Shrimps dying, not molting and swimmping around frantically/erratically

[Subdave]

Dear mentors,
there are tons of same thread here and on the net. but im new to this and not sure if i should quit, leave it or do something. Tank is cycled in dec 2013. i only added the shrimps in feb. before that the tank housed a betta now its shrimp only.

Photo of tank;

https://www.flickr.com/photos/111739...2/13417963144/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/111739...2/13417598215/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/111739...2/13417719333/

problems are as followed:

1. My shrimps (crs,fire red, shrimplets) are swimming around frantically/erratically all over the tank and especially near the HOB filter/surface past 2 days.
2. i only found one shrimp molted skin the 2nd week i had the shrimps(early feb). since then i have not seen them molt. and they have been steadily dying (i cant find them.no bodies but have seen shrimps eating the body twice.)
3. i fed them the past 2 days less then 1/4 of algae wafe(scared over fed = plnaria) cause i thought they hungry so the are looking for food but i thought since only 6 shrimp and a dew shrimplets there should be enough bio flim?

Details;(all shrimps were drip accumulated over 1h 30 mins)
4 CRS Males, long antenna cant really see got saddle (A grade)[bought 5, now only can find 4)
2 RCS Females got egg saddles(Fire red)[bought 15 batches of 5 over time, but keep dying and eaten by other shrimps, now only can find 2)
6~ baby fire red (one of the shrimps i bought was berried, now got shrimplets)

13l tank(10l water)
Tem: 26/27 deg(tank is in office. so day time air-con night time fan on timer. maintained using heater)
substrate: gravel
plants: java moss, mirimo moss, java fern, water sprite, water wetiria
CO2: No
Fert: No
Lighting: 14w energy saving (9am to 6pm)

All test liquid API
PH: 8+ ( i use age dechlorinated tap water. each wc (15% once in two weeks) i use 2 parts distilled water(life brand ntuc) 1 part aged tap. Evaporation top up, distilled water.
KH:4deg
GH:8deg
NH3/NH4:0
NO2:0
NO3:10+

[catohcat]

Did you put ur hands into the tank or any thing dropped into it? Ussually that behavior is not related to the tank environment itself but due to external factors. I would suggest you to put in a bag of charcoal and change at least 50% water slowly.

[Pork Life]

Your kH, gH and pH seems high to me. Think you should adjust your parameters to pH 6.5 to 7, kH 0-2, gH 4-6.

[Subdave]

Your kH, gH and pH seems high to me. Think you should adjust your parameters to pH 6.5 to 7, kH 0-2, g

I was also thinking the same. But I read a lot of veterans here say in such a small tank it's very difficult to maintain water prem. I put in 2 almond leaves already. Is there a safer way to reduse with out chemicals?

I know it's best to keep a minimum of 2ft tank. But my office table cannot take them weight nor them space.

[Subdave]

Did you put ur hands into the tank or any thing dropped into it? Ussually that behavior is not related to thecharcoal. vironment itself but due to external factors. I would suggest you to put in a bag of charcoal and change at least 50% water slowly.

Only think I can think off is that my internal thermometer fell in and I took it out with my hand. i will buy and put in a bag of charcoal tomorrow. Hope they stay alive till then. Slow like 10% each day? I did 15% change last Friday.

But what about the molting?

Thank you for answering.

[thebaldingaquarist]

Agree with pork life on the KH GH levels.

another thing you should pay attention to. in most of the office based setup, you need to pay attention to water temperature.

my office for instance, turns off the air conditioning on evenings and entire weekends. which means on weekends my tank would hover between 29-30 degrees.
Have you measured the max temp your water temp is at night or weekends?

[Subdave]

Agree with pork life on the KH GH levels.

another thing you should pay attention to. in most of the office based setup, you need to pay attention to water temperature.

my office for instance, turns off the air conditioning on evenings and entire weekends. which means on weekends my tank would hover between 29-30 degrees.
Have you measured the max temp your water temp is at night or weekends?

How can i bring it down? peat moss?

conditioning is turned off here too but only after 10pm even on week ends. max temp is 29degrees. hance i got a fan on timer that turns on at night and weekend to bring down to 27degrees.

do you have an office set up too? how did you bring the temp down?

Sorry for the trouble.

[seudzar]

I am unable to understand why is your pH is 8+? Are u able to get hold of any pH pen to test out?

[Subdave]

the tap water at my work place when i test is either 8 or 8+. i can get a different brand test kit to test. but a test pen sounds really expensive?

[Naraki]

Get a self buffering soil like borneo wild, RAC or shrimp soil. And forget about ever being needed to adjust PH.

[Subdave]

But if I redo tye substrate won't it recycle and also leach more ammonia?
Cause my home 2ft tank I use a da and gex. Ph 6.8 day 6 night.(swing daily ) Kh 0 gh 4...

[thebaldingaquarist]

How can i bring it down? peat moss?

conditioning is turned off here too but only after 10pm even on week ends. max temp is 29degrees. hance i got a fan on timer that turns on at night and weekend to bring down to 27degrees.

do you have an office set up too? how did you bring the temp down?

Sorry for the trouble.

Peat moss can only reduce your KH, PH and GH will remain high..

I was warned not to keep my tank in office. so now its a DRY planted tank. LOL. i tell them its potted plants.

Best solution i can tell is to do a water change with RO water. probably 70% or so and keep doing water changes with RO water. if you do not have access to RO water, than maybe distilled water...

water temp.. not much you can do, unless you want to get a chiller?

[Subdave]

Hahhaha Bro i install chiller no need to work liau. Here no ro. So I use more distilled water less tap?

i also think my office cannot keep. But so far no 1 complaint.

[Pork Life]

Peat moss or granulated peat would help reduce gh, ph and kh and should b fast for your small tank. But you would have to change peat every now n then and will have brown water.
Guess best option for you now is to do daily small amounts of water change with distilled water and remove any possible sources of calcium carbonate sources, i.e. coral chips, if any.
Active soil like borneowild shrimp soil wouldnt need to be cycled long, i.e. a week or so will do, but the ph buffering cap is quite short.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Subdave]

Peat moss or granulated peat would help reduce gh, ph and kh and should b fast for your small tank. But you would have to change peat every now n then and will have brown water.
Guess best option for you now is to do daily small amounts of water change with distilled water and remove any possible sources of calcium carbonate sources, i.e. coral chips, if any.
Active soil like borneowild shrimp soil wouldnt need to be cycled long, i.e. a week or so will do, but the ph buffering cap is quite short.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

I will use more distilled water, peat moss and active carbon. Will have to live with brown water for now if it will save them. At least till I fix the ph fluctuation in my 2ft planted tank

[demoon]

In my office, i normally see workers spraying chemicals to keep pest out in the office. I think some of it might have got into your tank without you knowing. Keep the tank covered when you are not around. They do office maintenance during non-office hours so you would not know that unless you witness it coincidentally.

[FabianLee]

The only time i see my shrimps goes frenzy and randomly swimming around is when my water is extremely bad due to laziness. Get your ph, gh and kh under control first. The only product i know of is BorneoWild Humic, just throw them in it will buffer the perimeters.

For CRS, i tried a huge range of temperature, anything above 28degrees they start to go crazy and die too. Even though you have a fan the weather nowadays are crazy, when the whole office aircon is offed, there is no ventilation a fan hardly can do anything, i tried shutting my room tight with closed windows and door with only fan in my tank, it's bad enough, fan concentrate whatever is in the air. It does not work like aircon/chiller.

Hope it helped

[Subdave]

The only time i see my shrimps goes frenzy and randomly swimming around is when my water is extremely bad due to laziness. Get your ph, gh and kh under control first. The only product i know of is BorneoWild Humic, just throw them in it will buffer the perimeters.

For CRS, i tried a huge range of temperature, anything above 28degrees they start to go crazy and die too. Even though you have a fan the weather nowadays are crazy, when the whole office aircon is offed, there is no ventilation a fan hardly can do anything, i tried shutting my room tight with closed windows and door with only fan in my tank, it's bad enough, fan concentrate whatever is in the air. It does not work like aircon/chiller.

Hope it helped

Already bought peat moss. if dont work will go find BorneoWild Humic sorry i don't really know what im talking about, but i thought fan lower temperature by evaporation? so even if no ventilation still can drop till at least 28 deg? i might be wrong.

[Subdave]

In my office, i normally see workers spraying chemicals to keep pest out in the office. I think some of it might have got into your tank without you knowing. Keep the tank covered when you are not around. They do office maintenance during non-office hours so you would not know that unless you witness it coincidentally.

i got glass lid on the tank. but still got space around. will try to figure a way. Thank you

[onionsg]

Is it advisable to use Mosura softwater to reduce KH, GH and PH?

I read that it is very effective but need close monitoring to avoid sudden drop in PH.