Shrimp Massacre

[Aqua Tom]

I spent the morning Taking all the Vallis out of my tank & replacing it with Cambomba. Unfortunately all my shrimp are now dead or dying. What the hell did I do wrong?

 

[loraxchick]

I imagine stirring up the substrate caused a small ammonia spike which killed the shrimp. They are fairly sensitive. Either that or you maybe had chemicals on your hands (soap, lotions etc).
also worth mentioning, many times plants are treated in copper solution to kill off snails/snail eggs or other hitchhikers...shrimp are VERY sensitive to copper. the new camboba may have been treated with copper solution.
any or all of the above may have been the culprit.
sorry to hear. thats a shame
cheers

 

[Aqua Tom]

I imagine stirring up the substrate caused a small ammonia spike which killed the shrimp. They are fairly sensitive. Either that or you maybe had chemicals on your hands (soap, lotions etc).
also worth mentioning, many times plants are treated in copper solution to kill off snails/snail eggs or other hitchhikers...shrimp are VERY sensitive to copper. the new camboba may have been treated with copper solution.
any or all of the above may have been the culprit.
sorry to hear. thats a shame
cheers

Thanks, it must be the new plants as I have my hands in the tank weekly & always make sure I have no contaimants on them. BTW my entire shrimp colony is dead now (& some of those guys where BIG), but my fish appear fine, will keep an eye on them for a while & maybe do a big water change tomorow.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Oh well, they are all dead now, even though I did a 90% water change. Fish are fine. I talked to the plant supplier who said that he had talked to his grower, who said that they did not use copper solution. Hey ho, its a mystery.