I have a 2 foot tank with plants which I started about 2 months ago. I use the Nutrafin Co2 generator thingy since I don't want to spend too much just starting out. Anyway, I have cardinal, neon and black tetras in my tank and about 10 rummy nose. I also have 2 clown loaches for snail control. I've tried putting yamato shrimps in my tank but they always died after about 24 hours.
My tank temp then was a constant 31 Celcius, too hot I was told for Yamatos. I have just added a fan and managed to bring the water temp down to constant 27 celcius with the lights on and 25 celcius at night. Great...now I can put Yamatos in my tank. Well...I went and bought 3 yesterday and unfortunately, a little while ago...just after 24 hours after being in my tank, I saw one crashing around the tank. I think it's a goner.
It's bloody frustrating though since I can't figure out what could be wrong and what's killing them. The fishes are doing fine. Even the noses on the rummynose is blood red, which I was told is a good indication of water quality.
The other thing I'm thinking of doing is stripping the tank down and starting from scratch. I really want the Yamatos since they look very nice and cute in the tank. I'm sure many will agree.
Can anyone give me any thoughts as to what might be wrong?
Tank Dimensions (LxWxH): 24inches X 12 inches X 18 inches
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 2 x 15 watts Azoo Super Light
Type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : FL
No. of Hours your light is on: around 10-12
Type of CO2 (DIY/Liquid/Tank) : NutraFin Co2 yeast method
How thick is your gravel : around 3 inches
Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister) : overhead
How long has your tank been set up : 2 month+
Carbonate Hardness (kh):
Total Hardness (gH): unknown (no tester)
PH : 6.6
NH4 (ppm):
NO2 (ppm):
NO3 (ppm):
PO4 (ppm):
Fe (ppm):
Bioload:
6 neon tetra, 6 cardinal, 8 black tetra, 10 rummynose, 2 clown loach
There may be some reasons.
Assuming that your tank's condition is stable.
One of the reasons is that
1) You did not float your bag containing the yamato in your tank for some time before releasing them into your tank.
2) The yamato you bought are of poor quality. I heard that those selling in a packet are usually of poorer quality.
the yamatos u bought may be of poor quality, if not you must have not acclimalise them to ur water condition by dumping them straightaway into your tank and thus not giving them a chance to be "seasoned" to your water parameters.
shrimps, especially cherries and bumble, are very very sensitive to changes in water parameters. do check your water quality.
P.S Ginza's Aquarium (located at the end of ginza, facing the HDB blocks, sell excellent quality shrimps. mine grew from a mere 1cm to now a gigantic 4cm)
Founder of theWaterBox
[quote:a78206985b="chua"]There may be some reasons.
Assuming that your tank's condition is stable.
One of the reasons is that
1) You did not float your bag containing the yamato in your tank for some time before releasing them into your tank.
2) The yamato you bought are of poor quality. I heard that those selling in a packet are usually of poorer quality.[/quote:a78206985b]
The shrimps were in a tank when I bought them. Only then were they bagged. They looked fine in the LFS. Then I brought the bag home and floated it in my tank for an hour to acclimatize them to the temp in my tank. However, this time I did not add in some water from my tank to the water which came with the shrimps to get them used to the water. I did it the last time and the shrimps died too.
Could too much Co2 kill the shrimps? But I doubt it...I'm using a Co2 indicator test kit from Sera and it shows that it's in "manageable" quantities. sigh
Like I said, very frustrating when I don't know what's killing them. One other reason I suspect could be that the fertilizer which I used as a base level when I set up my tank, could have seeped thru the gravel into the water and poisoning the water. But fishes are fine. Hmmph? What else could it be? I'm running out of ideas.
Anyway, thanks in advance for any comments. It is much appreciated!
did you add the water slowly? you should add a little at a time like say, add a little every 5min until the water chem. in the bag is the same as the water in the tank. that is what i do anyways. hopes this helps.
Why don't you buy from other LFS and see how.
Did you put anti-chlorine solution into your tank? If you haven't, give it a try. Shrimps are rather sensitive to chemicals in our tapwater.
Thanks to ALL of you for your advise. What I'm going to do is change ALMOST all the water in my current tank. Put in anti-chlorine to remove chemicals. Let the water sit for a day or two and then add in Yamato shrimps based on the acclimatisation methods listed. Hopefully this will enable the Yamatos to survive. Will keep all posted.
Thanks!!!
[quote:51da027928="tangyp"]Thanks to ALL of you for your advise. What I'm going to do is change ALMOST all the water in my current tank.....
Thanks!!![/quote:51da027928]
Not a very good idea. Fresh water from the tap isn't really fish friendly. Although it's clean but it's filled with chemicals and what not. With such a big water change, it will throw you tank out of whack and you'll probably need to cycle again your tank.
Agreed with sherchoo.
I am not too sure but could it be your CO2 output not consistent.
CO2 from cylinder is uaually rather consistent while DIY is not.
[quote:39b1539568="sherchoo"][quote:39b1539568="tangyp"]Thanks to ALL of you for your advise. What I'm going to do is change ALMOST all the water in my current tank.....
Thanks!!![/quote:39b1539568]
Not a very good idea. Fresh water from the tap isn't really fish friendly. Although it's clean but it's filled with chemicals and what not. With such a big water change, it will throw you tank out of whack and you'll probably need to cycle again your tank.[/quote:39b1539568]
Really? Hmm...ok...never thought about that. But right now, it's the only think I can think of to do, hopefully towards fixing my problems with the Yamatos. I talked to the people at the LFS and they told me they had the same problem once with one of their tanks. The yamatos started crashing around after a while, same symptoms like mine and then died. They changed all the water and that fixed it for them. Got to try something. Will let you all know if it works for me.
Thanks!
Do a simple test.
Measure Your PH Levels Before and After the massacre,
I suppose it might be a PH swing that causes that. Or even Measure the water they came with while you're at it. The sudden PH swing is a major killer or shrimps being the fragile bunch they are
I killed my first batch by over fertilizing with CSM PLantex+B. My second batch is now in 3 months, healthy and growing in a planted tank 27C, 5kH, 7-9 gH, 6.8 pH with CO2 injection and dosing every other day with KN03, K2SO4, Tropica Master Grow and fleet for PO4 weekly. WC is 50% every 5 days.
You don't give any information about what is in your water. This is far more important for shrimp than most fish, although the Cardinals are very sensitive. They will die at copper or fe levels that your fish will not react to. The dramatic reaction and death implies a chemical or osmotic shock occured.
What is the substrate made of? What do you fertilize with? What is your water change schedule/ volume. Does your tap water have high levels of trace minerals like Cu or Fe ? (look in website of the municipal water company for assay results)
The CO2 level is fine, if the fish aren't suffocating the shrimp will not either. Do your snails (if any seen have white shells? If so it indicates toxic metals present that will harm invertibrates.
If you do not want to spend money on test kits, then take sample to a store and pay them to test. Goto a salt water store, they will likely have more toxic metal tests. As a minmum with CO2 added you want pH and kH as a minimum, NH3 and NO2 are next most important.
Do a slow acclimation with an air line tubing to match water. Bring home bag of shrimp, test pH and kH in bag. Then add water slowly over 45min, dumping out as needed to not overfill. Stop when bag matches your tank's chemistry.
Hi Tangyp,
Around 40 over shrimps (Bee, Tiger, Yamatoes) have passed away till I decided to be a little more patient and slowly introduced the shrimp over a few days.
I placed the shrimps in a small basin and added water slowly over the next 3 days. My yamatoes are doing fine....
Forgot to ask what sort of rocks do you have in the tank if any? My fish store sold me a nice hexagonal rock, it's slightly green, turns out that is from the Copper ore deposits in it. It was like adding solid shrimpicide to the tank. Make sure the rocks are inert .
u sure yrs is yamato or whtever??
they are quite hardy shrimps according to my 1 years of keeping them...
rather big eater and destroyer...lol
i think u must have bought them cheap cheap type...so all must be sick type...like sars..lol
dun give up keep on trying...
cheers
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