CRS not feeding, any suggestions?

[salexjared]

My CRS isn't feeding well.

When food is put in it takes quite a while (half to 1 hour) before you can see them coming out for the food. Also they are not very interested in them as they come out just a few of them at a time and feed for a very short while and roam away again.

I tried many types of food from algae wafer, crab cusine, Hakira cusine etc but they treat them the same.

What do you think is wrong ?

Also the CRS are not very active and stay at a place for quite a while. and not moving alot.

PH is around 6.0, Temp is 24.5 to 25.5C, Mosses manly, Gex substrate, CO2 via diffusor, 2 ft tank, 1100l/hr canister pump, no fishes except 2 cory.

[vinz]

Check your nitrates.

What is your water change routine?
Straight from tap or aged water?
How old is the setup?
When was the last time you cleaned your filter?

[salexjared]

I do a 25-30% WC every 2 weeks.
Use tap water straight way (not aged) but do add stress coat (anti chlorine).

The tank should be 2 months old already
I did clean and change the top layer of my filter once when my CRS got sucked into the inlet and was in the canister for a day or 2.

Looks like I have to buy a nitrate test kid. So far I do not have one yet.

[vinz]

2 months old... should be cycled already, unless you inadvertently killed of the filter bacteria when you cleaned the filter media. (If you did kill off most of the bacteria, most of your shrimp would have died. Since they are still alive, it may be a minor case only.)

How long ago did you clean the filter?
What media is in your filter?
In what order (from top to bottom) are they arranged?
Which media did you clean?
Did you use tap water?

How many shrimp do you have?
How often do you feed them?
How much do you feed them?

Have the shrimp been like this all the time, or is this a recent condition?
If recent, then any significant event immediately or shortly before the change in behaviour? (E.g. they got sucked into filter, cleaned filter, change in fertiliser dosage, change in CO2 dosage, etc)

I'm wondering if you stop feeding them for a few days, up to a week just to see if they become more active at foraging for food among your plants. Maybe they are just overfed. Don't worry about starvation. They should be able to find stuff to eat among your plants.

You might consider whether you are over feeding and the leftover food is polluting the water. Leftover food should always be removed quickly. Once you see that they are not interested in the food, remove it.

If your fish/shrimp are not eating much, then reduce the amount you feed. Only increase the amount when they start feeding well.

[salexjared]

Nope. Do not think I killed the bacteria colony. Only changed the water in the filter (so that I can save the CRS) and replace the top layer filter. The rest remains intact. So I am good here.

I put in the fine filter (white on the top), then
zeolite (I think, looks like stones to me), with small balls like things (bio something), then
Biohome, then
Blue course filters

Should be OK.... I also have the canister connecter to the fluidizer to increase bacteria count.

I should have about 50 CRS in the 2 ft tank with 20 purple zebras.
But the last I counted, I think I have half left.
But cannot find the "bodies" - if they are dead or are hidding somewhere I cannot see (should not be)

There are no further significant changes to the tank.
My mum do feed them quite a bit even though it is once a day.

I will take your advise and "starve" them for 3 days and see if they would eat...

Will update 3 days later on how my CRS are doing.

[PLee]

If your Shrimps are dying slowly one by one, you better find out what is the root cause...

For changing water, best to use age water and add stress coat, you can try getting a pail to age the water for 2 to 3 days before water changes...

As for the "Zeolite" Maybe you can try not using them, sometime might be the "Stones" causing problem for the shrimps.....

[ast21]

i think it the water. it better to use age water then water from the tap to the tank. don't add to much those stress coat.

[vinz]

Eh... planted tanks usually should not use zeolite... it's a chemical filtration media. I.e. it absorbs chemicals (fertilisers) out of the water, depriving your plants.

Next your filter is set up wrongly. Always set the filter media from coarse to finest from bottom up. It should like this:

1. Fine filter pad (aka white wool) topmost.
2. Sintered glass (Biohome, in your case) this is where the majority of the filter bacteria will live.
3. Blue coarse filter pad
4. Ceramic Rings. (I can't be sure, but bio balls should make an ok substitute). This layer cuts the strong water flow into small weaker channels and allows the large debris to drop to the bottom of the filter and decompose there, instead of in the rest of the media.

When you changed the water in the filter to rescue your shrimp, did you use tank water or tap water? If you topped up your filter with tap water, the chlorine could have killed some of the filter bacteria.

Actually, your tank could be suffering from ammonia poisoning. What is preventing a major die-off is the low temperature, low pH, and the zeolite. Zeolite absorbs ammonia. At low temperatures and low pH, there is less ammonia (more toxic) and more ammonium (less toxic). And of course the plants are helping too.

If you think my diagnosis makes sense...

Stop feeding (leftover food + shrimp poo = ammonia source). Immediate water change, but perhaps only 25% a day (observe the shrimp before you do a water change. It they seem better, don't change water). Leave the zeolite in for the moment. Do nothing to the filter except re-arrange the media. (If you do that, place the zeolite between Biohome and fine filter pad. So that Ammonia/ammonium gets to the bacteria in the Biohome before it goes to the zeolite) Use only aged water to change water. If you must use water straight from the tap, make sure you treat it with Stress Coat before you add it to the tank. (I.e. not add water to the tank then add stress coat.) If you can, go get some floating plants and toss them in.

Once the tank stabilises (give it some days to a week or two), remove the zeolite first. Then, starting the next day, remove 1/4 of the floating plants per day, to let the filter bacteria take over slowly.

[salexjared]

hmmmmm..... something I can try. No harm, CRS dying and not doing well anyway.

I have already added the floating plants about a week ago to see if the ammonia (if any) would improve the situation... but still same.

Now trying to go to the stave the CRS route to see if it is just a simple case of overfeeding (and I do have 4 types of food for them , of course alternating feeding).

Anyway, when I was "rescuing" the CRS, I used filtered water refill. I hope that did not create any major problem.

Thanks for the help. Will post again in a few days to see if the advise works.

[riccia]

bro salexjared

which GEX substrate are you using? is it the red color packing one specially for shrimps?

[salexjared]

Well, I use both.

1 big packet of the Green one (i think 8 or 9kg) as the main source with one small packet of the red as the top layer.

I think the difference is the grain size only ?

Any problem here on the selection

[riccia]

just wanted to know your comments on the substrate? planning to buy a packet of red one for my shrimp tank. does it really lower the ph as stated? did you go through a cycling period? how long?

[salexjared]

I used it on 2 tanks.

For a 1 ft tank, I scape it and put a mature canister filter on it and put in RCS and it work reasonably fine after less than a week.

I guess the ammonia leakage from the soil is not too bad.

On a new 2 ft tank, I put in CRS after 2 weeks. So far I have not been too successful with it. Guess it then depends on the sensitivity and how you are cycling your tank.

But no mass death (due to GeX yet) and the substrate is easy to manage.
The red packet has much finer grains as compared to the Green ones.

The PH I achieved is below 6.2 with the GeX. I guess it is good enough for most soft water inhibitants.

[riccia]

Thanks for your advice. I will go get a red packet one for my shrimp tank. Based on your experience, how long do I need to cycle them? 1 week, 2 week, 1 month, etc.?

Hope everything is well with your CRS and no more "casualties".

[whq]

For red pack, I did try putting CRS the next day. Works perfectly for me (all equipment brand new, not cycled), as this soil have no fertiliser (low ammonia). Therefore cycling can be shorten, 1 week will be ok. But if you want to be very safe, put a fish in the tank and cycle for 1 month (to estabilise part of the bateria colony).

Hope this helps

[salexjared]

Well, dont try your luck.

Do it cautiously if you do not want to regret later.
If you have any used medium, then transfer some over to your new canister. If it a mature canister even better.

After 2 weeks you can put some in and look at their response to the tank. After 2-3 days if they look fine and healthy then you are good to go. I would guess if you are buying everything new you may want to wait till the month is up. Get your plants and mosses and filter established and you would have a happy livestock.

I did mine too quickly and is still debugging them. Sigh ...

[whq]

Well, dont try your luck.

Do it cautiously if you do not want to regret later.
If you have any used medium, then transfer some over to your new canister. If it a mature canister even better.

After 2 weeks you can put some in and look at their response to the tank. After 2-3 days if they look fine and healthy then you are good to go. I would guess if you are buying everything new you may want to wait till the month is up. Get your plants and mosses and filter established and you would have a happy livestock.

I did mine too quickly and is still debugging them. Sigh ...

Ya i truely agree with you. This hobby need lots of patience.

[gwabbie]

i think that if you want to keep a shrimp only tank, perhaps you shouldn't have cories in the tank.
i have hear of people keeping with ottos and snails.
but i think that cory are bigger than those and perhaps would stress your shrimps.
cory always swims around looking for food.
they might disturb your shrimps. whereas for otos, they would stay in a spot most of the time, so lesser disruption to your shrimps. otos also do a good job in removing algae.
so perhaps try taking out your corries to see if it helps.

[peter2883]

Thanks for your advice. I will go get a red packet one for my shrimp tank. Based on your experience, how long do I need to cycle them? 1 week, 2 week, 1 month, etc.?

Hope everything is well with your CRS and no more "casualties".

Normally it takes 4-6 weeks... I cycled my new setup & it was cycled in 5 weeks but that's because I use ADA which takes a longer time to cycle due to the Ammonia in the subtrate...