guys... I recently set up a 5 gallon planted shrimp tank. I guess it's considered medium planted. It has been 2-3 months. Went to Y618 to get 10 adult cherry shrimps, 4 died over the next 3 weeks, probably due to incomplete cycle of the tank. After the initial death spike, i realize my Hang on Filter (HOF) was too small for a medium planted tank. Went ahead and got an bigger HOF (overkill) with 720 litres per hour flow rate, transferred my established media into it. The current is pretty strong but nothing the shrimps can't handle, plenty of calm spots for them to hide if they desire.
Water parameters & variables
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - didn't get the test kit, i perform 15-20% water change twice a week to prevent nitrate build up
kH/gH - 4/7 (base on API test kit units)
PH - 6.9-7.1 (I'm running DIY CO2 with an airpump running at the back, PH hovers around the range)
Temperature - this may be the cause, at night with the aircon on, 22 degrees Celsius (lowest observed), day time, 28 degrees Celsius (highest observed). the temperature change takes place over several hours (3-4 hours?) When I leave my house during the day, a standing fan is blowing at the tank.
Food - algae wafers and some left over guppy flakes (no copper sulphate)
Inhabitants - cherries and 1 algae eater, catfish (don't know which species but its docile)
Feeding - once every 2 days, all food consumed within 3-4 hours
Substrate - aquasoil amozonia + a strip of gravel/sea shells
CO2 - DIY maintained around 20ppm to prevent asphyxiation; air pump (with airstone) running at the back 24/7, mildly to maintain the CO2 ppm. plants are all doing fine. too well actually, can't keep up with the pruning.
Fertilizers - Seachem comprehensive once per week
So.. here's the real problem.. after the water parameters stabilized (after I change the HOF) i went back to Y618 and got a bag of 10 cherries (1 dead) with probably 20-30 babies and 2 berried adults. Everything went well, no deaths for couple weeks. Then out of nowhere, the adults start dropping dead. 1 per day for 2 days, 1 per week and sometimes 1 in 10 days. The deaths are pretty erratic, scoured the net for answers and theories, couldn't get any. As far as the babies goes, all healthy and thriving, adults are not as active as before. Some of the deaths are possibly cause by molting (saw the thin white strip around the neck of the corpse) while the other corpses looks perfectly fine (doubt is because of old age, some of them are pretty small, teenagers?). When i got the shrimps, they were sakura - fire red grade, overtime, their color get paler and paler. I'm at wits end, babies thriving, adults dying off randomly. now left with 5 adults and a bunch of babies. Trying to understand the problem before upgrading to a 50 gallons tank. oh.. sometimes i see the adults swimming lapse around the tank. not sure if they are the one that died.
Appreciate any theories from seasoned hobbyists.
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Sounds very similar to my experience. I too have a 5 gallon tank with fire red adults at beginning. Rounds of breeding make the shrimplets more like cherry. My opinion is that if you want to maintain fire red for your stock, you need to cull those lousy grades. And bigger tanks are always encouraged for more stable water parameters.
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I'm going to upgrade to a 50 gallon next month. The shrimplets actually came with the adults when i bought them (it's those prepacked packages on the floor at Y61, the eggs within the berried females hatched while waiting to be sold. Any ideas why the fire red color got paler over time? as in, when i bought them, they were solid fire red, now, low sakura. Also, the random deaths, any idea what's causing them?
My bad. Guess breeding is not the issue then.
My guess for the cause of color loss is due to either stress, temperature or diet.
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I see... perhaps when I upgrade my tank to the 50 gallons, the temperature fluctuations will not be as large.
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Definitely. Bigger tank=more room for temp and parameter changes. I suspect it could be the driftwood or something else inside...
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could it be sometime they are already not well before you got them?
It could be your rocks or the co2. Some said shrimp tank can't tahan too much co2. What's co2 rating now?
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It's possible that they are already unhealthy when I got them. Another died this morning. Down to 4 adults and 30 plus shrimplets. Shrimplets are active and doing fine thought.
I've also read that CO2 may endager shrimps, seeing my plants aren't high demand, I maintain CO2 at 15-20ppm. 4dkh drop checker is "medium" green rather than lime green. Hopfully shrimplets survive for another month, till my 50 gallons finish it's cycle.
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No professional in this but what I heard is anything more then 1 to 2 drop it's dangerous liao.. All the best bro!Originally Posted by asoka
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I had the same problem when I converted a spare 1ft tank to cherry shrimp tank. Tried to change water but still died. Then I decided to add a bubble filter to create more oxygen and break the oil film on the surface in case is due to lack of oxygen during our current hot days. The dying stopped for now.
I've got an air stone running at the back of the tank as well but I doubt my deaths are cause by asphyxiation. I remember couple months back when I accidentally overdose CO2, the shrimps were sticking near the water surface. But my current Shrimplets are actively swimming all around the tank, even in the deep portions. My prime suspect would be the temperature swing. My tank's temperature fluctuates approximately 6 degrees Celsius over 3-4 hours everyday. What's the largest temperature swing without causing shrimp deaths?
Your temperature swings are really quite bad. I had experienced with temperature swings from 29 to 26, the cherry species dying off were bad, that's why I separated my crs and cherries in the end.
if you still have healthy shrimplets and berried shrimps......weak shrimps dying is ok.
Just chk for any visible diseases.
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