By
BID
Hi!
I found today the smallest of my 6 shrimp dead and can't figure out why and am hoping for help. They seemed generally less active in the last week or two, and I have noticed that they fan their belly flaps quite a lot (though none of my shrimp are berried, at least I am pretty sure, the eggs always seem pretty obvious on photos). Is it maybe too little oxygen?
The dead shrimp appears completely normal to me, and I found it lying on its side in the middle of the tank, still flapping it's belly fins. I put it in a glass with tank water where aber about 15minutes it stopped moving completely, even if prodded.
It shouldn't be a shedding issue, as I think this shrimp has shed about 4 days ago. It's the smallest of the 6 (almost half the size of my biggest) so I figured it must be juvenile and it shouldn't be age.
I do have some worms in there that I can't seem to get rid of, but I'm quite sure none of them are planaria. Seems to be some sort of white flat worm that usually sticks to the glass and very thin hair like ones that float around.
All my cherry shrimp are solid red, so I can't see if they have bacterial infection. There always seems to be one of two that are paler/mottled but as they shed I think it's that? I have a hard time keeping them apart tbh
I did a 50% water change and removed most of the floating plants in case there wasn't enough aeration.
My goal with making this post is to maybe find out what might have killed it/how to avoid further deaths. I'm happy for any advice!
Background/setup:
This is my first aquarium, just as a disclaimer, so I'm gonna list...everything, not that I oversaw sth stupid.
I got 6 cherry shrimp and 5 MTS(that have made about two dozen babies by now) approx. 5 weeks ago. The tank had been set up and running w/ plants and filter 4 weeks before that.
It's ~25L, running a sponge filter with air pump, have some java fern and moss, wood, flourite black sand, and dwarf grass(?) and a lot of tiny floating plants on top. The light sold with the aquarium (very bright) and a desk lamp (less bright) that I use sporadically.
They get fed JBL 'Nano Prawn' pellets (which they don't seem to be fond of) and sometimes blanched spinach/peas/lettuce (which they will fight eachother for). Would they starve themselves for not getting the beloved spinach&peas???
Measured half an hour ago upon finding the dead shrimp:
PH: 7.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: ~5 (now probably 2.5 as I just did a 50% water change)
Temp: 22-24C
I do use dechlorinator (tetra tap safe).
I currently don't have a gh/kh test but it's on the shopping list. They have a small piece (2x2cm) of cuttle bone permanently floating around the tank, as Glasgow water is supposedly soft and between snails and shrimp i figured they'd need it.
It has been stable like this for at least 3 weeks now, before that, week 1-2 of having the shrimp, the ph was a little lower and small amounts of ammonia/nitrite.
From what I read this should all be fine?
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now