losing red cherry shrimp

[abbytherookiehuman]

i set up a planted 31 gallon freshwater aquarium around July/August last year and introduced ten red cherry shrimp in November from one seller and about 5 more a couple weeks later along with maybe 5 mts. the mts were the first to go. for about a week i could see movement in the substrate and then they came up and didnt move for a while. i took them out and they started eating and moving around more but died soon after putting them back in the tank. i had a few shrimp deaths in the first week and thought it was just because of the move. since then the shrimp have been slowly dying off. in january i bought 20 morethinking they just werent breeding and went into shock from the move. since then they have been dying off and now there are only 6 left. i had one girl carrying only two eggs at one point but i think shes dead now as i haven't seen her around. my parameters are ammonia, nitrites and nitrates :0, copper:0, ph ~8, gh5, kh ~3. tds 130  anybody have any insights?

[sdlTBfanUK]

Sorry to hear you are having a problem usually cherry shrimp are pretty sturdy easy to keep!

From the parameters you quote, the GH and TDS are a bit low so it would be worth trying some GH+ to try to get those figures up to nearer TDS 180 and GH 7. GH+ is pre balanced so those 2 figures equate using that product. Normally GH/kh+ is recommended for cherry shrimp but you already have enough KH. I assume you are using dechlorinated tap water? Usually tap water is fine with cherry shrimp but there may be something in the water that is causing a problem! Ultimately you may have to go RO water remineralised if the water source is the problem but that is unusual with cherry shrimps and a last resort at this point!

In a tank of that size I wouldn't think they need any feeding for that many shriimps, but are you feeding them anything?   

I would try bringing those figures up with GH+ but do it a bit at a time (maybe one scoop per day), you can just use the TDS pen here as 50TDS will be about 2GH prebalanced in the powder/drops! Just retest the GH again when you have got to the desired TDS as a double check!

I would also get some Indian almond leaves and Bacter AE if you can. The Indian almond leaves will help reduce your PH slightly/slowly as well! Don't be too surprised if you get the odd dead shrimp throughout this though as some may already be sick/weak!

Simon

[Crabby]

As Simon already mentioned, pH is too high for cherries. Driftwood or indian almond leaves will slowly lower this for you. Also just checking, you are dechlorinating yes? I've known a few people who never learnt about dechlorinating, but usually not shrimpers.

All the best,

Crabby

[abbytherookiehuman]

yes i do dechlorinate and i have three pieces of driftwood in the tank. i can add indian almond leaves as i already have some. i was seeking help on another forum before i joined here and on their advice i ordered an RO system and salty shrimps gh/kg+ because gh+ seemed to be for bee shrimp?? didnt know what that was about but thats what ive got planned so far. they should arrive soon. i was always worried ph would be a problem. would using RO water help me to better control the ph? i feed a variety of commercial shrimp foods, a small serving every couple of days. local water supply posts quarterly reports online and i didnt see anything alarming though i didnt know everything to be looking for- does any one know what i should look out for other than copper?

[sdlTBfanUK]

You can't really go wrong with RO water and remineralisers like salty shrimp as it is perfectly balanced to shrimps requirements on all the parameters including PH! Ph of RO water is usually low but the products will correct that as well. It is widely reported that they breed a lot better with the RO + minerals than in tap water, even if the tapwater parameters are good? The RO will remove anything that could be a problem like copper so you can stop looking for that sort of problem!

In such a large tank with only half a dozen shrimp I wouldn't feed the shrimp at this stage as there will be more than enough biofilm and the food that isn't eaten could cause more problems rotting etc (over feeding is a common problem)? Keep the food for when you have more shrimps or maybe a tiny bit as a sunday treat!

Simon