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Shrimp Acting Strange?


Maltese25

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I currently have a 10g set up with 3 shrimp in it.  I have a cherry, blue dream, and a ghost shrimp.  I plan on adding my neon and glowlight tetras soon who are recovering from a bad case of ick.  

My cherry shrimp has been acting off lately.  The shrimp were moved from my 5g (now my quarantine) into my new 10g about 3 weeks ago.  My cherry shrimp is usually very active and extremely friendly.  Usually, I walk up to the tank and the cherry shrimp will come out of hiding immediately and literally stare at me through the glass.  Lately, the shrimp seems very sluggish and is losing its color.  The shrimp has been flapping its swimmerets a lot lately and is not berried. The flapping shrimp looks like it is trying to clear something out.  I have not noticed this behavior until recently. The shrimp is not as active and has been losing its bright color. I see a dark line running through the body but I'm assuming this is just part of the intestines. I did notice that 2 molts ago the saddle became prominent and there was no saddle before.  Overall, this shrimp just seems uncomfortable.  The other shrimp seem a little more on the shy side but they are shy in general. I am thinking that this shrimp has a bacterial infection? I spend a lot of time with my shrimp and I know when something is off or their normal behavior changes. 

Here is some info about my tank:

Size: 10g

Lighting: Natural light (near window) and 8 hrs of LED

Plants: Micro sword, 2 marimo moss balls, and some stemmed plant (can't remember)

Substrate/Deco: Estes gravel and 1 large piece of driftwood

Filter: Aqueon Quietflow. I replaced the media it came with.  My current media is filter floss and Seachem bio gravel 

Water Parameters: (these are according to my API test strips)

Nitrates: 0

Ph: 7-7.5

KH: 80-120

GH: 60-120

My water here is on the harder side but I treat it with Seachem Prime. I don't currently have a heater and I have some plants coming in that like colder temps and I don't plan to get one. The water is more in the 60-75 range depending on the temps outside.  The shrimp don't seem to mind. 

Any suggestions or information is much appreciated!  Below is a picture of my beloved "Cherry"! Very worried about her 

20180222_001336.thumb.jpg.061ae7b8d193650281fde7898edfdfd1.jpg

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Hi, sorry to hear your shrimp might not be doing well. Have you noticed any changes in the colouration of the shrimp? Any dark patches or changes in the colour of the flesh? 

The changes in behaviour don’t sound too sinister on their own. Keep an eye out for other symptoms like changes in colour or external parasites. I wouldn’t recommend treating the shrimp with anything - you’ll likely only kill them. 

Concentrate on doing regular water changes and keeping water parameters stable and within the relevant optimal range.

Try using proper tests kits to measure water parameters. The test strips are notoriously unreliable and inprecise. For shrimp, there is a massive difference in a GH of 60 and a GH of 120. 

Lastly, hold off on adding the fish to the tank. The fish will eat your shrimp.

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