Cherry Red Shrimp keep dying

[KeiraLD]

I have introduced 12 cherry red shrimp to my aquarium on monday, i introduced them slowly but did not acclimate them like how i have now found out youre supposed to.

 

i have a test kit and ive tested my water, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia are in check, ph is about 6.5-7, Gh is about 13 and kh is a steady 6 drops.

 

ive now lost 5 of the 12 shrimp, in 2 days, i just watched one die, it was on its back struggling, i assumed it was a failed molt, but i left it just incase it freed itself, it died and i scooped it out, ive taken a picture and ill attach it. 
 

every shrimp ive taken out so far seems to be followed by me finding a molt near to where their body was? 
 

is this normal for a new introduction of shrimp, is it because ive shocked them into the water? And are any of my shrimp going to survive or have i set them up for failure? I feel awful 

[jayc]

5 hours ago, KeiraLD said:

ph is about 6.5-7, Gh is about 13 and kh is a steady 6 drops

The water parameters are on the high side. GH is way above the recommended range of 4-6.

KH at 6 is also higher than what is should be. somewhere in the 1-3 range is what I aim for.

 

Is this tap water or well water you are using?

 

[KeiraLD]

3 hours ago, jayc said:

The water parameters are on the high side. GH is way above the recommended range of 4-6.

KH at 6 is also higher than what is should be. somewhere in the 1-3 range is what I aim for.

 

Is this tap water or well water you are using?

 

The water that im using is from a tap, unfortunately theres no way for me to get water from anywhere else, unless theres a way for me to treat it somehow.

[sdlTBfanUK]

Welcome to the forum!

I believe you are UK based and therefore have hard (lime scale) water. I have just moved from on of the few UK areas which had soft water to an area that is now hard. I have had caridina in the past so already had a water filter so am using those. Depending on the size of  your tank, and whether it is just shrimp etc will depend on what action you may want to take. If you have a smallish tank with just shrimp you could try a water filter jug (brita) which will mean you can use tap water, but the  filters are quite small so may not last very long with such hard water, but may be worth trying with cherry shrimp, this will just filter out SOME of the stuff, NOT ALL, but you probabl won't need to remineralise as it should (hopefully) give water nearer or in the right parameters? Again, if it is a smallish tank with just the shrimp you can go one step further and use a 'zerowater' filter jug (can get on Ocado, Morrisons?, amazon or directly), this has a huge filter and will give you the equivalent of RO water so will then need to be remineralised with GH/KH+. This is the best method but will be a bit more expensive and more work, but will be best for the shrrimps long term. If you have other creatures such as fish in the tank of coarse you will need to think a bit more, as messing around with the water parameters that the other creatures are ok with (?) will likely upset them? If you go the zerowater route you will just replace some of the water with unremineralised water at the start when doing regular water changes and maintenance, or a one time 50% water change, and add the RO water back slowly if the shrimp are in situ . With a brita or similar (as it has some tds/gh/kh etc) you would have to do more of a 100% water change. You basically need to half your current gh and kh numbers. If you are going the best route with RO water and remineralisers you will probably be best also getting a TDS meter, though you may get one with a zerowater jug so check that first?

Not drip acclimating the shrimp over several hours won't have helped either. You should probably expect to lose all the current shrimp, but you may be lucky and have a really tough few, fingers crossed)!

[jayc]

6 hours ago, KeiraLD said:

unfortunately theres no way for me to get water from anywhere else,

Are you able to collect rain water?

I use this ...

 

Nice and simple add on to an existing downpipe.

[KeiraLD]

8 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

Welcome to the forum!

I believe you are UK based and therefore have hard (lime scale) water. I have just moved from on of the few UK areas which had soft water to an area that is now hard. I have had caridina in the past so already had a water filter so am using those. Depending on the size of  your tank, and whether it is just shrimp etc will depend on what action you may want to take. If you have a smallish tank with just shrimp you could try a water filter jug (brita) which will mean you can use tap water, but the  filters are quite small so may not last very long with such hard water, but may be worth trying with cherry shrimp, this will just filter out SOME of the stuff, NOT ALL, but you probabl won't need to remineralise as it should (hopefully) give water nearer or in the right parameters? Again, if it is a smallish tank with just the shrimp you can go one step further and use a 'zerowater' filter jug (can get on Ocado, Morrisons?, amazon or directly), this has a huge filter and will give you the equivalent of RO water so will then need to be remineralised with GH/KH+. This is the best method but will be a bit more expensive and more work, but will be best for the shrrimps long term. If you have other creatures such as fish in the tank of coarse you will need to think a bit more, as messing around with the water parameters that the other creatures are ok with (?) will likely upset them? If you go the zerowater route you will just replace some of the water with unremineralised water at the start when doing regular water changes and maintenance, or a one time 50% water change, and add the RO water back slowly if the shrimp are in situ . With a brita or similar (as it has some tds/gh/kh etc) you would have to do more of a 100% water change. You basically need to half your current gh and kh numbers. If you are going the best route with RO water and remineralisers you will probably be best also getting a TDS meter, though you may get one with a zerowater jug so check that first?

Not drip acclimating the shrimp over several hours won't have helped either. You should probably expect to lose all the current shrimp, but you may be lucky and have a really tough few, fingers crossed)!

Thanks for the welcome to the forum, and all the useful information.

 

unfortunately i could not get my hands on a zerowater jug right away, but we do have a brita jug in the house, so today i tested the GH of that water, which came to 0? 
 

if i introduce this water to the tank with the high GH, do i still have to re mineralise it, or does adding the 0 GH water dilute the minerals already present. So part 0GH and part Tap water. 
 

but im definitely going to look in to RO water and zerowater jugs, just seeing this as a temp fix while i work on that 🤔

 

yes im hoping i have a hardy few left in the tank as well… 🤞🏼 still seeing 7 alive at the moment 

[jayc]

4 hours ago, KeiraLD said:

tested the GH of that water, which came to 0? 

What is the KH though?

 

4 hours ago, KeiraLD said:

do i still have to re mineralise it, or does adding the 0 GH water dilute the minerals already present.

No you should not have to remineralise it, since the GH in your tank is already high. Don't mix this 0 GH water with tap water. 

 

 

[KeiraLD]

5 hours ago, jayc said:

What is the KH though?

 

No you should not have to remineralise it, since the GH in your tank is already high. Don't mix this 0 GH water with tap water. 

 

 

The KH of the new water is 4

[sdlTBfanUK]

Those gh  and kh are much better. I would retest the gh though as I wouldn't expect 0 from a brita filter, especially if you still have kh4?

As you noted, the new water (brita filtered only - NO remineraliser

) will dilute the tank, so with a 50% water change you should get around GH6-7 (if the gh of the filteredwater is 0) and kh 5! The new water will need to be added very slowly so as to let the shrimp slowly adapt to it. You can refilter the water again and that may reduce the figures more.

It may also be a good idea to know where you are starting from by testing your Tap water! All filter jugs have a limit in how much they can absorb and so the higher the water parameters are for the tap water the shorter the lifespan of the filter, and brita filters are quite small to start with.

Its good to hear you still have 7 left.

Just to be clear, you don't need RO water AND the zerowater jug, the filtered tapwater will be RO (equivalent) water! You can see on the website etc www.zerowater.co.uk

Don't order/get any remineraiser yet until you have decided how you are going to go forward as if the brita water is gh0 and kh4 then you will only need GH+ (though I don't think the gh0 is right ???), whereas with RO water you will need  GH/KH+. www.pro-shrimp.co.uk are who I use for shrimp stuff and they are very reliable/helpful.

 

[KeiraLD]

1 hour ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

Those gh  and kh are much better. I would retest the gh though as I wouldn't expect 0 from a brita filter, especially if you still have kh4?

As you noted, the new water (brita filtered only - NO remineraliser

) will dilute the tank, so with a 50% water change you should get around GH6-7 (if the gh of the filteredwater is 0) and kh 5! The new water will need to be added very slowly so as to let the shrimp slowly adapt to it. You can refilter the water again and that may reduce the figures more.

It may also be a good idea to know where you are starting from by testing your Tap water! All filter jugs have a limit in how much they can absorb and so the higher the water parameters are for the tap water the shorter the lifespan of the filter, and brita filters are quite small to start with.

Its good to hear you still have 7 left.

Just to be clear, you don't need RO water AND the zerowater jug, the filtered tapwater will be RO (equivalent) water! You can see on the website etc www.zerowater.co.uk

Don't order/get any remineraiser yet until you have decided how you are going to go forward as if the brita water is gh0 and kh4 then you will only need GH+ (though I don't think the gh0 is right ???), whereas with RO water you will need  GH/KH+. www.pro-shrimp.co.uk are who I use for shrimp stuff and they are very reliable/helpful.

 

Thank you,

 

im going to slowly remove some of the water from the tank this evening, and drip back in the filtered water once again.

 

i think im going to invest in a zerowater filter, although more expensive than some other methods it seems to be a bit easier. 
 

ill have a look at some remineraliser for the water when i get the zerowater jug. 
 

thanks so much for the advice on different filters and correct levels, its really helping me learn a lot about keeping shrimp. 
 

Still all alive today, fingers crossed for them, im determined to get this right 😊

[sdlTBfanUK]

You can (and should if you can) remove the old water all in one go, that won't alter the parameters, it just depends on whether taking out half the water will affect the filter system or heater etc. It is only when adding the new water that it must be done slowly.

The zerowater may look a bit dearwr but the filter is more than 5 times the size so will last longer.You won't need the GH/KH+ at the start, until you get the parameters to the level you want. Once you get to that stage, as the remineralser is prebalanced tds/gh/kh ideal for the shrimp, so you will only need to use the tds meter when mixing the new water, and occassionaly test gh and kh. The zerowater does take a long time ti filter as the filter is so big, so is only really suited to small(ish) aquariums!

I have my fingers crossed the remaining shrimp are super strong ans survive.

[Moul1974]

Shrimp usually suffer from shock and stress when they are not given enough time to acclimate to their new home. That is why it is imperative that you do the Drip acclimation which is an important process for aquarists to learn, especially those who want to put shrimp in their tanks. It is considered the most straightforward and safest method of acclimating shrimps.

 

Edited April 25 by Moul1974