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dalethewhale

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My tank has been set up for about a month now, with 7 baby zebra danio. They've recently got to a size where i think it's safe to put some cherry shrimp into the tank to keep the bottom clean and make it a bit more lively. I also bought some plants to provide food and somewhere to hide (a cabomba and a moss ball, also a clipping of a plant which i got with the fry off my brother, not sure what it is) I added the plants and substrate (i previously had none to make cleaning easier while they were fry) i then added the cherry shrimp. At first they were very lively and made a brilliant addition, however after a day they are now barely moving. they tempereature is set at 24, but i dont think this is the problem, i don't think the water was cycled properly? I have a well established goldfish aquarium, would it be safe to use some cycled water from this tank in a seperate 2.5 gallon tank in order to save the shrimp until the tank is fully cycled? I weant to act quickly to save them, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Anyone have any advice? I've left them in there for now, they're moving around very slowly and one seems to be struggling to stay upright!
 
What you need to do is post a little bit more information.

Have you tested your water?
Did you 'cycle' your filter?

If you can post up any of these answers you'll probably find the answers you're looking for.
 
Your tank is not cycled. Shrimp need very good water conditions with 0 ammonia or they will die. Test your water, I'll bet you have ammonia. Do a 50% water change, add some bacteria starter. Your temp is fine. The next day do another 50% water change. Test again. You may have to do another water change later in the evening. At this point, you need to make that water as perfect as possible and you might save them. If you want to use the goldfish water that is fine but you have to test that water too to make sure it has 0 ammonia. Make sure you keep the temp and pH consistent, Swings in pH will kill shrimp quickly as well.

Good luck!
 
Your tank is not cycled. Shrimp need very good water conditions with 0 ammonia or they will die. Test your water, I'll bet you have ammonia. Do a 50% water change, add some bacteria starter. Your temp is fine. The next day do another 50% water change. Test again. You may have to do another water change later in the evening. At this point, you need to make that water as perfect as possible and you might save them. If you want to use the goldfish water that is fine but you have to test that water too to make sure it has 0 ammonia. Make sure you keep the temp and pH consistent, Swings in pH will kill shrimp quickly as well.

Good luck!

Thank you :) i'm new to this and i think i rushed into buying them too quickly. I'll buy a test kit tomorrow and test the water and do what you said. The filter has been in the tank for about 6 weeks as it was in there a few weeks fishless before i added the zebra danio. They seem to be doing a little better but there's one smaller one which seems to be struggling to move about the tank, the others are just less active than when i first bought them. If there's any other pointers you have to make sure i dont make a similar mistake it would be appreciated. As i said i'm new to keeping tropical fish and it's hard piecing together the information i can get from other forums.
 
Also, i don't want to sound rude, but why will 50% water changes help me? I thought it might be ammonia so i've made sure i syphoned off any uneaten food after about 20 minutes but if the water needs to be cycled will i not be best removing the shrimp and letting the water cycle? Just wondering, obviously you know better than me though :) And would it be helpful to remove some cycled filter material from my goldfish tank and use that to boost the bacteria? :)
 
Your filter cycles, water is water doesn't matter how long it has been in the tank. It doesn't 'mature' it only collects wastes. that is the reason for suggesting 50% water changes. There is no maximum water change amount. It all depends. A mature tank may only need 25% a week or something. A fish in cycling tank can easily be given 80% or more daily if ammonia or nitrite is out of control. The ammonia and nitrite are toxic and are what kill the vast majority of fish in this hobby. They are present in the water, so we may remove lots of water to manually control these. Cycling refers to bacteria growing in the filter that turn ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. That is the cycle. Ammonia being present means too much food or fish are being added for current bacteria present. The bacteria will grow, eventually... they just need time.

I agree with testing the water parameters. Cherries are quite hardy shrimps IMO. Your tank though has to have some sorta cycle going if they fry are okay and eating food. Shrimp add very little to the bioload so its not likely IMO that they caused a big increase in waste production.

Moving mature filter media would help if the tank is having cycling issues. Though at the same time don't take more then 1/3 of the media from the goldfish tank or you may cause cycling issues in that tank.
 
Your filter cycles, water is water doesn't matter how long it has been in the tank. It doesn't 'mature' it only collects wastes. that is the reason for suggesting 50% water changes. There is no maximum water change amount. It all depends. A mature tank may only need 25% a week or something. A fish in cycling tank can easily be given 80% or more daily if ammonia or nitrite is out of control. The ammonia and nitrite are toxic and are what kill the vast majority of fish in this hobby. They are present in the water, so we may remove lots of water to manually control these. Cycling refers to bacteria growing in the filter that turn ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. That is the cycle. Ammonia being present means too much food or fish are being added for current bacteria present. The bacteria will grow, eventually... they just need time.

I agree with testing the water parameters. Cherries are quite hardy shrimps IMO. Your tank though has to have some sorta cycle going if they fry are okay and eating food. Shrimp add very little to the bioload so its not likely IMO that they caused a big increase in waste production.

Moving mature filter media would help if the tank is having cycling issues. Though at the same time don't take more then 1/3 of the media from the goldfish tank or you may cause cycling issues in that tank.

Thank you for clearing that up :) i've moved 1/3 of the filer material from my goldfish tank into my aquarium, I do 30% water changes every week, but i've just done a 50% this morning. One of my shrimp has died unfortunately :( but the other three seem to be doing a lttle better, one was exploring the tank this morning and looked quite lively, with a few more water changes i think it will be fine. Thanks for the advice, i wont rush into buying shrimp again. However once my tank is fully cycled i might add a few more as i love the little fella's. :)
 
Your filter cycles, water is water doesn't matter how long it has been in the tank. It doesn't 'mature' it only collects wastes. that is the reason for suggesting 50% water changes. There is no maximum water change amount. It all depends. A mature tank may only need 25% a week or something. A fish in cycling tank can easily be given 80% or more daily if ammonia or nitrite is out of control. The ammonia and nitrite are toxic and are what kill the vast majority of fish in this hobby. They are present in the water, so we may remove lots of water to manually control these. Cycling refers to bacteria growing in the filter that turn ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. That is the cycle. Ammonia being present means too much food or fish are being added for current bacteria present. The bacteria will grow, eventually... they just need time.

I agree with testing the water parameters. Cherries are quite hardy shrimps IMO. Your tank though has to have some sorta cycle going if they fry are okay and eating food. Shrimp add very little to the bioload so its not likely IMO that they caused a big increase in waste production.

Moving mature filter media would help if the tank is having cycling issues. Though at the same time don't take more then 1/3 of the media from the goldfish tank or you may cause cycling issues in that tank.
:good: My sentiments exactly.
 
I did what you said and moved 1/3 of the filter material to the tank and did 2 50% water changes yesterday. No one was in the house last night, but before i left (about 8) I fed them and syphoned off uneaten food. I came back this morning at about 10 to feed them and ALL of my baby zebra danio were dead :( The cherry shrimp were munching on them and one had shed and they seem a little more active! What could have made my zebra danio die but not affected my cherry shrimp!?!?! I quickly removed the dead bodies, removed the filter material from the goldfish tank and did an 80% water change. Still dont have tests for ammonia etc and i wont be able to get them till sunday as i have no way of getting to the petshop and am really busy. The temperature is still at 24 degrees, i dont understand :/ :(
 
Hi ,how many litres is your tank,and did you do a fishless cycling,i added my fish the same day as pet shop misinformed me,and after five weeks i`m still doing between 1-2 60 percent daily water changes,and i`ve still lost one cory?

I`m also feeding the bare minimum food every other day to keep ammonia to lowest possible.[28l tank with 4 glowlight tetra ,3 corries and 2 armano shrimp in]
 

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