crs fine, but sakuras dying..

[shrimpbait]

Hi there, am very new to shrimp rearing and wld appreciate any advice fr u guys.
my tank set up:
-started 2 weeks b4 chinese new year.
-2 ft by 1ft tank
-cycled water for 2 weeks b4 introducing 15 sakuras(3 were berried) n 10 grade C crs.
-one half coconut shell covered w java moss, a piece of wood tied w the same
and one other luscious green plant tied to a piece of wood.(all growing marvellously)...added fert only twice, during the 1st 2 weeks, hv since stopped.
-back panel of tank fitted w foam rock wall wh is currently covered w a thin layer of algae.
-half a panel of one side of the glass is also covered w algae.(am keeping other panels free of algae by painstakingly scaping them off every 2 days... i do need clear glass to observe my pets!)
-1 half inch of black shiny gravel
-eheim overhang filter w sponge fitted plus ceramic rings inside it to cultivate bacteria.
-fan 24/7, temp ranges betw 24 & 26 degrees
-feeding CrustaGran,every other day, bout 8 2mm pieces. i fish out all excess food after 2 hours so as not to pollute the water.
-10% water change(aged n anti chlorined) every 5 days n water top up every day due to evaporation.
-i fish out the occasional bugs like tiny snails, seed shrimp bugs and tiny worms bout 2-3mm long.


o, forgot to mention.. i've got bout 80-90 shrimplets, fr the sakuras... they're growing well, bout 4mm now.

The Problem...
last 2 weeks, sakuras hv been dying, to date, 7 have gone, wondering why?
fr wat i've read, crs and shrimplets are supposed to be the sensitive ones.
am wondering what might be possible causes... old age? surely not all 7?
and if water para aren't good, am certain the rest wld hv been affected too?(touch wood!!!)
hv not observed any of my shrimps swimmimg madly or trying to get out of the water either.

any explanations?

btw, is it ok to scrap the algae off the sides of the tank? the dislodged algae just disappears into the water...no harm done, yes?

also, do i ever have to clean out the inside of the eheim filter or do i simply leave it alone w all the ceramic rings in it?

Would be delighted to hear fr anyone w regards the above, thanks in advance for your help!

[wenjun]

There might not be enough hiding places for them to moult, approximately your tank has about 80-100 shrimps.

Thus, your shrimps might have been attacked by other shrimps when they are weak.

[eviltrain]

1 problem might be due to your pH. your pH might suits CRSs but not your sakuras. if i'm not wrong the pH is on the low side now.

[shrimpbait]

but it's the adult sakuras that's gone, the shrimplets are fine...

[shrimpbait]

so i gotta buy ph testing kit? wat ph good for sakuras?to confirm, crs's is 6.2 to 6.8?
then again, i've got 80 sakura shrimplets doing well...

[eviltrain]

now there may be 2 reasons,
-pH too low for Sakura but just nice for CRS
-Sakura died of old age

[globalcookie]

I have no idea what's causing the deaths. There are many possible reasons. It could be:
- Your cycling may not be complete, and you introduced too much shrimps into the tank within the incomplete cycling stage.

- Why do you scrape algae off the walls? Why are you getting so much algae growth in such a young tank? Did the scrape off algae polute the water?

- Why dose fertilizer? Not sure if that could have caused the weaker shrimps to die.

- What is your pH level? It may not have caused death, but it affects shrimps' colors and maybe lifespan.

- I don't know what's that food you are feeding and if you are overfeeding, which have poluted the water.

- Fan running 24/7 means evaporation is quite high. Adding fresh (aged) water can cause water perimeters to change. So is it necessary to run the fan 24/7? Ambience temperature is cooler at night.

--edit--
(Avoid sms lingo, i read in the rules that it's not good here)

[shrimpbait]

Hi globalcookie,
-i scrape algae off 2 walls as i like to get a good view of my shrimps.
-have ceased dosing fert since one week after the lunar new year.
-am clueless as to ph of water, have not bought testing kit.
-am feeding once every 2 days, i fish out all unfinished food after 2 hours so as to minimize water pollution.
-temp is about 24 to 26 .. running fan 24/7 in the hope that temp will be lowered , making it condusive for crs to breed!!!
-no more deaths since i last posted.. it's down to 6 sakuras, 9 crs n still the 80 odd shrimplets.. which are growing nicely.
-am doing 10%water change every 5 days or so. and topping with aged water everyday.
-may give up on my crs breeding and just head out to get a couple of berried crs... when my shrimplets are a little older.

[globalcookie]

Those information were posted in your first post. I guess all you can do is leave the tank alone and let it mature.

When I asked about the algae thing, I was wondering why do you have so much algae that you need to scrape every 2 days (in post #1)? Excessive lighting or nitrate/nitrite (whatever it could be) too high? Get an Otto, it will help.

[bluebubbles]

Hi there, am very new to shrimp rearing and wld appreciate any advice fr u guys.
!

YOur situation exactly the same as mine. Stop adding fertliser to your plants. Everything you added to your tank will stay inside the filter too. Clean your filter if there is continuous massive casualty spotted on daily basis - something is wrong in the filter. When I see my sakura/snowball/CRS dying, I quickly cleaned the ceramic ring, flushed out all the dirts. Now I see both my sakura and CRS eating and getting hungry most of the time. Prior to that, they don't dare to touch any food. Expect casualty to minimise down the road as the tank stablise itself. I added a couple of mini rosboras to help "neutralise" the water too - at least psychologically...hahaha

[shrimpbait]

hi bluebubbles, thanks for taking the time to answer my call for help!
i've discovered 2 berried shrimps, a sakura n a crs.am so delighted and excited!
decided to clean the filter sponge today(hasn't been cleaned since tank set up which was bout 2 weeks before chinese new year!!!), gosh, the yuck that came out of it!! i washed and rinsed it using some of the tank water, didn't want to kill off the bacteria on/in it. found 7 shrimplets trapped there, all alive, have since returned them to the trank.
did the sponge cleaning exercise because i found a dead crs early this morning.
what are rosboras? i think having crs, i need water to be slightly acidic.

[shrimpbait]

by the way, i didn;t clean the ceramic rings that i've placed in the filter as i didn't want the bacteria that i've cultivated over the last month to die.

[bluebubbles]

What brand of fan did you use for your 2 feet tank? I have difficulty bringing it below 26C in my 1.5feet tank.

dwarf Rasbora

[shrimpbait]

oops..realised i made a mistake on the dimension of my tank... it's a 1.5 ft x 1 ft tank... reckon it's same size as yours?
i use a cheapo fan that's clipped on the side of the tank, it's 2.5 x 2.5 inch square, pretty small, but does the job... it's a rather constant 25ish degrees for my tank.. unless when i have the air con on, then it'll be a superb 22 degrees.
how do rasboras help??
am kinda regretting washing sponge now, cos flow rate has increased tremendously, sending some adult shrimps flying!!any ideas how i can reduce the flow rate?

[bluebubbles]

oops..realised i made a mistake on the dimension of my tank... it's a 1.5 ft x 1 ft tank... reckon it's same size as yours?
i use a cheapo fan that's clipped on the side of the tank, it's 2.5 x 2.5 inch square, pretty small, but does the job... it's a rather constant 25ish degrees for my tank.. unless when i have the air con on, then it'll be a superb 22 degrees.
how do rasboras help??
am kinda regretting washing sponge now, cos flow rate has increased tremendously, sending some adult shrimps flying!!any ideas how i can reduce the flow rate?

Ya, we are birds of the same feather. Just started a new tank of the same size and same amount of casualties. Didn't know your clipon fan worked better than my tornado blower (two of them somemore). I was blaming on the weather.

There are many ways to dilute the flowrate. If you are using rainbar tube, you can either face the holes slightly upward towards the wall at the back of the tank. I think most people faced the hole towards the front of the tank towards the viewer causing a big splashes on the water surface. Alternatively, you can take out the pluck covering the end of the rainbar and allows the water to flow thru the end of it, than all the other water flowing out thru the smaller holes will become gentler.

[shrimpbait]

Ya, we are birds of the same feather. Just started a new tank of the same size and same amount of casualties. Didn't know your clipon fan worked better than my tornado blower (two of them somemore). I was blaming on the weather.

There are many ways to dilute the flowrate. If you are using rainbar tube, you can either face the holes slightly upward towards the wall at the back of the tank. I think most people faced the hole towards the front of the tank towards the viewer causing a big splashes on the water surface. Alternatively, you can take out the pluck covering the end of the rainbar and allows the water to flow thru the end of it, than all the other water flowing out thru the smaller holes will become gentler.

Perhaps your tank is situated in a warm place in your home?

My filter hasn't got a rainbar.. just got water gushing out fr a 2" or so hole... may have to get a plant to 'disrupt' the flow then.