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Still No Luck With CRS


beastykato

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I bought 20 CRS a few months ago and have all but a few die off.  I've got between 1-3 CRS still alive in my 40G breeder.  It's hard to tell because it's so heavily planted that sometimes I'll see 2-3, but then it becomes hard to locate them for a few days.

 

Anyway, when I originally set up the tank I used play sand like I do in all my Neocaridina tanks.  It was only about an inch thick and planted.  I originally failed with a batch of 20 in this set-up so I bought the ADA aquasoil and now it is about another 1-2 inches on top of the sand.   And then I bought another batch of 20. 

 

I also began using RO/DI water at the time of the soil addition and continue to do so.  I use MK-breed liquid remineralizer. 

 

Filtration is a small eheim canister (can't remember the model number 2213? maybe) and a sponge filter.

My readings are:

 

pH: <6.0 (lowest API liquid kit goes is 6.0)  CRS still breed fine in ~5-6 pH yes? 

Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate: 0 ppm

GH: 6-7

KH: 0-1

TDS:180-200

Temp: 70F

 

This should be ideal for CRS right?   

 

For food I buy a variety of the vegetable based foods from Kensfish.  And feed only a few pellets 2-3 days a week because there is so much foraging ground versus the population.

 

Does anything stick out to you guys?  I mean there are still 3 left that have been living in this tank for months.  However, there is obviously something lacking or too extreme for the majority to adjust to when I receive them.  

 

 

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Did you allow the ADA soil to mature for 30 days? It will release ammonia for about a month since it's true purpose is act a food source for plants.

 

If you wanted to add the shrimp right after adding the soil then I would have gone with SL-Aqua because it will not release ammonia.  

 

I forgot to ask if you did a drip acclimation to the new shrimp? 

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Thanks for the reply.  Yes, I did initially have the ammonia problem when the soil was first added.  However, this batch of shrimp was added after that had stabilized.  

 

I did not drip acclimate them, however, this die off lasted over the span of weeks/months.   It didn't seem to be due to a shock.  All I did was put them in a container, and added a few cups of tank water over a few hour period to get them used to it and then at the end of the day added them to the tank.  

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Where did you source your shrimp from? If it was from the pet store I wouldn't be surprised if them dying off was not your fault as they were most likely shipped from overseas, and then brought to the store and then moved to your home. When that happens the shrimp usually are pretty stressed as the water parameters are always changing, so you can have a lot of fatalities. Usually when you get new shrimp they should molt in your water within a day or two. If they don't then they can be too "new" as they molted somewhere else earlier. It can also depend on the water quality of where they were initially and how that compares to your water as well. I would consider the first month of having shrimp to be a red zone of some sort and most of your major losses will occur in that time, once you get past that first month you should be golden. Acclimation also has to do with the size of the shrimp as the smaller they are the better they acclimate. I heard lupdiesal also mention in a video when you first get shrimp you should try to have a higher tds in your water than from where they were initially as well. 

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I ordered that batch from Aquatic Arts.  I don't know what else to do except to try again.  I'm not gonna give up, but unfortunately I'm just unsure of what to change if anything at all. 

 

I'm gonna look into a different pH kit.  It makes me nervous that I can't see where it's at below 6.  I'm not sure how low the ADA soil can potentially take the pH, but right now it's the only parameter I can't test for certain. 

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I don't have nearly as much experience shrimping as many others on here but this is an interesting situation so take this with grain of salt but here are some thoughts:
- try increasing Dissolved Oxygen content, maybe with a "fine" airstone capable of bubbles <2mm, which according to one academic study greater increases oxygen transfer

- this is purely opinion and my feel but I like gH closer to 4-5. Over time due to topoffs, I like the lower end so as to provide a buffer to not get too high
- because nothing else lives in tank aside from plants and few shrimp, I wonder if biodiversity is lacking (including microbial). I would actually try a bacterial powder food like Borneo Bebi or Shrimplab. If you'd like and are in US, I can mail you a small sampler of Bebi for free. I have plenty.

Also good on you for not letting this discourage you. Part of the fun is ecosystem tweaking!

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6 hours ago, LesterBee said:

Wondering if a handheld pH meter would be a better test instrument for pH?

 

100% YES.    I was having ph readings all over the place from my pen style ph meter-it needed recalibration every time I used it.  The liquid tests also were not accurate.

I now use a pinpoint ph probe.  They are a little pricey, but compared to the $$ of shrimp in my tanks it is well worth it.

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On 2/21/2017 at 11:30 PM, beastykato said:

I ordered that batch from Aquatic Arts.  I don't know what else to do except to try again.  I'm not gonna give up, but unfortunately I'm just unsure of what to change if anything at all. 

 

I'm gonna look into a different pH kit.  It makes me nervous that I can't see where it's at below 6.  I'm not sure how low the ADA soil can potentially take the pH, but right now it's the only parameter I can't test for certain. 

 

Did you ask the parameters that aquatic arts have them at, if they are different by a large margin they may have a hard time adjusting. 

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On 2/22/2017 at 2:25 PM, chappy6107 said:

 

100% YES.    I was having ph readings all over the place from my pen style ph meter-it needed recalibration every time I used it.  The liquid tests also were not accurate.

I now use a pinpoint ph probe.  They are a little pricey, but compared to the $$ of shrimp in my tanks it is well worth it.

  I've owned an old Coralife pH digital meter years back that the previous owner said never gave him precise readings.  From the intructions you had to rinse it after every use in distilled or RO water, and wet the little sponge in it's cap with the same so it was always stored moist.  I never had that many issues with it it was at least close to the LaMotte pH test reagent (Bromothymol Blue).

 

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