Unexpected amano shrimp death

[flossy]

I found my amano shrimp dead in my tank this morning. The shrimp haven’t been breeding and they have been huddled in this one spot all the time.

ph-6.8-7.0

ammonia- 0 ppm

nitrite-0 ppm 

nitrate seems higher (picture provided)

anyone know the cause of why they are acting like this and the death?

[MattyM]

I don't think I've ever seen nitrate that high (seems like over 100 maybe?), that could def be part of the issue. What is your water change schedule like and can we get a full pic of the tank, along with the tank size and what/how many fish are in it? Some fast growing plants will also also get that nitrate number down, or even pothos growing out of the tank. 

Myself, I've found that adding calcium to the water and their diet helps. This could be something like cuttlebone/wondershell for the water, and Crab Cuisine for diet. 

 

[tike]

How long have you had the shrimp before the die off? Is your water always that high in nitrate? Have you done anything new to the tank..i.e. new additives, change food, medications etc.

[flossy]

@MattyMI do a water change every Saturday/sunday. It is a 20 gallon long with  7 corydoras, around 10 green neon tetras, 3 amano shrimp, 6 new cherry shrimp (added Wednesday), and 2 nerite snails. I have some pathos and will be adding them.

@tikeI have had the Amano shrimp for 2 years before one of them died. Nitrate is usually around 40 or 80(api test kit is hard to read) the entire tank was rescaped about a week ago.

[MattyM]

On 4/14/2024 at 6:29 PM, flossy said:

entire tank was rescaped about a week ago.

That could explain the high nitrates if a bunch of stuff from the substate got kicked into the water column.

[Colu]

High levels of nitrate can weaken the immune system leading to secondary infection I would do extra water changes and add a double dose of prime to help detoxify any nitrate till it constantly stays under 40ppm