Twitching Crystal Red Shrimp

[kaneda]

We just started a 13.5 gallon tank for our growing crystal red shrimp population, and noticed that some of them are twitching around quite a bit.

We don't know why, but we moved as many as we could back to the original tank (7 gallon) so we don't lose any.

Anyone know why the twitching is occuring?

Thanks.

 

[Caprichoso]

They do that if something is irritating them. It's not a good sign. Crystal Red's are much more delicate than other shrimp and so extra caution has to be heeded. How many do you have in your 7 gallon? You can keep many shrimp in a 7 gallon so unless you have like 100 of them, I wouldn't worry about moving them over just yet. Did you move over some old media to start the biological filter? Also, was there anything else in the tank prior to you setting it up? If yes, did the tank ever have meds put into it?

 

[Caprichoso]

Sorry double post

 

[kaneda]

thanks for the suggestions. doing a water test right now. had an algae bloom two days ago trying to work that out. low on NO3 and PO4. PH- 6.8, GH- 6, KH- 4, NO2- .1, FE non- 0, FE chelated- .1, PO4- .25, Ca- 40mg, NO3- 20. This reading was taken after the light cycle turned off for an hour. i have a 24 watt HO T5 on for 8 hours and compressed CO2 on with the light cycle. we transfered the shrimp back into the 7 gallon tank and they are looking better. we have 39 and four are pregnant and one has eggs 1 Yea!

 

[StandbySetting]

You have a reading for NO[sub]2[/sub][sup]-[/sup], this will warrant daily water changes until it is sorted, other than that your water parameters are fine, also are you measuring your CO[sub]2[/sub] with a drop checker?

 

[kaneda]

Yes I am checking the CO2 with a drop checker and all is good there. Just started adding seachem Nitrogen because my NO3 was nil and I got an algae bloom. I dose all seachem ferts. Daily 15ml of iron and phos, twice weekly 15ml of trace and flourish. The iron and phos are gone by two thirds through the light cycle and there was no nitrogen. the NO3 reading is coming only from the fert. OOPs NO2. Will do a water change tonight after work. Do you think a .1 reading is enough to kill the little guys? one of the 39 died. It was a second generation baby bout a week old. all the resrt of them are fine and in our 7 gallon Fluval Flora tank. Thank you for the help!!!

 

[StandbySetting]

Are you measuring the CO[sub]2[/sub] with 4DKH solution and not tank water? any NO[sub]2[/sub][sup]-[/sup] is bad, it should be 0 at all times.

 

[kaneda]

I'm at work and not sure of the brand name, but we check the CO2 with plastic bubble that suctions on to the inside of the tank, fill to a set level and add 2 drops of solution. Blue to much, Green just right, Yellow not enough.

 

[StandbySetting]

What's the solution you're adding though?

 

[kaneda]

Its a CO2 indicator made by red sea it does not say what solution is used.

 

[StandbySetting]

That's where your problem may lie...CO[sub]2[/sub] overdose, you need to get hold of some 4dKH solution and some bromothyml blue indicator solution, Aqua Essentials sell it, fill your drop checker with 4dkh water then add a few drops of bromothyml blue, only then will you get a real idea of how your CO[sub]2[/sub] is being dosed, as far as I'm aware the Red Sea indicator states that you add tank water to your drop checker? This shouldn't be done.

 

[kaneda]

Thank you. I'll check into that. I did actually lower the bubble count two days before the twitching though. I use about dbl the ferts that my LFS uses in their tanks and all the of them are gone before the end of the light cycle. Will do a 75% water change today. Any help on how to upload pics? Went to the pics page but it wont allow me to upload from my com. dont have web based pics. Sorry kinda off topic but I wanted to post what the tank looked like. Thanks again

 

[StandbySetting]

Use a image hosting site such as Photobucket, upload your images to that site, then copy and paste the link with the [IMG*][/IMG*] (Without the star) tags around them, they will then appear in your post when you submit it.

 

[kaneda]

Here it is before the bloom

And here is the fuzzy bloom that showed up and then the shrimp started twitching. Yea I got it to upload

 

[kaneda]

Thanks for the help StandbySetting and Caprichoso. Never put a turbo on a single cylinder engine. Too much light! 24 watt HO T5 over a 12" deep tank. CO2 was also high. Water parameters are all in spec now. Going to run for a week or so before transferring the little guys back in there. Thanks again