Shrimp not moving much?

[KalElx]

Hello again!

 

Eventually I will come on here and be a master of shrimp but until then, I still need help to get the perfect tank going for my little shrimpos and I appreciate any help I can get.

 

So....

 

I set up a 5 gallon tank about 2 - 3 months ago specially for shrimp. I cycled it without any livestock and made sure the water parameters were good for a while before I did. About a month ago I added 2 Amano Shrimp and 2 snails in the tank to get rid of algae (it worked amazing) and they were doing great. I checked the water parameters often for the first couple of days and everything was still stable.

 

Fast forward to a week ago. Finally picked the type of shrimp I want to keep, went out to the store and voila, 6 beautiful Green Jade Shrimp (   lol ). Tested the water a couple of hours after adding the shrimp and everything seemed fine again, I was on the right track! I added some Prime in the tank, just in case the tank would do a "mini-cycle". Almost 2 days later, I went back to the store to get another 6 Green Jade to complete the stock in my tank. I figured, let's test the water before dumping the new batch in (did 2 hour drip acclimate). 

 

Uh oh, oh no.... Ammonia is 0.6 and Nitrite is 0.3.... SHIT!!! After stressing out for a while for having batch number one in this water and unfortunately acclimating the new shrimp in that water too (stupid me), I decide that the best thing I could do is do a 40% water change and to add some more Prime. I also decide to empty some water from the shrimp bag I was acclimating and re-acclimated with the new water with the Prime added. I add the Green Jades in the tank 1 hour after that. I test the water a few hours later and everything was all back at zero (phew). The next day, I did about 30% - 40% water change once more and added Prime again, just in case.
 

Finally, the issue that is in my title. It is now day 2 that I am watching my once active Green Jades just sitting around not doing a whole lot. At this point maybe the damage is done because of the little traces of Ammonia and Nitrite. However, I'm thinking this isn't the case because I added Prime for the first batch before ever adding them in and it should have taken care of a low spike like that because it remains active for 24 - 48 hrs. I am now thinking that my little shrimpos are not too fond of Prime.... None of them are dying but I am very uneasy with them staying so still.

 

Any ideas? Thanks in advance as these are not cheap shrimp and although they are growing in popularity, they are still pretty rare.

 

I must mention that I did add some plants while the first batch was in there if that makes any difference. Also, one of my Amano shrimp seems to have developed a tick with it's back legs. Seems to be twitching them. Although, he is one of the shrimp still searching for food in the tank.

 

Hopefully you all have enough information. I am posting a picture of my tank just so it makes this a little more personal.

 

Thanks again. - This is the same post I have in Substrates and Water Chemistry.... Just not sure where to post.

[nuri]

first of all always watch out with adding new plants.. it can contain poisen and kill slowly or instant your shrimps!

second never panic and do some weird stuff... shrimps don't like major switch in their water/life sircumstances..

 

shrimps are not always active keep that in mind.. 

 

what are your parameters now ? 

 

i think you had that ammonia and nitrate due to high feeding... with that low population shrimp you should feed very low amount.

[nuri]

oh btw.. 2 hours dripping water is short even for neo's... 

i always take minimum 5 hours with drip aclimating and never lost a single shrimp !

[KalElx]

Thanks for the reply.

 

So maybe the new plants caused it... I added 1 piece of Sagittaria Anubias and Java Fern only.

 

I actually had never fed them because of all the algae that was left over in the tank, I let them feed on that. First time I fed them was like 2 days ago.

 

I thought 2 hours was a lot, I will keep a longer time in mind for next Shrimp add (I had 2 cycled aquariums waiting for Shrimp)

 

I am not home and will check my water parameters as soon as I am.

[KalElx]

Ok so just got home to find both my Amano Shrimp and 3 of my Green Jades dead (including my pregnant one  ). 

 

I tested my water and my Nitrites are down to 0.1 but my Ammonia is in between 0 and 0.25 (I ran out of my better kit). What surprised the living heck out of me is that my pH is below 6.0. My pH for this tank has always been stable, so I have no clue what that's about. Maybe the dead shrimp?  

 

I replaced the bag of crushed corals I have in my filter and did another 25 - 30% water change with Prime. I do want to mention that I don't just dump all the water in when I do large water changes, I actually siphon it back in slowly. 

 

I also noticed that it looks like at least 3 of my shrimps molted and some of them ripped their entire legs off with it?!?!?

 

It feels like I just flushed $80 worth of shrimp down the toilet. - Insert pouty face here -

 

Please help if you can. Thanks. 

 

 

 

 

[jledermann]

you've got a lot going on here... first I see no mention of KH GH which are important. Are we talking tap or RO? are you reminerilzing? You're pH is too low for neos. .6 and .3 for your nitrate and ammonia, how are you testing to that resolution? What is you temperature in your tank? if you have crushed coral in your filter your gh and kh are probably through the roof. 

[KalElx]

I do feel the need to say that I'm still sort of new at this. Getting better by the day. 

 

kH and gH were always stable. I went and bought new kits today because I was out and they are out of balance. Adding coral for me always helped my tanks, so I add it when I do a bran new setup automatically. I guess I was wrong.... gH 12 (which isn't super horrible but could be lower) kH is - 1, which has me super worried. Before I baking soda or do anything else stupid, I'll wait for more advice. 

 

I am aware that the pH is out of whack. Usually this tank's pH is stable at 6.8. 

 

It seems that my temp is the only thing still staying the same. Always at 78. 

 

- I used Nutrafin. The pic uploads are failing for some reason but you can find the result pages online. 

[Skrimps]

Get a small bottle of tetra safe start and dump it in. Should help with the nitrtites and ammonia. Its cheap and effective. Helped finish cycle my tank when it was stalled and has kept the water stable so far.

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