naiad Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 I have just set up my first shrimp tank and I am afraid they are sick! I have only had freshwater shrimp for 3 months so I am totally new at this. The tank is a 7 gal planted tank with Blue velvets. Over the last few days they have become more opaque and the tissue appears to be turning white. One is twitching very badly. I did a 25 percent waterchange yesterday. No deaths yet but I am afraid this might be a bacterial infection. They are still molting and having babies. Should I try medicating them. A few turned white and died at the beginning but I thought it was stress related when I had no more deaths for the last 2 months. Jen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiad Posted February 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 After reading on the forum it seems that I may have been keeping the shrimp too warm at 80°f. I will lower the temp gradually to 75 and also make some adjustments to the TDS. I am planning on doing the next wc with ro mix. This has a TDS around 190 and pH of 7.0 - 7.5. Does this range sound about right for these guys? Do you think these guys will pull through with just tweaking the parameters or should I be ready to treat an infection? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glasshalffull Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Just from your description it does sound like it might be bacterial I would be very hesitant to use meds tho it might be better to just cull the ones infected Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenteam Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Temperature is really high. For some reason if it goes above 74 then bacterial infections becomes more common. Do you know any parameters in the tank like Gh/Kh/Ph/TDS chibikaie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMG Aquatics Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 After reading on the forum it seems that I may have been keeping the shrimp too warm at 80°f. I will lower the temp gradually to 75 and also make some adjustments to the TDS. I am planning on doing the next wc with ro mix. This has a TDS around 190 and pH of 7.0 - 7.5. Does this range sound about right for these guys? Do you think these guys will pull through with just tweaking the parameters or should I be ready to treat an infection? It sounds like bacterial infection. I'm currently treating one myself. My snowball shrimps were developing some white thing inside them and they died one by one. I have been treating with Paraguard for 1 1/2 weeks so far. Going to treat for 3 weeks before I stop. So far after using paraguard, the death stopped. I increased temp to 78 to speed up the life cycle of the bacterial infection and allow Paraguard to do it's job. I started with 1.5 mL per 10 gallon and increased to 2.5 on 2nd week. Do NOT do water changes during treatment. Remove any carbon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 You may want to pull the ones that appear white, and put them into quarantine. Hopefully this will stop infection of healthy ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiad Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Unfortunately most of them are white or too tiny to tell. I only have 5 adult blue velvets as this was my first attempt at shrimp. I did notice that lowering the temp brought out the two micro crabs in the tank. Must have been too hot for them too. I purchased the paraguard and did a half dose today along with a small wc. I hope they pull through. I have gotten really attached to them as individuals. Is that strange lol. I have pulled out the original filter (it eats baby shrimp) and replaced it with a sponge filter for the time being. Any recommendations on a good shrimp safe submersible filter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiad Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Here are some pics. It looks bad [emoji31] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiad Posted February 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 Parameters are as follows: TDS 360 GH 7 pH 7 KH 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naiad Posted February 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 The treatment seems to be helping. Going to keep at it. Thanks everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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