Shrimp Dieing

[lljdma06]

Have you treated for disease recently, Sam? Invertebrates have issues with any treatment that contains copper. The presence of that treatment may also be persistent in the tank, in the sealings, heater suctions, filter pads, for quite some time after treatment. If I have treated a tank with a remedy with even the slightest amount of copper, it doesn't get shrimp, for a very long time if ever. Copper can even be present in fish food. Shrimp also prefer mature tanks. In addition, they really don't live very long, so maybe you got a bunch of old-timers. Check out this article below. Just dug it up. It's a blog of some type, with pretty pictures.

http/aquatic-eden.blogspot.com/2006/11/s...r-aquarium.html

I wish I had shrimp, but only the 2.5g has escaped copper treatments so far, and that tank has a betta, so no shrimps for me.

llj

 

[Themuleous]

Thanks for the reply, but not treated with copper ever in this tank. My only thought on the copper front would be the trace mix, which contains copper. I started to dose at twice the rate as per George's suggestion and that might have done it, but cant be sure. Have reduced the rate back down, but didn't realise copper could be persistent, would explain why the water changes haven't stopped it happening, if it is indeed the cause.

Thanks for the link will have a read of that when I get a minute.

Sam

 

[Waterloo Kid]

The only thig that's killed my shrimp has been a pH crash. Even then 7 of the 10 survived and are no over 2 years old and going strong. They do like good oxygen levels though. After my recent blackout I found all 7 shrimp clinging to some floating H. polysperma right at the surface. One shrimp jumped out of the tank and fell 5 foot to the floor. It was out of water for at least 5 minutes before I noticed it. I put it back in and it was absolutely fine, as if nothing had happened! Tough little fellas!

WK

 

[MoreCoffee]

Sam,

I've just read a post by Tom Barr stating that........

Amanos are sensitive to CO2, more so than many smaller fish.
Also NH4/NO2. They make good "guinea pigs" for test therefore.
Low O2 will also kill them. So some decent surface current is wise.

....It might be worth a quick set of ammonia and nitrite tests and maybe introduce some surface current at night if possible.

By 'guniea pigs' I think he means they are a good early indicator that something is not quite right with the water chemistry ..... sort of a 'miners canary' !

If you've been adding various treatments to your tank to try cure your algae problems, I've read that some of these can lead to reduced O2 levels in the water ..... especially if 'overdosed'.

Al

 

[Themuleous]

Thanks for that Al

Don't think its CO2 as the fish would be gasping at the surface, if anything it might be a little low, but will test this eve and see. And the water changes should keep O2 levels up. I also thought pearling was a sign that the water was saturated with O2?

Will test for HN3/NO2 but again shouldn't be a problem cos of the huge filter Ive got on there. And the dwarf rasboras are notoriously sensitive to those as well and they seem fine.

Not added any algae treatments for weeks, as wanted to give the increased water changes a chance to work before I change anything else.

Thanks for all the help guys The strange thing is that I've actually changed very little in the tank for months (did up CO2 a month or so ago as I realised I was way low, at 30ppm now) and it just suddenly started to happen, think I'll just resort to putting it down to a bad batch and see how the next load fair.

Sam

 

[Aqua Essentials]

Thanks for that Al

Don't think its CO2 as the fish would be gasping at the surface, if anything it might be a little low, but will test this eve and see. And the water changes should keep O2 levels up. I also thought pearling was a sign that the water was saturated with O2?

Will test for HN3/NO2 but again shouldn't be a problem cos of the huge filter Ive got on there. And the dwarf rasboras are notoriously sensitive to those as well and they seem fine.

Not added any algae treatments for weeks, as wanted to give the increased water changes a chance to work before I change anything else.

Thanks for all the help guys The strange thing is that I've actually changed very little in the tank for months (did up CO2 a month or so ago as I realised I was way low, at 30ppm now) and it just suddenly started to happen, think I'll just resort to putting it down to a bad batch and see how the next load fair.

Sam

Hi Sam

Were you using AE trace? If you were and dosing it at double strength, that is the culpit. It's better to go the other way if you're unsure and have a more dilute solution and dose every day if necessary.

When I first began dosing AE trace mix, I too noticed a sudden change in behaviour and lost some amanos (which I think are the most intollerable to any chemicals due to the fact they are all taken from the wild). I cut my trace mix in half (to what I now recommend), and never had any problems again.

 

[Themuleous]

Hi Sam

Were you using AE trace? If you were and dosing it at double strength, that is the culpit. It's better to go the other way if you're unsure and have a more dilute solution and dose every day if necessary.

When I first began dosing AE trace mix, I too noticed a sudden change in behaviour and lost some amanos (which I think are the most intollerable to any chemicals due to the fact they are all taken from the wild). I cut my trace mix in half (to what I now recommend), and never had any problems again.

Tanks for that Richard! Much appreciated I now dose at half the rate you recommend on the shop, will do so for the time being until the shrimp have settled down, then go back to normal.

Did you notice anything in particular about their behaviour? Mine are very shy, never really come out from under the rock, and often have a massive fit and jump around all over the place in the tank, then seem ok, but often they die within 24hrs after doing this? Guess it could be a reaction to the copper, as it probably affects the nervous system.

Sam

 

[Aqua Essentials]

Did you notice anything in particular about their behaviour? Mine are very shy, never really come out from under the rock, and often have a massive fit and jump around all over the place in the tank, then seem ok, but often they die within 24hrs after doing this? Guess it could be a reaction to the copper, as it probably affects the nervous system.

Sam

Classic symtoms of their nervous system being wrecked. If shrimp behave oddly, chances are there is something wrong. When they have a massive fit, they are literally trying to escape from the toxin and this is when people often find shrimp on their floor or dead the next day.

As a rule of thumb, shrimp won't jump out of their tank unless they are unhappy. If you do see them hiding/behaving oddly, you don't have long to react. Perform a large water change and hope for the best. However, it's a bit of a downward spiral because a large water change will also cause shrimp problems.

They're sensitive little guys...

 

[Dave Spencer]

Themuleous,

I recently added four Bumblebee Shrimp to an immature EI set up (yeah I know...). Anyway, one disappeared overnight, never to return. Two others disappeared two or three days later. The only one remaining in the tank was one that had shed its shell the day after introducing to the tank, thus making it perceptibly larger than the other shrimp. Further investigation revealed that the smaller shrimp were able to get in to my filter through the water inlet vanes (a Juwel internal filter...once again I know).

A gentle rummage around in the filter internals with a wooden handled spoon brought two shrimp back out in to the open. They have since disappeared back in to the filter housing again, but they will hopefuly soon grow to the point where they can`t enter it again.

You might want to look at your filter inlet and the size of the shrimps.

P.S. As someone who wanted to keep fish, it is my shrimp that give me most pleasure and most grief.

 

[Themuleous]

Classic symtoms of their nervous system being wrecked. If shrimp behave oddly, chances are there is something wrong. When they have a massive fit, they are literally trying to escape from the toxin and this is when people often find shrimp on their floor or dead the next day.

Glad to know I remember something from my pest control course at Uni! And that definitely seems to answer the question as to what the heck the problem was wrong. I have found several out of the tank, crisp as a poppadom! Have just done my regular water change and they seem to have settled down now, much more active, so here's hoping that's the last I hear of that problem and they start eating my dam thread algae!

They're sensitive little guys...

Think I'm learning that the hard way!

Further investigation revealed that the smaller shrimp were able to get in to my filter through the water inlet vanes (a Juwel internal filter...once again I know).

Thanks for that Dave, but the intake strainer is small enough to stop them getting sucked it. Although I did have this problem on my other tank, when I removed the strainer, found 3 in the bottom of my eheim 2222!

Sam