AJanzen Posted March 26, 2015 Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 So, not too sure what's going on with my tank but today I picked out 4 dead RCS and yesterday I had picked out 2. All other shrimp in the tank seem happy and healthy, but among the dead ones today was a heavily pregnant female. This is a 5.5G Fluval Chi planted set up with live plants, the goofy mini CO2 system that comes with, and a fluval nan filter etc... I checked all my water parameters and everything looks good so not sure what the problem is. Temperature is 25C. Background on the tank. Set up with just plants 2.5 months ago, waited a week then cycled with neon tetras for a month. All fish have been removed and the only other inhabitant of the tank now is one zebra nerite snail. After the 6 dead shrimp I'd say there is about 20 cherries left. Any help here would be appreciated, in the past any Cherry Shrimp tanks I've had required little to no maintenance and the little guys flourished/bred like crazy. My only thought here is that I may be putting too much CO2 into the tank as this is my first experiment with CO2. It's just the little Fluval CO2 20 that I'm using and I only fill the chamber in the morning each day (none on weekends as this is a work tank). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted March 27, 2015 Report Share Posted March 27, 2015 What's the ph? Adding this gas lowers the ph which can affect the exoskeleton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumpsmasher Posted March 28, 2015 Report Share Posted March 28, 2015 Could be a number of factors What's your PH / GH / KH at? Ammonia / Nitrite / Nitrate level? How long has the shrimps been in there? Does your temperatures fluctuate with the lights on vs light off?How often do you go water changes? Are you using tap water? If so what are you using to treat the water? Did the deaths occur just after a water change? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJanzen Posted April 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 I've been monitoring the PH levels all week and they are steady at about 6.7 I haven't added anymore CO2 since the first post however I have had about 4 more shrimp deaths. GH/KH levels are standard for Edmonton water. Nitrite levels are 0ppm and Nitrate's are between 0 and 20ppm. I do water changes about once a week using tap water left overnight (temp is the same the next day) and treated with Prime to remove any ammonia. The initial deaths were about 5 days after the last water change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claudiohv Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 my guess is stop using primer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumpsmasher Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 my guess is stop using primer. That would be my next guess as well. Never had much luck with Prime and shrimps. Do you normally dose prime and have you increased your dosage recently to deal with the ammonia spike with the city water supply? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJanzen Posted April 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 Yeah, I have slightly increased the dosage for ammonia spikes. I also have the big Al's water conditioner I could use but it doesn't mention anything about eliminating the ammonia. Should I not worry too much about ammonia with the shrimp? Or is leaving it out overnight sufficient to get rid of the ammonia? Also, down another 2 shrimp today without any changes to the water parameters or CO2 added... May not have to worry about the shrimp after the long weekend if this keeps up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumpsmasher Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 That should fine for chlorine / chloramine. For ammonia if you have decent biological filtration and drip in the new water slowly it should be able to tackle the ammonia. You can also add some biological additives like Cycle or Prodibio Start-up / Stop Ammo I would also increase aeration if you haven't ready done so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claudiohv Posted April 3, 2015 Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 That should fine for chlorine / chloramine. For ammonia if you have decent biological filtration and drip in the new water slowly it should be able to tackle the ammonia. You can also add some biological additives like Cycle or Prodibio Start-up / Stop Ammo I would also increase aeration if you haven't ready done so couldn't agree more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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