shrimp deaths, possible fish stress???

[BettaBeats]

i purchased 6 new cherry shrimp last week to equal 8.

this week i have only seen two, and no carcasses or molts.

but no shrimp either.

also, my platy who just gave birth is under a lot of stress by any movement around the tank.

the fry are still in the mesh box inside the tank, about 3 weeks now,

however, i'm not sure if my betta is attacking my shrimp, or if copper in my pipes did it? (although, i only see a bit of copper under my sink, not a whole lot more.)

i also put in one flourescent last week and havent replaced the remaining incandescent out.

plants seem to be doing healthy, i just did a small water change.

What could be causing the stress?

this is a planted tank, various crypts, vals, cambomba, banana plant, java fern ..

[balikiss]

It definatly could be your betta. Both my female bettas will harass any shrimp they see (even to the point of death a couple times) Theres a pretty good chance you just can't see any shrimp among the plants and gravel. How big is your tank? 8 shrimp isn't that many for even a the smaller tanks. Don't forget that they will often become lighter in colour if being bugged by the fish. So maybe they'v just turned an almost transparent colour and are virtually impossible to see. Hope there just hiding and not dead!

[BlackMumba]

I am a bit confused, do you have platys with your shrimp and a Betta?

Copper is not good for any invert, this also could be a problem there are test kits out there to see if your water holds any traces of copper.

Platy's could be eating your shrimp, betta's might as well... I have seen my betta girls swallow a baby pleco fry whole and the pleco fry was the size of a shrimp...

I was surprised to say the least !!

I doubt its stress but one of the two above factors I would suspect, also shrimp if they feel threatened are fanastic hiders. You seem to have a well planted tank so they might be hiding.

i purchased 6 new cherry shrimp last week to equal 8.

this week i have only seen two, and no carcasses or molts.

but no shrimp either.

also, my platy who just gave birth is under a lot of stress by any movement around the tank.

the fry are still in the mesh box inside the tank, about 3 weeks now,

however, i'm not sure if my betta is attacking my shrimp, or if copper in my pipes did it? (although, i only see a bit of copper under my sink, not a whole lot more.)

i also put in one flourescent last week and havent replaced the remaining incandescent out.

plants seem to be doing healthy, i just did a small water change.

What could be causing the stress?

this is a planted tank, various crypts, vals, cambomba, banana plant, java fern ..