Jump to content

Blue Velvet Shrimp


Crystal Jade

Recommended Posts

So I lost 3 shrimp today - two out of my 8 Blue Velvet Shrimp and my one Blue Dream. I don't know why or what the cause was although my guesses involve either overfeeding or possibly water shock from a small water change. 

My parameters are as follows: 

GH: 5-6

KH: 5

PH: 7.6

Nitrite: 0 ppm

Nitrate: 0.25 ppm 

Water temp: 68-78 degrees F 

My water is tinged green and I have 4 live plants (including a Java fern), a moss ball, an Indian Almond Leaf, and a Rock in the tank itself as well as one small snail. I got  a siphon pump today to be able to do easier water changes. How would one go about water changes in an area that is a bit colder than many other places? I started using cold water after making a mistake on using hot water which could have been a problem... but now that things are a bit more in place I want to try and get stuff settled. 

If I got more shrimp: how long should I drip acclimate? 

What would be the best way to use tap water for water changes when I only have one heater? Or would I want to use distilled water? 

How often should I feed the shrimp? I keep reading all sorts of different tips and views. 

Is it okay and normal for shrimp to hide under the rock? I have some (4) pretty small and pretty transparent shrimp that I haven't seen since I introduced them into my tank. I don't want to move my rock and find dead shrimp underneath...Maybe I should just give up? I don't want to but maybe I should figure out what is up with my tank first. Because I have no clue why this is happening. Is it my Nitrate and Nitrite levels? 

 

 

 

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Crystal Jade said:

If I got more shrimp: how long should I drip acclimate? 

For as long as you need. To get the same water parameters as your tank.

This is where a TDS meter comes in handy.

 

2 hours ago, Crystal Jade said:

What would be the best way to use tap water for water changes when I only have one heater?

Drip the water into the main tank slowly. Assuming you have matched the water parameters of the new water, than dripping it into the tank slowly will not alter the temps of the new tank.

 

2 hours ago, Crystal Jade said:

Or would I want to use distilled water?

Not sure how distilled water fits into the previous question of heating water changes.

You'd want to use RO, distilled or rainwater to gain greater control over what goes into your tank, so that you can set the ideal parameters yourself. Tap water has all sorts of chemicals that impact water parameters, and not all of these chemicals are useful to shrimp or fish. So RO, Distilled and rain water takes out all those chemicals, so you can put back in just the right amount and only the essential minerals to sustain life.

 

2 hours ago, Crystal Jade said:

How often should I feed the shrimp?

Once every 2 days. 

But if they don't finish all the food, I usually leave it in. But I wont feed for another 3-4 days depending on how long the food lasted in the tank.

 

 

2 hours ago, Crystal Jade said:

Is it okay and normal for shrimp to hide under the rock?

If there are no predators around, than it is not normal.

This could be a general indication of sub optimal water parameters. Something is wrong if they are hiding too much.

 

2 hours ago, Crystal Jade said:

Because I have no clue why this is happening. Is it my Nitrate and Nitrite levels? 

What is the Ammonia levels in your tank? That is the crucial parameter. Crucial in the sense that this parameter will kill. Ammonia needs to be zero. Where as Nitrate is a long term issue. It doesn't kill as quickly as ammonia. 

Edited by jayc
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you! I am trying to make sure everything is good to go - and I want to take good care of my shrimp for sure. I just ordered an ammonia API test kit (I believe chemical tests provide more accurate results compared to the strip tests) and a TDS pen on amazon so I should get those Wednesday. I will try not to mess with my water too much until I get the necessary things I need. I am glad things seem to be so-so for now. I drip acclimated for 1-2 hours when I got my blue velvets with the current water in a specimen container and dripping tank water into the container itself. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe I'm nitpicking, but 68-78 F? That's a pretty wide range. How have you been doing your water changes? Dripping the water slowly or just putting it in? That can temperature shock the shrimp. Cold water is better than hot (funky pipes and all) but if you're giving the shrimp a temperature shock in doing so, it could be just as harmful.

Edited by Crabby
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Crystal Jade said:

I drip acclimated for 1-2 hours when I got my blue velvets with the current water in a specimen container and dripping tank water into the container itself. 

Rather than using "time" as a guide we should use the water parameters as the reference of when the shrimp/fish has had enough acclimation. 

Now that you have (or will have) a TDS pen, you just need to measure the TDS of your tank and the water the shrimp came in.

Lets say your tank TDS = 150. And the water the shrimp came in = 200.

So you start dripping water into the bag the shrimp came in. You keep dripping until TDS is close to 150 (TDS of your tank water). Say 155 TDS should be ok. This take as long as it needs to reach close to 150TDS. It could be 1 hour. It could take 12 hours. This is why I will hesitate telling someone that 1-2 hour drip acclimation is enough. It all depends on the start water parameters and how fast the drip is going.

Anyway, good luck, and I hope you sort the issue out without too many more deaths.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to hear you lost some shrimps!

How big is your tank and how long has it been running? Did you do the 'cycle'?

When doing a water change you should drip the new water into the tank. That will illiminate the temperature difference problem and any difference in parameters between the two waters.

When acclimating new shrimps you should drip acclimate them as long as you can, the longer you do that the better chance they have of survival. You will need to match the water temperature to that of the tank by floating the container with the shrimp in the tank once you have stopped dripping, before adding the shrimp to the tank!

The parameters you have I would think are acceptable so I would stick with tap water if that is what you are using, for now. RO water is ideal but you will then need to buy GH/KH+ to add the minerals. As I say, I would hold off using RO/distilled water for now until we can pin point the problem.

If your water has a green tint to it that may be an algae bloom? A white tint is usually a bacteria bloom and I have only seen that whilst a tank is 'cycling'. I think an algae bloom will mean there is less oxygen in the water as the algae absorbs it??????

Overfeedinng is very common. It will depend upon the size of the tank and how long it has been running etc. With only a few shrimp there may actually be no need to feed additional to the natural biofilm of the tank. As shrimps are feeding all day on biofilm it is usually better to see additional food as just a treat and feed very sparingly. Overfeeding with shrimps doesn't usually mean that the shrimps over eat, it usually means  too much uneaten food polutes the water and if you have green tinted water, algae bloom, that may be why? There usually comes a time, if you are lucky, that there are too many shrimps in the tank for the biofilm to sustain on its own, so as the population grows feeding may become more necessary.

Shrimp don't usually hide unless they are new to the tank or there are fish etc (even then they will usually adapt to them) or as JayC says, their is something wrong with the water quality?

 Simon

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't been able to find an ammonia test kit so maybe that was my problem but I woke up to no dead shrimp. Before I do a water change I want to make sure my water I have is correct with water parameters and GH and KH  especially. I did cycle my tank and it should be fully cycled by now. 

 

Thank you all!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • beanbag
      Update to say that after a few gravel vacs, front wall scrub, moss / floating plant trim, that the condition seems to have improved.  My current theory is that it is due to waste / debris management, where "stuff" like that brown mulm accumulates in the substrate and behind the HMF filters.  Maybe some tanks can somehow deal with it, but mine can't.  Also another experienced shrimper suggested that maybe those "shell bugs" don't just live on the shrimps but also in this debris.  Maybe this is the reason some tanks fail due to "old tank syndrome" where all they need is a good gravel vac? Also, I am guessing that plant trim helps too because now more of the nutrients and light go into growing algae instead of more plants? Well anyway for this tank I will try weekly water change and monthly gravel vac / plant trim.  For my next tank, I'm thinking of something like an under-gravel system where this mulm can fall down and I vac it out.
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Good to have an update and good to hear you are getting shrimplets, so hopefully your colony will continue and you may not get to the point where you have to cull some to stop over population. These type of shrimp only live 12 - 18 months so the adult deaths may be natural? If you have the time I would do weekly 25% water changes, adding the new water via a drip system and do some vacuuming clean of the substrate each week, even if only a different bit each week! See if that helps in a few months and if it does then stick with that regime? It should help reduce any build-ups that may be occuring!
    • beanbag
      Hello again, much belated update: The tank still has "cycles" of 1-2 month "good streaks" where everybody seems to be doing well, and then a bad streak where the short antenna problem shows up again, and a shrimp dies once every few days.  I am not sure what causes things to go bad, but usually over the course of a few days I will start to see more shrimp quietly standing on the HMF filter, and so I know something is wrong.  Since I am not "doing anything" besides the regular 1-2 week water changes, I just assume that something bad is building up.  Here's a list of things that I've tried that are supposed to be "can't hurt" but didn't prevent the problem either: Dose every other day with Shrimp Fit (very small dose, and the shrimp seem to like it) Sotching Oxydator Seachem Purigen to keep the nitrates lower Keeping the pH below 5.5 with peat Things that I don't do often, so could possibly "reset" the tank back to a good streak, are gravel vac and plant trim, so maybe time to try those again. One other problem I used to have was that sometimes a shrimp would suddenly stop eating with a full or partially full digestive tract that doesn't clear out, and then the shrimp will die within a few days.  I suspected it was one of the foods in my rotation - Shrimp Nature Infection, which contains a bunch of herbal plant things.  I've had this in my food rotation for a few years now and generally didn't seem to cause problems, but I removed it from the rotation anyway.  I don't have a lot of adult Golden Bees at this point so I can't really tell if it worked or not. Overall the tank is not too bad - during the good streaks occasionally a shrimp will get berried and hatch babies with a 33-50% survival rate.  So while there are fewer adults now, there are also a bunch of babies roaming around.  I guess this tank will stagger on, but I really do need to take the time to start up a new tank.  (or figure out the problem)
    • jayc
      If that is the offspring, then the parents are unlikely to be PRL. I tend to agree with you. There are very few PRLs in Australia. And any that claim to be needs to show proof. PRL genes have to start as PRL. CRS that breed true after x generations doesn't turn it into a PRL. Neither can a Taiwan bee shrimp turn into a PRL despite how ever many generations. I've never seen a PRL with that sort of red colour. I have on Red Wines and Red Shadows - Taiwan bee shrimps. So somewhere down the line one of your shrimp might have been mixed with Taiwan bees and is no longer PRL. It just tanks one shrimp to mess up the genes of a whole colony. 
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Sorry, missed this one somehow! The PRL look fantastic and the odd ones look part PRL and part Red wine/Red shadow in the colour. They are still very beautiful but ideally should be seperated to help keep the PRL clean if you can do that.  Nice clear photos!
×
×
  • Create New...