nixona Posted July 27, 2014 Report Share Posted July 27, 2014 Hey guys, I ordered 11 from a fellow out in ID about 2 months ago, all arrived and acclimated well. They are in a 10 gallon by themselves. I'm now down to 4, it seems like one by one they just die. I've had no problems in my cherry tanks, water parameters are perfect (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, minimal nitrate, the tank has a bunch of duckweed, cabomba and subwassertang, change out a couple gallons of water a week.) We have extremely hard water with PH around 8-8.2. Is there something about these I don't know about? Or any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metageologist Posted July 27, 2014 Report Share Posted July 27, 2014 Your pH is on the high side it should be around 7.4 o. The topend. When you say hard water what are you KH and GH peramiters. What temprature do you keep your tank at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixona Posted July 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 The tank has a preset heater that keeps it at 74 degrees verified by thermometer. I do not have a GH/KH test kit. I have a 55g tank with hundreds of happy, breeding RCS. Are the carbon rili not as hardy as RCS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor3737 Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 How long has the tank setup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixona Posted July 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 I set it up a few days before the shrimp arrived. The substrate was new but I filled it from my 55g and used a sponge filter from that tank. There were no immediate deaths, the first wasn't until over a month later. It was a berried female, not too alarming. Then another and another. Just not sure what I'm doing wrong here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 Is your water change colder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixona Posted July 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 I match the temp by touch. If anything it would be slightly warmer. You're thinking molting issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 A possibility, however if temp is roughly teh same it shouldn't trigger unless gh or tds is drastically changed as well. Have you noticed them becoming opaque/white in their tissue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixona Posted July 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 A couple berried girls got white around their underside where the eggs were. I'm wondering if I'm losing all berried females. I had three, possibly four and now none, although they could have hatched the eggs and I wouldn't know it. I scraped the eggs from the first one that died and added them to the tank when they hatched. Of course with the black eco complete substrate I've only spotted one a couple times, if there are a bunch of babies they are TOUGH to see. I rounded up the 5 carbon rili I could find and put them in my 5 gallon holding tank, its bare bottom with a sponge filter and tons of java moss. I took the 8-10 RCS I had in there and put them in the 10 gallon cursed tank to see what happens. Should I look into a GH/KH test kit? Is the API liquid the most reliable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 I would get the gh kit for sure. You don't necessarily need it on a regular basis, but when trouble shooting it is one more tool to add to your arsenal. Liquid is preferable over stick for sure. I'm wondering if it was bacterial. Inside the body, do you see any cloudiness/opaqueness? Do you see broken antennae? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixona Posted July 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 The remaining shrimp look fine, clear where they are clear, crisp black colors on the rest. There is at least one saddled female left, a couple are all black and too small to sex by size. If it were bacterial do you just wait it out and the strong survive? I'm curious to see if anything happens to the cherries I put in the cursed tank. It doesn't look like the big box pet stores stock GH kits. I will probably get the API GH/KH kit off Amazon. Can someone recommend a TDS meter they carry as well? Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countryboy12484 Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 Ez tds pen on amazon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixona Posted July 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 That's what I was thinking. Thoughts on that one vs. the TDS-4? I think it would be worth it to me to pay a little more and get the temperature compensated model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louie Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 nixona, Your tank wasn't cycled and that is why the carbons died. Than again they lived for a month but it takes a tank a bit to stabilize . My water PH is also very high and the shrimp thrive and breed. I use regular tap water (de-chlorinated) ctaylor3737 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor3737 Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 nixona, Your tank wasn't cycled and that is why the carbons died. Than again they lived for a month but it takes a tank a bit to stabilize . My water PH is also very high and the shrimp thrive and breed. I use regular tap water (de-chlorinated) Also what I was thinking. I've kept shrimp in uncycled tanks but you will almost always have casualties could Be from a number of things. Chances are it's from that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixona Posted July 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 Sorry, double post nixona 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixona Posted July 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 I threw some cherries in that tank. With the small bioload of a few shrimp its possible. I have a GH/kh test and TDs meter coming tomorrow. What can I put in there to increase bioload without bullying shrimp? Stick to otos, guppy fry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenteam Posted July 31, 2014 Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 snails if you don't mind them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixona Posted July 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2014 I got the TDS meter and API GH/KH tests today. KH is 9, GH is 14-15. TDS from the tap is 196, on the tank 213. The PH from the tap today is 7.8, I figured I would test it while I was at it. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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