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Okay so a few weeks ago I posted that I had a CRS that looked a little odd and I was questioning if my shrimp may have a bacterial infection. Well today I had a shrimp die unexpectedly. It looked a little pink. And I have noticed a few shrimp that have fuzzy looking antennae. Nothing else on them is fuzzy and I haven't seen any white things sticking off their rostrum or anything. And I have one shrimp that is berried that has fuzzy antennae and they look shorter than they used to be. I also found one more shrimp that is acting very sluggish and looks a little pink. I'm thinking it may die. What is going on with my shrimp? What should I do from here? I don't really have another tank I could throw the healthy (or unhealthy) looking shrimp in. What does this sound like? How should I treat it? Please give me some suggestions on what to do. I have 90+ shrimp and have invested a lot of money into the tank. I know we have all had something go wrong before, but I would be devastated to lose some of these shrimp. There are a few other shrimp in the tank that could look questionable.

If this is bacterial how is it spread? If I don't allow the bodies to be eaten by the other shrimp and I lower the temperature could I irradicate this? Also i should mention I had one shrimp that had the fuzzy antennae and when it molted their antennae were no longer fuzzy and the molt still have the antennae that looked fuzzy. I read somewhere that this could be an algae growth. However the berried female I have has not been able to molt and her antennae are definitely different lengths and shorter. She does not look pink. And neither did the other shrimp that molted off the fuzzies.

My water parameters are as follows:

Temp: 73.2

pH: 6.5

GH: 6

TDS: 150

Ammonia: 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 0

I should also mention that as of last night I had 21 berried females. All the babies are living and growing well. I have to be doing something right, right?

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It sounds like you have a problem with your water.

You said the antenna are fuzzy looking. Can you get a picture ?

How large is your tank ? Last water change? Any babies in the tank?

How old is the tank? What additives do you add to the water ?

Sorry for all the questions. Can you get a FTS ?

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It sounds like you have a problem with your water.

You said the antenna are fuzzy looking. Can you get a picture ?

How large is your tank ? Last water change? Any babies in the tank?

How old is the tank? What additives do you add to the water ?

Sorry for all the questions. Can you get a FTS ?

The tank is a 20 gallon long. It's been running since March. My last water change was 4 days ago. The only additives in the tank are mosura TDS up and MK blue diamond to add minerals back to the RO. There's also an Indian almond leaf in the tank as well as alder cones, cholla logs, and spider wood. I have around 30 babies in the tank ranging from 3 days old to 1 month old.

I tried to take a picture, but my iPhone won't focus close enough to see the antennae. When I first looked at them they just looked thicker. When I looked very closely I could see that they seemed to have a fine film or clearish white fuzz on them. I'll try again to see if I can get a good enough picture.

What is an FTS?

There's no other shrimp that look pink, but there are a few other shrimp with the fuzzy antennae. Three of them are berried and i believe that's why they haven't been able to molt it off like the other shrimp did. I just don't know what it is. I've been taking the molts out of the tank just in case.

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FTS full tank shot.

Does not  sound like a molting issue.

Could be the additives. What is the tds of the water after you remineralize  your ro water?

How ofter do you water changes? Unless you have a high bioload you don't need to change the water that often.

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FTS full tank shot.

Does not sound like a molting issue.

Could be the additives. What is the tds of the water after you remineralize your ro water?

How ofter do you water changes? Unless you have a high bioload you don't need to change the water that often.

After I remineralize my TDS is usually 140-145 in the container. After adding it to the tank it is around 150. About two weeks ago I lowered my GH from an 8 to a 6 with five total water changes over the course of 10 days with pure RO and a small amount of TDS up to keep me TDS stable. I know that caused stress.

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Retest your water parameters again please. To me, it seems that something is not right there. From what you said, "There's also an Indian almond leaf in the tank as well as alder cones, cholla logs, and spider wood" it sounds like you got a lot of stuff in the tank that could be polluting it.

Here's a picture of the tank. I'm checking my parameters now.

post-1481-0-30638400-1436934136_thumb.jp

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Retest your water parameters again please.  To me, it seems that something is not right there.  From what you said, "There's also an Indian almond leaf in the tank as well as alder cones, cholla logs, and spider wood" it sounds like you got a lot of stuff in the tank that could be polluting it.

Okay everything is the same except the GH is 7 and TDS is 154.

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Here's a pic of the tank tonight. I did some rescaping last week and took out a lot of plants. attachicon.gifimage.jpg

 

That's the problem.

 

Rule #1:

DO NOT PUT YOUR HANDS IN WATER.

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Wow! 21 berried females! Well... I'd say your doing something right! Your parameters sound fine. The only thing i noticed in your FTS is that you may be lacking oxygen in your tank. I would add an air stone or a corner sponge on the right side of your tank. Are the recently molted shrimp still growing fuzz on them after they have molted? If they're breeding, molting and you have a good baby survival rate then I wouldn't worry too much.

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That's the problem.

 

Rule #1:

DO NOT PUT YOUR HANDS IN WATER.

I use stainless steel tweezers and scissors to remove plants. Every once in a while my fingers may go into the water.

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Wow! 21 berried females! Well... I'd say your doing something right! Your parameters sound fine. The only thing i noticed in your FTS is that you may be lacking oxygen in your tank. I would add an air stone or a corner sponge on the right side of your tank. Are the recently molted shrimp still growing fuzz on them after they have molted? If they're breeding, molting and you have a good baby survival rate then I wouldn't worry too much.

The one that I saw molt the fuzzies off haven't gotten them back on his antennae. Everyone is molting fine and their color is good. All the babies are growing and I continually have new berried shrimp almost every other day. The only other thing I can think of is I added a moss ball from a tank I tore down and I hadn't had the filter running on that tank for a week prior to taking it down. I'm taking that moss ball out. My light is also pretty strong so I don't know of that could affect something.

I have an air stone running behind the sponge filter for extra oxygen.

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As mentioned water parameters look fine, tanks looks great. Seems like you have a large colony berried and molting as normal. Do you know your KH value? Have you added any new plants recently?I doubt an IAL, Cholla/Spider Wood, or any of the products your adding are doing this. 

 

Have you quarantined any shrimp that you maybe suspicious of? If so, have you noticed additional antennae looking fuzzy or white?

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Yes do not stick your hand in shrimp tanks unless you are sure you don't have any chemicals on your hand.

Example- lotions, bath salts. Hang your nets. do not lay on surface that could have cleaning chemicals.

You will know when you poisoned your tank when you shrimp start doing back flips. Not a pretty sight.

You then have to reset the tank.

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As mentioned water parameters look fine, tanks looks great. Seems like you have a large colony berried and molting as normal. Do you know your KH value? Have you added any new plants recently?I doubt an IAL, Cholla/Spider Wood, or any of the products your adding are doing this.

Have you quarantined any shrimp that you maybe suspicious of? If so, have you noticed additional antennae looking fuzzy or white?

The only new plants I have added are a few strands of glosso and a plant from a tissue culture bought at petsmart. They were both added within the last 10 days. My KH value is 0-1. The first drop of the liquid test solution seems to instantly tell me that it's 1 or below.

I don't have another tank to quarantine so I put the suspicious looking shrimp the the breeder box. At least if they die they can't be eaten by the other shrimp in the tank. I have seen three total shrimp with the fuzzy antennae. They are all berried. I believe that's why they haven't been able to molt it off. Everyone else looks fine.

I had another death this morning. But this shrimp and the first death did not have fuzzy antennae.

It's disheartening because my water quality is good and I'm having success with breeding. I did a water change this morning. All the shrimp are bouncing around the tank as usual.

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I'd suggest more filtration.

Could I disconnect the air stone and place another dual sponge filter on the other side of the tank?

If my water quality is good and the bacteria have colonized the substrate and other filter would a second filter help that much more? Or would it just be for oxygen? I could move the air stone to the other side of the tank. The tank has been running since March and I have only siphoned one or two small places of the substrate the entire time it's been running.

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I use stainless steel tweezers and scissors to remove plants. Every once in a while my fingers may go into the water.

 

Sorry to speak that loud.

 

I don't really mean hands, but don't disturb your shrimp as much as possible.

 

Stable environment is the key to make shrimp happy.

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