Shrimp died

[SoDaksam]

Started a dieted tank with the dry start method a few months ago. Went great S. Repens, Java moss, dwarf hair grass, some red ludwigia.  Free like crazy.  Things were going well.  Added shrimp off of eBay.  With in a month I tripled  the population.  Slowly they died off.  I don’t think I have many if any left.  Sponge filter.  Minimal water changes.  DIY co2.  Easy green pump once a week. Not sure where I screwed up.  Any help would be great.  Thanks.  I do have small bubbles coming out of the substrate.  Small white, circular bugs swimming around.  

Dirted tank…

Not free,  it grew like crazy

 

[Sacah]

Can you let us know your tanks water params?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Agreed that parameters might be an issue.  Also, what kind of dirt did you use?

I have 2 dirted tanks, one of them has co2, and both of them have shrimp. No issues on my end. 
 

It’s also a little wild that the population tripled, meaning you had babies growing up in your water, and then they all died off. In my experience, shrimp born and successfully grown in your water become near bulletproof.
 

All of them dying leads me to believe it’s an issue with the environment. 

[SoDaksam]

Agreed.  I made no changes in the last few months.  I’ve read small water changes are best.  I might’ve overfed a bit.  2 tabs a day?  Potting soil with bio soil over the top.  Plants are thriving.  Dam guppy grass.  Java moss is on fire,too.  Ordered some more.   Ammonia test soon. 

[Sacah]

If you can, also knowing the Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, GH & KH would give a fuller picture.

Do you have any pictures of ones that have died, incase there is a hint as to what is happening.

[PineSong]

Two tabs per day of anything does sound like a lot of food for shrimp unless you had hundreds of them. Depending on how long ago the mass die off occurred, you may still have baby shrimp in the tank that are too small to see. 

[MrGibson]

You mentioned co2, do you have any way of measuring co2 concentration? Also by diy co2 are you talking about yeast and sugar or a pressurized citric acid and baking soda setup?

[SoDaksam]

Sugar and yeast.  Plants are growing like wild fire.  Tons of new baby snails.  A few snail die offs , too. Want to put a few Molly fry in the tank.  Kinda nervous. 

[SoDaksam]

OK, finally tested the water parameters with the test kit I have.  Ammonia =0, nitrate=0, nitrate 10-20 (hard for me read the color on the chart), pH 7.6.  No signs of shrimp life.  Plants and snails going nuts.  Thanks for any tips.  Sam

[SoDaksam]

My research says that nitrate level is reasonable. 

[Woowala]

Gh level would be helpful. These were neocaridina right? I'm guessing you gassed them with co2, but low gh could explain it too.

[SoDaksam]

Not a huge aquarium water chemist. Gh is water hardness, correct?  We do have a water softener and we’ll water.  Don’t have a Gh test.  I’ll stop the co2.  I really only use it sporadically through a chop stick tip.  It runs out after a week or two.  I can stop using it.  Don’t need more plants. Thanks for your insight.  Frustrating, they were going great for months.  

[SoDaksam]

Maybe I’ll get the water from the hose and skip the softener. 

[Woowala]

Yes, gh is general hardness, basically a measure of the calcium and magnesium in the water.  The water softener removes cal and mag and replaces them with sodium and I think potassium (might explain why your plants are doing so well).  So that could definitely be it.  Any white marks on the snails' shells?  That would be an indicator of low gh, but a test would be better. Get a test, the liquid dropper kind.  One of the easiest and cheapest tests, so that's nice.

But I would blame the inconsistent diy co2 if they all died off quickly, like overnight.

[MWilk]

Add hardness back to your water or grab it before the softener. or you could try to keep caridina shrimp that prefer soft water, but are generally considered hard to take care of. 

[SoDaksam]

Might be an odd question, but how do I add hardness back to the water?  Yes, my snails have white stripes on the shells. 

[Woowala]

Easiest way would be to get some water before it goes through the softener like MWilk said and mix it with the softened water in whatever ratio gets you the right gh.  Or you could get a gh booster mix and add it to the softened water.

[SoDaksam]

Drained half the water and added well water from the hose after letting it warm up a bit.  I do put a squirt of aquarium co-op liquid fert in there weekly. 

[SoDaksam]

Ordered a hardness test kit on Amazon. 

[Woowala]

That's good. Test the tank and the tap pre and post softener and you should be able to figure it out.  If not, ask.  🙂

[SoDaksam]

Thanks.  Still a head scratcher. 

[MWilk]

If you’re on a water softener, use a product like seachem equilibrium to raise GH and an alkalinity buffer to raise pH and KH. 

[SoDaksam]

Thanks. Added some eBay shrimp today.  Look lively.  Might have been hasty, but tired of looking at plants and snails. 

[SoDaksam]

 No co2, minimal food, fingers crossed,  cleaned the sponge filter for more flow and agitation. 

[Sacah]

See how you go, if you haven't already, add some remineraliser, if possible, a shrimp focused one.