Sudden death of Sakuras. Need shrimp expert view!

[tureblue82]

But i thought Gravidas is more like food rather than an additive for the water in the tank??


For heavy metals maybe can try the more expensive anti-chlorines like PetFran Ultimate coat or Seachem Prime or Shizhen, they are advertised to "neutralise" heavy metals.

Oops sorry TS, missed out "Gravidas". I used mosura gravidas with every 10% water change both to encourage successful molting and to prevent berried shrimps from dropping their eggs.

I think your unsuccessful molting is due to bacteria rather than water change. Like you mentioned, your deaths occur before the frequent water change, and from my experiences, my white bar deaths come in bouts, and once when I add in 20 new shrimps. They could be the ones that "contaminate" my shrimps.

[Navanod]

Could we see a full tank shot of the tank?
From what little I see, your tank looks very "clean". Usually, that means it's very new, hehe.

How long was it cycled before the shrimps were added?
Molting difficulties can be due to many reasons but the main ones I had encountered are high GH/TDS, ammonia and plasticizer poisoning.
Since your GH and TDS seems ok, you may want to look at testing ammonia, nitrite and checking if you have any non-aquarium plastic in contact with your tank water.

[Aventador]

Causing KH,GH to fluctuate everyday.

Improper molting could mean bacterial infection, Lack of calcium or KH/GH is not in ideal range.

Before the problem started, weekly WC was 20%. KH/GH was in the ideal range for RCS.

Please get more hornworts.. lots of it and place them in your tank to absorb the nitrates after the 50% change. If you need hornworts and stay near woodlands, let me know. can pass you some.

I also suspect you have a too much heavy metals in the tank. Is your tank exposed to the environment, open air outside tank?

Thanks for the nice gesture. I got a bunch of hornworts from LFS. I suspect too much metals as well. Can TDS reading determines the metal content? It was 200ppm. The tank is open air with HOF, in dark corner within the house.

Oops sorry TS, missed out "Gravidas". I used mosura gravidas with every 10% water change both to encourage successful molting and to prevent berried shrimps from dropping their eggs.

I am using Gravidas as well. Dose it whenever I do WC.

For heavy metals maybe can try the more expensive anti-chlorines like PetFran Ultimate coat or Seachem Prime or Shizhen, they are advertised to "neutralise" heavy metals.

I got both Prime and Shizhen as water conditoner. Using them on alternate WC.

your tank looks very "clean". Usually, that means it's very new, hehe.

How long was it cycled before the shrimps were added?

My tank is a matured tank, running for more 18 months. Shrimps were added 12 months ago. Ammonia and Nitrite are 0 readings.

[Aventador]

Sorry guys, I was swarm with work for the past week, here are the updates of the tank:

After my last big volume WC and removal of Purigen from filter, no more shrimp casualties. However, daily nitrate check test still shows 40ppm and increasing. So for every 2 days, I did 10% WC and added more Frogbits, Hornwarts as well as mosses in the tank. Tank is back to stabilised condition and yesterday I did a test, I introduced Purigen back to the tank for 6 hours and monitor, shrimps went hiding and one more juvenile casualty. Tested Nitrate and shoot up again.

I have since did another 10% WC(last change was 2days ago) removed Purigen from filter and livestocks are swimming around, no signs of stress and I could see molted shells lying around on substrate. I reckon its a good sign, fingers cross now.

I have been googling around and I do not understand why Purigen is causing problems to my tank, could it be my tank is not healthy or mature enough to use Purigen?

[felix_fx2]

Purigen i though it has a limit to how much it could take/absorb? If it's not white anymore there is a part of the seachem site that mention it can be regenerated using bleach.


http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...s/Purigen.html

[Aventador]

Purigen i though it has a limit to how much it could take/absorb? If it's not white anymore there is a part of the seachem site that mention it can be regenerated using bleach.


http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...s/Purigen.html

I actually used slightly less than the recommended dosage and still white. What I don't understand is how it causes the shrimps to have molting problem and eventually leads to death.

[Urban Aquaria]

Was the Purigen a new packet or one that has been used for a while? If it was used before, was it regenerated using bleach? Sometimes if the bleach isn't completely removed after the regeneration process, it could leach back into the water.

There could also be a possibility that one of the additives that you dosed in the tank might have reacted negatively with Purigen, i remember reading that amine-based compounds might react with Purigen and create toxic substances too.

[felix_fx2]

I actually used slightly less than the recommended dosage and still white. What I don't understand is how it causes the shrimps to have molting problem and eventually leads to death.

most of the time molting issues are related to water conditions like GH high or fluctuations too much. as outlined by Nave above.

if things are work well without it, you better don't add it back in. you might want to confirm if its the culprit with some tests.

Sent from GT-N7105 powered by Temasek CM11

[Aventador]

Was the Purigen a new packet or one that has been used for a while? If it was used before, was it regenerated using bleach? Sometimes if the bleach isn't completely removed after the regeneration process, it could leach back into the water.

There could also be a possibility that one of the additives that you dosed in the tank might have reacted negatively with Purigen, i remember reading that amine-based compounds might react with Purigen and create toxic substances too.

Its brand new and white. I am suspecting it crashes with the additives I dosed in the tank.

most of the time molting issues are related to water conditions like GH high or fluctuations too much. as outlined by Nave above.

if things are work well without it, you better don't add it back in. you might want to confirm if its the culprit with some tests.

Sent from GT-N7105 powered by Temasek CM11

Ya I do not intend to add the Purigen back anytime sooner. Probably will use only on shrimpless tank in the future.

[Urban Aquaria]

Its brand new and white. I am suspecting it crashes with the additives I dosed in the tank.

Yeah, it could be one of the causes, would be good to find out which additives clash with it... i also use Purigen in my shrimp tank too, but other than Prime to treat the water, Tropica ferts and Excel for the plants, i don't add anything else to it. Haven't encountered any issues so far.

[Navanod]

Purigen was not developed for shrimps to begin with and although nice, is not required.
Purigen would better be used for display tanks that needs to look extremely clear, which is what it does best.