Shrimp dying left and right

[Asianrain]

Please help, my yellow/orange shrimp are dying left and right. I have seen 4 dead shrimp today. The only survivor of this exodus is a really old rcs which survived black spot disease, and went on to have babies, but I can't spot the babies anymore. I have neon tetras in my tank and yesterday I added amazon swords and changed the water which stressed them and the fish out. Would the fish have bitten the shrimp, and how can I prevent this? And if it is not the fish problem, what is happening to my shrimp?

[CVilleShrimps]

Hello Asianrain,

 

Baby Neos are much more sensitive to water parameters than adults, so it is likely a huge swing in your water parameters that have caused the issue amongst your shrimp. I learned all about this from this blog: https://aquariumbreeder.com/aquarium-molting-process-and-metabolism-of-the-dwarf-shrimp/

 

Basically:

"if replaced water contains higher concentration of salt compared to that the shrimp has right now the shrimp’s shell will absorb the salt (because of Osmosis). In its turn, in order to adjust the saline concentration, the cells will have no intake more water to compensate. As a result, there will be a Cell Hypertrophy. It causes to cell death and eventually shrimp death."

 

This is why it is so important to keep any changes in the shrimp tank small and slow so that if they do affect water parameters, then the shrimp have time to adapt!

 

-SJ