Jadenlea Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 To Moderators: I meant to post this in the care section. If someone wants to move it, I am totally ok with that. Ive been so nervous since getting my mischlings that they would die.. I would say I have had them for about a month now.. the first batch anyway and then got a second batch early last week. They seemed to be great, then sat afternoon I found a dead one. Yesterday I came home to 2 dead ones and today another. The one today was one of my favorites. I am worried there have been other deaths that I havn't seen because there just seems to be less in the tank. There are also the Malawa and carbon Rili in the same tank, I have not seen any deaths of either yet. I need advice and direction. Tank params. ammon. 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 10 maybe 20... so hard to tell the color diff. It is hard to believe they can be this high since there are only about 40 shrimp , 3 otto and a snail . PH 7ish according to seachem dial. will have a better idea when calibrating solution for ph meter comes. Kh 0 gh 5 -6 Other info. I have seen almost no molting in this tank. I am wondering if this is a molting issue since I saw that one having trouble molting a couple weeks ago. The mals are berrying up like crazy, I also have a berried carbon. I am worried about the nitrates, but I am not sure it its worse to start doing daily water changes and disrupting the tank or leaving it be. I know the PH is high for crystals. Could it really be causing these deaths after a month? Should I try one of the PH Down products? Could it be to much tank current exhausting the shrimp? I have a HOB , sponge filter and air disk. The water has TONS of movement. Should I up the Gh incase of a molting problem? It is all so dicey. Please advise. I love my crystals and was so excited that they were doing well. I feel kinda crushed and discouraged today. One last thing.. though it seems to only be effecting the mischlings, it is possible that it could be effecting carbons also. I only ordered 10 carbons and 30 mischlings so, they are just more visible. I cannot rule out that no carbons have died. so sad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted November 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 oh and feeding, I try to do every other day. A pretty small amount.. I break off a little piece of one of the shrimp foods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h4n Posted November 11, 2014 Report Share Posted November 11, 2014 K moved it for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenteam Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 The PH sounds kinda high for mischlings. Mine are hardy as long as the PH was low heck I even toss some in a new tank to test it out with no issues. How old is the tank? and do you have an active substrate like say ADA or any other brands? If you use RO water without an active substrate your PH will swing up and down because of the 0 KH. My cherry shrimp tank was Eco-complete with RO water and the PH would swing from 6.5-7.2 but they never seem to care. countryboy12484 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted November 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 No active substrate. Just sand and tap water with prime. The tank is about a year and a half old however it was rescaped a couple months ago. I drained it down to just a few inches of water . Kept the wood /moss, some plants. The sponge filter and HOB media stayed so the tank remained cycled and the biofilm on the moss remained. The carbon and first mischlings were added a couple weeks after the rescape. The malawa were already there in the old tank and survived it all. I swear I think they could live in a dirty biohazzard filled puddle and be happy hehe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Malawa may be sulawesi, however they are (in my opinion) even more hardy than cherries in the right conditions. Jadenlea and countryboy12484 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sbarbee54 Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 I have noticed will all tb and mischlings I have kept they do not like nitrates, my nitrates are always sub 5ppm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor3737 Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 I would more than likely say that it is your nitrates. They should be at zero, 20ppm is way to high. I would do some small water changes, that will help you the best at this point. I wouldnt mess wiith too much more at this point other than the water changes. I would bet that would help you in solving alot of the problems your are facing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted November 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Thanks I will do that. Ill do a little each day. I really don't see how they can be 20.. there is just not enough in the tank and tons of filtration but as you said... keep it close to zero. None dead this am, but it always seems to be after work that I find them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countryboy12484 Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Good luck, hope it gets better for ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted November 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 New afternoon, new death So strange that they die at the same time each day. Off to do my water change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Do you have the tank in a place where it gets a temperature change at the same time every day? By a heater, window, etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted November 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 No soothing. and they did not like this water change.. I changed out about 2 gallons and a bunch are jerking around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Sounds like you may have bad water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted November 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 I used distilled water today. room temp. the reason I picked up distilled water was because I read last night that you should not use warm/hot water from tap.. always use cold but at this time of year... the water is frreeeezzing... So I grabbed distilled on the way home.. remineralizing with fluval . I think my mistake was shaking up the moss in the hopes of getting rid of any extra waste/food that may be adding to the nitrates but I probably just stirred up bad water quality instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Check your Nits to see if they skyrocketed and caused spikes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countryboy12484 Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Quick question, since you mentioned you tap water being so cold... Do you age your water? There is a ph difference in water that has freshly came out of the tap... For example my water straight out of the tap is 6.0 after letting it gas off for 24 hrs the same tap water will have a ph of 7.2-7.4... You could be shocking them with ph swings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted November 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 nitrates now 5-10 . Def not over ten, gh 6 kh 0-2 how yellow is yellow. tds 244 1 shrimp dead so far... was it dying anyway or did I kill it? I do not know. Cowboy for top offs it is aged because we have a jug that we refill but water changes the water is usually not aged because I dont have enough jugs!! I Just refilled the distilled water jugs though so tomorrows change will be aged tap room temp. Thanks for the support guys. I am still bummed but I dont feel so alone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countryboy12484 Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Were here if ya need us buddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Jaden, I've been there as have many of us. It's not easy and very frustrating- especially when you can't pinpoint the problem. I'm going to suggest a radical solution that I've used myself with good results. You don't have cards, you have cherries and Malawa, so you should be fine. In fact, I've been using this method recently on all my tanks for a "fresh" year. Consider this a water "reset." Drain your tank of all but 1" or so of water. Have a bucket of all NEW remin RO water room temp and higher than your tank. Use airline hose to siphon it into your tank. Simple, but scary right? It works almost 100% of the time when I have old tank syndrome, and even when I want to start the new year fresh like I'm doing now. The side effect is larger and happier shrimp. By using airline hose instead of dumping it all in at one time, they have a longer time to adjust to it. In addition, it won't stir up all kinds of baddies if using the hose. You don't have to drip, just let it flow. Rest the lid on the hose and walk away. You may get a death or two, (I had maybe 2 out of 32 tanks thus far) but your unknown deaths should slow and stop. --- Of course this method isn't for everyone, just what has worked for me. I only do this extreme of a water change about once/twice a year, unless I have some unknown problem with a tank. countryboy12484 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countryboy12484 Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 I use your airline method for water changes on my sensitive shrimp.. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 How does it work for you? Seeing good results? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countryboy12484 Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 How does it work for you? Seeing good results?from the looks of it the shrimp dont even know ive done anything... I usually siphon out the old water as well vs just scooping it out with a cup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted November 12, 2014 Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Me too. Less disturbance, less debris flying around as well. Good to know it works for you, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadenlea Posted November 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 Soothing, The carbon and malawa have been fine. Its the Crystals/mischlings that are dying. I am willing to try that if these nitrate water changes don't work. I like the airline hose idea. I always feel like Im shocking them dumping a bucket of water in even though I am doing it as slow as I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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