 1/21/2024 at 5:54 PM, lighting13 said:

I uploaded photos but I guess no one can really tell me if my shrimp have any disease or not!!

I've lost other blue about 2days ago and it's been 3 weeks since I had them. I'm still not sure why they keep dying on me and hope someone with knowledge can help

It's not uncommon for mature shrimp to struggle adapting to new water parameters.  Hopefully at least one or two females will last long enough to hatch eggs.  Newly hatched shrimp should be just fine.