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I have been through your posts and have a couple of queries (sorry if you have already said and I missed it). What water source are you using? Did all the shrimps come from the same supplier? It is certainly odd that one variety of shrimp does well but others don't?? I feel your frustration though as I gave up with the shrimps in my TB tank after the heater disaster, as you know! I may be moving at some point and would then try again with the TB as I would have to shut down the tank anyway at that point, and I have the new substrate.....

no, what it does is kill off all the shadow panda and rwp, leaving only blue bolts. I haven't been able to achieve that nice mixed bee tank like you had.

Sorry to hear that! I hope you are getting enough baby shrimps to keep the colony going at a reasonable size?

the short antenna ones eventually die

Are you getting and unusual shrimp deaths, or is it just the shorter antenna?

I don't know if bacteria is the cause. It seems to be an uncommonly diagnosed problem because most shrimp articles only talk about bacteria infection as "a few shrimp die every day / week" What can I say, a standard dose of minocycline and erythromycin didn't work to stop it, so not sure if oxytetracycline will work.

Ah yes. That was the injectable form of oxytetracycline. Each mL of the injectable form contains: 100 mg oxytetracycline HCl, 5.75% w/v magnesium chloride , 6 H2O, 17% v/v water for injection, 1.3% w/v sodium formaldehyde Sulfoxylate as a preservative and q.s. with propylene glycol. Basically, it has additional compositions in it. 1000mg might have been the dose recommended for the injectable oxytetracycline, but if you have the powder form then follow the dosing rates as recommended on your bottle. Hope that clears it up a bit. As for doxycycline and it's use to treat short antenna ... I cannot comment on whether it will be more effective than oxytetracycline or not. But if you do use it, only try one at a time. Is bacteria even been proven to be the cause of "short antenna disease"?

14 April 2015 - Update based on experiences of one of our SKF members. Unfortunately for this shrimpkeeper it was too late to save these shrimps, but hopefully this experience will help someone else. 250+ shrimp were lost before the bacterial infection was halted. A vet was consulted and he eventually ended up contacting a senior lecturer of aquatic animal health at University of Adelaide school of veterinary science. He stated that bacterial infections being internal or external are almost always gram negative in aquatics and recommended using oxytetracycline at a dose rate of 1000-2000mg per 40ltr of water. Dosing method: Oxytetracycline is available in 2 forms. Powder and injectable. The injectable form was used as it is a stronger form. This meant that we could use less to obtain the required dosage. Dosed straight into the water column at 1000mg per 40ltr of water.

What?! Can you point me to where you saw that please? If in doubt, Always follow the directions on the bottle.

What is the recommended dosing for oxytetracycline? The sticky thread has a mention of " 1000mg per 40ltr ", but I don't know if that refers to total amount of powder, or active ingredient percentage. I live in USA, where oxytetracycline is not as common, but I was able to obtain a bottle of powder. On the bottle, it says [calculated out to] 75 mg / 10 gal, which is a wayyyy lower value. Also, the manufacturer / distributor won't tell me the fraction of the power that is active ingredient vs filler. This is for a Taiwan Bee shrimp tank with pH 5.5 and Gh 5, in case that matters for the effectiveness of oxytet in these parameters. I also have doxycycline available if that is equivalent / better. It's to treat that "short antenna disease" in one of my tanks that seems to show up once every few months. I've already dosed with Maracyn 1 (erythromycin) and 2 (minocycline) and they didn't seem to work.

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Hi thank you guys for your replies, really useful! I had a look and I think my GH is slightly a bit too high (about 150 mg/l). My KH is is around 120 mg/l so I think that is also too high. I had another shrimp die from moulting problems (white ring of death style) this week. So I will be taking steps to slowly reduce both GH and KH over my next water changes. Thanks again!

Unfortunately the answer is no. If members post pictures to a free website and that website closes down or changes it's link address, it impacts these old posts. If it was posted directly on SKFAquatic, the picture will still be here. That's one of the benefits of signing up to a subscription account on SKFA that gives you increased picture posting space.

The picture isn't available anymore. I wonder if it was any different than what we see all over the internet. Does anyone still have it?

Welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy your time on here.

I use rain water. Many houses in Aus have rainwater tanks now. It's perfect for shrimp, no additional water wastage like you get with RO and its free.

I agree with everyone that has posted. Follow your passion. The easiest is most definitely neocaridina. Insure your tank is completely cycled and won't have set-backs. However, with that said, the prettier ones (in my humble opinion) are the caridina. Sooo many unusual patterns and colors. I would recommend (and I am proven wrong all the time) that anyone really interested in shrimp keeping consider an RODI water system. Yes, they set you back $150 for a small one on Amazon, but it allows you to start with true zero water and work from there. My breeding success is built on consistency of the water (temp, pH, TDS). I only occasionally concern myself with GH or KH when I use the proper remineralizer for the shrimp. It's an amazing hobby that grows rapidly. Good luck!

This is a result of a bad moulting. Usually cause by incorrect water parameters and made it particularly difficult for the shrimp to moult easily. If the shrimps were not in this condition before, than that's the cause. The carapace (or shell) is clear and transparent. Underneath the carapace is a thin soft layer of "skin". It is this layer of skin that has the colouration we see. It looks like the skin has been pulled up during the moulting process, as the shrimp struggled to get out of the old carapace. She should live a normal life, but it's not going to win any beauty contests. Check on your GH, and start reducing GH slowly over a few water changes.

Hi! We are new to this forum and hope this association can benefit all. To introduce us, we are a wholesale distributor in Atlanta servicing local aquatic stores. Although we don't sell retail we can trade to strengthen both our genetic lines. We currently stock/breed/raise a number of Neocaridina's, Taiwan Bees (King Kong/Panda's, Blue Bolts, Crystals, Rili's, and Pinto's), Indian Zebra Babaulti's, Vietnamese Tangerine Tiger's, we are working on a line of BOA's, and Sulawesi Dennerli (Cardinals, Yellow Cheek, and White Orchid). We also breed snails - Mystery, MTS, and Rabbit. The mosses we propagate are Subwassertang, Java, and Christmas. I'm looking forward to learning new techniques, products and ideas to make our hobby stronger!

Do you have the water parameters for that tank? I would normally think it is a molting issue but to have several all the exact same seems to indicate otherwise. Is the shell missing or is it just clear in that area (picture a bit low quality to be able to see clearly, it looks like there is a clear area of shell though)? Welcome to the forum!

Hi everyone - I've been keeping RCS for about a year. Went away for three months and left them with a friend, came back and they had seriously multiplied! Lots of fun, but I've noticed that three (maybe more but at least three) of the females appear to have a piece of their shell missing. All on their lower front (where their front legs join their body), all on left hand side - it either looks like there is a plate missing or a plate that is shorter than it's meant to be. Is this a genetic defect or is there something environmental at play? All the affected shrimp that I can see are almost adult size, so they would have grown up from tiny babies in this same tank. They seem to be doing totally fine, but it would be good to know if this is genetic so I can put them in a different tank. Thoughts? Picture attached! Thanks so much, xoxo

Josh, I use Salty Shrimp 8.5. Although it's harder to dissolve, I've been successful by first mixing the remineralizer with 1 quart of carbonated water and allowing it to set for 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Then adding RODI water to fill a five gallon bucket. Add CO2 for 48 hours while heated and covered. If you are raising ONLY Cardinal Sulawesi you can use the Salty Shrimp 7.5.

Yeah I've dealt with the staghorn before. It's a new tank so no surprises. There are only little tufts of it and I'll be damned if I let it get a foothold. The shrimp do still like the heater. Not as aggressively, but it is still one of their homes. There are clusters of ~15-20 shrimp of both types found in 4 different spots in the tank. The heater is one of them. The rest are plant thickets in the mid and lower tank. I'm going to ignore the heater love for now. I do not *need* the CO2, but considering many of my Buce's and Swords have started flowering since it turned back on that is likely to stay as a morning 2-3 hour infusion. It's only 1 bubble every other second and the pH/KH are not dipping during these treatments. No adverse reactions yet. I'm happy to trim as that means nutrient export! The flourish excel will be discontinued fairly soon as things are back on track. I don't like dosing with it long term. I'm assuming the occasional shrimplet picked off will be more than outpaced by their breeding soon enough!

Thanks for the update! It sounds like the tank has settled down nicely, sometimes that takes longer than our patience allows. The staghorn algae should also die off once everything is completely run-in and balanced. Its presents is an indicator that the tank isn't quite fully there/balanced/settled yet! Have the shrimps moved away from the heater now? I also have a few ember tetras with my red cherry shrimp, it adds another dimension to the tank, though they probably pick off a few of the shrimplets if/when they can! Shrimps are a lot more delicate than fish. You shouldn't need the C02 or flourish excel, especially with the fish as well, but I understand if it is now going well you may not want to change anything. You may find these actually cause your plants to grow too quickly and result in you having to spend more time on maintenance/trimming etc. All being well, the shrimp (neocaridina) should readily breed and you should soon be restocked!

So update. I got frustrated when a few more days of 1-2 deaths happened. I turned the CO2 back on for 3 hours in the morning. I started doing 25% water changes every other day to combat the staghorn algae that had arrived from the combination of lowered plant growth and increased shrimp feedings. I started dosing Flourish Excel at 1/2 suggested rate. I added 50 ember tetras and 20 pygmy cory cats. I added more plants. I installed a second canister filter because I did not like the low flow on one side of the tank. And more stuff I had been holding off on because of the seemingly frail shrimp. I now have several egg laden females, ~10 sighted babies, and a seemingly growing neocaridina population. Maybe all the weak ones died from some mysterious disease? Guess it's possible. Ultimately, I'm moving on with the actual problem being a mystery.