Shrimp Keep Dying!

[Rorie]

I have a 25L tank which i set up with 20 cherry shimp with the intention to breed/grow them.

All was well, they had multiplied massively and had a nice group of large adults and all sizes of fry(?)

I went on holiday, so a friend looked after my tanks - popping in and putting in food i left out every other day. When i got back, all five other tanks were fine, but my shrimp tank was not. Most shrimp were dead! I tested the water etc, all was fine. Checked that only the things (measured portions too) i left were put in. Very strange

I then cleaned up all the dead and kept the tank running. There were a few survivors - adults and babies.

Yesterday i realised there were more than i thought were left - one female full of eggs.

Today, however, the female and a couple others were dead again! Just lying there upside down!

PH is sitting at 6.2 steady. 26 degrees. All other parameters are as expected.

Any reason for these unexplained deaths? Is this typical with shrimp? There are no tank mates. If the water was bad, i'd expect the fry to be the first to go! There is also a corner with algae which i try to maintain with lights so there is always a food allowance!

 

[Ian H]

does your friend have a copper braclet or any other jewlery? has the tank been treated for anything prior to the shrimp going in there?

 

[BigbruiserAl]

how often do you feed mate and whats the nitrates in tank?

any co2 in that tank?

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Sounds like it could be nitrates

 

[fishprotector]

I would say high nitrates. 26 degrees is quite warm though. I keep mine at 21 and they are as happy as larry.

 

[Rorie]

I know it wasnt my friend....he know what he is doing with them and i left strict instructions haha.

Nitrates? water changes will get rid of that.... what could cause them to be high in such a simple set up?

 

[Rickzayne]

20 shrimp with babies... Ammonia-nitrite-nitrate over 2 weeks with algee as well

 

[BigbruiserAl]

tap water contains nitrates which shrimp dont like, uk limit is 40ppm i belive which shrimp wont like

 

[Rorie]

would the use of RO water get rid of this problem then?

 

[ian]

There has been some research done with nitrates @ 300ppm and at this it started to effect sensitive CRS. I'm sure cherries would be able to handle that. Have you put any new plants in?

 

[Rorie]

nope, nothing changed when they started dying. I put in a couple plants now though to help incase there was any ammonia issues

 

[BigbruiserAl]

There has been some research done with nitrates @ 300ppm and at this it started to effect sensitive CRS. I'm sure cherries would be able to handle that. Have you put any new plants in?

Nirates should be under 50ppm for RCS they do not like high nirates, i have 3 tanks of RCS and keep them under 50ppm i get 2-3 deaths a week if let them go 80+. More info cand be found on websites like petshrimp or shrimpnow for RCS

 

[ian]

BTW i would advocate having N03 @ 300ppm. But as i have said research suggests that N03 toxicity isn't half as bad as once though.

If anyone's interested and can read past the science, here's some good info, done by Tom Barr, some of his research was done on high class CRS.

http/www.barrreport.com/archive/index.php/t-3267.html

There is some good research linked within it.

I put in a couple plants now though to help in case there was any ammonia issues

I think this would be more likely than N03 toxicity.