Mystery Shrimp Deaths

[KJensen]

Hello all,

 

I am having some trouble keeping my neocaradina alive. They stay alive for about 2 weeks, get sluggish for a day then get super active for two days then I observe them walking along the bottom of the tank strangely then falling over dead.  I have roughly 11 babies that were born in the tank that are doing fine, they are about 2 weeks old now as well as two dream blues I have purchased at a different LFS than the others that seem to be going strong at three weeks now.

 

Tank specs are as follows:

1.5 months fully cycled

Fluval Spec V "5 gallon tank"

Upgraded stock filter with media basket

Sponge filter sections

Fluval Biomax Rings

Purigen

Poly Filter

Crushed seashell in the filter "small amount"

Tropica planted soil substrate 2.5 in deep

White Petco sand "about 1/8th of tank"

Spiderwood Driftwood

Petrified Wood

Dwarf Hairgrass

Java Moss

Catipa Leaf

 

PH 7.0

Amonia and Nitrite 0

Nitrate 5-10

74 degrees 

Tap water treated with Prime at .5 ml then left to sit overnight before 10% water change weekly 

Seachem excel dosed at .5ml once daily

 

Currently in the tank are, 11 babies about 2 weeks old, 2 Dream Blues, 1 otocinclus, 1 Nerite snail.

 

I started with roughly 10 neo's of various colors. Going for a skittles tank. Then as they died off I would fix what I thought was the problem then drop in another 10 for a total of 30 so far.  So far only the babies and the Blue Dreams have stayed alive. I'm at my Wits end with this. 

 

After going through these forums I realize that I did not acclimate the shrimp properly, and that I should probably switch to remin RO water, but I'm not sure it is available here.  Should I also add an air stone, as there is very little surface agitation? I also have a large green Hair Algae problem and need a solution.

 

I am desperate for any advice you all can give me will both save more shrimp lives and my wallet or it becomes a very beautiful Beta tank.

[chappy6107]

I once lived in a city that my neos thrived in tap water treated with prime.  then I moved to another city and my neos would all slowly die in tap water treated with prime.  I switched to ro water remineralized.  I have not had any problems since and it has been ~3 years in the new location.

 

I am thinking that where I moved to, other "stuff" is added to the water at the processing plant or the type of minerals already in this water is just not good for the shrimp.

[KJensen]

That may very well be the case here.  Only one way to figure it out.  I think the nearest place I can acquire RO water is about an hour drive.

[Hman]

Distilled water from any grocery store works just as well.

[KJensen]

Update on the tank;

 

Just started adding RO water to fill from evaporation loss while waiting for SS GH/KH+ to come in so I can switch over. Picked up a TDS meter and GH/KH test kit, parameters are as follows;

 

Temp-76

PH-7.2

Ammonia-0

Nitrite-0

Nitrate-0-5ppm

GH-5

KH-2

TDS-290

 

Also have added 3 dream blues, 2 chocolate, 1 wild morph, 1 red cherry, and one horned nerite.  

 

Two of the blues were berried and have since hatched their eggs and the babies are swimming around.  However one blue, one chocolate and the wildform have died yet again with no dicernable reason.

 

Also still fighting with hair algae.  Ordered 2 MTS for the tank to keep the substrate clean and cut back on the lighted hours to 10.

 

Any more advice?

[zodiac]

people have said when they kept neo's in gh 6 or below they just die away.

gh,7-9,shot for 8.

 

kh is also low.

3 or above makes ph stable.

TDS is also high.

 

when done switching over...gh 8 kh 4 TDS around 200.

 

i don't know if i'm right,but my understanding is different algae live in different phosphate levels.

bad algae live in lower phosphate levels,under 5 ppm.

under 1.0 or 0.5,no algae can live.

 

 

 

[KJensen]

Would having phosphates that low affect my plant growth?

[OMG Aquatics]

Based on the information provided, there are 2 likely causes for death. Stress and/or molting issue.

The problem with purchasing LFS is that they are HIGHLY likely in a tank with the WRONG water parameters since most LFS use one system for all their tanks.

Also most LFS know absolutely nothing about shrimp and likely acclimated them into their tank the wrong way.

Your GH is also a bit low for neos. Try to aim for around 7-8. Unsuccessful molt = death

 

Try buying from a reputable breeder and see if things change.

 

 

[KJensen]

Update on the tank.

 

All but the original 2 dream blues have died, however I now have about 30 babies of all different colors in there doing great so I will just wait for them to grow out rather than risk more.

 

As for the hair algae, I dropped in 10 MTS and a very young amano, and started dosing flourish, and within a week they have eaten 3/4 of all the algae. The amano will be put in a different tank as soon as it is gone.  No issues with it attacking the babies but I think that may be due to it being young (about the size of a full grown Neo) and the abundance of algae.