shrimpdabbler Posted March 21, 2017 Report Share Posted March 21, 2017 I got 6 blue velvets a couple weeks ago and since then I've had 1 die every few days. Two days ago I found one of the shrimp I have had for awhile dead and another is missing. At first I thought it was the stress from shipping, but obviously not that anymore. I have been doing salt water baths since yesterday, and researching diseases; I think maybe it is some kind of leech? My params: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20-40ppm, ph 7.9, kh 7 drops, gh 14-15 drops. I did a 50% water change yesterday and a 1.5 weeks ago. I'm new at this, have had 3 orange neos for about 5 months waiting for the female to get berried, gave up and ordered 5 blue velvets after thinking she dropped her eggs, only to find out she had babies! So I have 1 + babies orange and 3 blue velvets left, all but 1 seemingly healthy. Pic of that one: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrimpdabbler Posted March 21, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2017 pic of the female that died: I can't see anything wrong. There were many tiny black/dark brown bugs around her but they might just be scavengers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrimpdabbler Posted March 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2017 Last night my last (except for babies) orange died. Again there was nothing obvious about why. I no longer have any idea what is killing them. I moved the last blue to the hospital and am giving them all salt baths, and it seems to be helping. Does anyone have an idea of what those little black/brown bugs are? Also, I have no idea what diseases are the most common and if I should be treating them with something more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shamedic Posted March 23, 2017 Report Share Posted March 23, 2017 I think it is your water from what i see your using tap water because your readings are high. im not sure if you can buy distilled water but that's what i use. i get it for .99 from the store and use salty shrimp GH/KH+ to get it where i want it. You want a GH of about 6-8 and a KH of 4. Whats your temp of the water try and get it to around 72-74 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrimpdabbler Posted March 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2017 Thank you for replying. Yes I'm using tap water + Seachem Prime. My heater is set at 74 but my thermometer says 79.5, so somewhere between the 2 ( I figured less than 80 is OK). I will see if I can get distilled water at the grocery store tomorrow. So you think the hardness could be hurting them, ok. But everyone was fine since for several months until I got the blue velvets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chappy6107 Posted March 24, 2017 Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 where did the blues come from? Have you researched if that source has been known to sell imported shrimp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrimpdabbler Posted March 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 Aquatic Arts. Yes, from reading posts here apparently they do import, which I didn't know when I bought them. Never again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMG Aquatics Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 This is a great article. https://www.discobee.com/blogs/news/15655133-quarantining-dwarf-shrimp-before-selling There's been a lot of bashing on imports. What people fail to realize is that the importers who DO quarantine, are likely the ones you AREN'T buying from. Here's why. Importers that doesn't quarantine Very low price, buyer takes majority of the losses, overstocked, very stressed shrimp Importers that does quarantine Higher price, importer takes majority of the losses, properly stocked, little to no stress on shrimp To the buyer's eye, importers are all the same. So why pay more for shrimp from xx importer when you can buy for cheap from xx importer? Sadly, most people prefer cheap shrimp which is why importers that DO quarantine are kicked out of the business quickly since you guys rather buy cheap sick shrimp than healthy quarantined ones. As always, when the shrimps start dying one by one, the seller will just blame your tank Amazing post by Speedie Aennedry 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hp.1991 Posted March 29, 2017 Report Share Posted March 29, 2017 Not sure if itll help or related im new to shrimp keeping but iv heard over feeding can kill shrimp n cause worms maybe its that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aennedry Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Hello. After reading everything, I believe I shall agree with Shamedic's theory. Using prime is well and good, but it will not affect whatever is in the water that is giving you that high gh. And it could also be a source of the nitrates as well. My tap gave me similar kh and gh, plus 10ppm nitrates and 5ppm ammonia and a tds of around 250. While prime can take care of some of it, it is better to not put any questionable chemicals, metals or whatever mystery stuff that the city does not include in their water quality reports in your tank. Go with the distilled or RO, I get RO from my grocer for the lovely .40 a gallon and my tds meter has never given me a reading of more than 5 from it. =^._.^= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrimpdabbler Posted April 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2017 Thank you all. I moved all my shrimp into a 2.5g I bought and tore down the 10g tank, boiled the wood and substrate, then moved them back 2 days ago. While they were in the 2.5g I found out I had ammonia. It was testing fine - API test kit - until I shook the 2 ammonia test bottles then the ammonia showed up (the instructions don't say to shake it, like it does for nitrate test, so I just didn't). Tested my tap water and it was around 2ppm! Most importantly, I read a post @Amazon saying Prime will only detoxify temporarily....higher temps make it worse. Anyone know if this is true? I'm buying Seachem Ammonia Alert which shows only the toxic form of ammonia and you stick it on your aquarium so it gives you results in real time. I didn't clean my filter so hopefully there should be some good bacteria in there. Lowered the temp to 75 (tried to calibrate my thermometer and I think it shows about 1.5 degrees over the actual temp, so it was about 78). I lost all my adult oranges and all but one blue, but I still have about 8 orange babies. But, I learned alot. At this point I think Occam's Razor says it was ammonia and my dumb newbie self not testing things right. So, I can't blame Aquatic Arts or imported shrimp, although that weird yellowish thing on my blue is still a mystery (it died). I want to start mixing in distilled with my tap water and gradually increasing the distilled until I get to good params - checked and my grocery store has it cheap. How gradually should I add it? When should I start adding Salty shrimp? Thanks again. You guys are the only people who know what I've been going through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibebian Posted April 3, 2017 Report Share Posted April 3, 2017 I would definitely switch over to the distilled completely since the ammonia in tap is pretty high. Probably okay to use the prime 1x a day until it's been fully transitioned. You should add remineralizer to the distilled water first before adding water to tank, can use SS gH/kH+Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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