Slowly losing my shrimp

[Ziek]

Been losing my shrimp Slowly over the last month or so and have no idea what it could be.

This is my WP

Nitrate: 0

Nitrite: 0

Ammonia: 0

PH: 7.2

GH: 9

KH: 2

Now haven't got a tds pen yet so not sure what that is, have one coming in the mail but I'm worried that the time it comes I'd have lost all my shrimp.

TDS is the only thing I can think of that would be causing this, I use RO water with Salty Shrimp Bee shrimp minerals.

If anyone is able to give me some helpful advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,

Josh

[blindfisherman]

how long has the tank been set up?

what is the stocking levels like.

what is your water change reigime

and llastly what's the planted side of things look like

I would have thought you would have got some sort of nitrate reading but the question s above should help work out that one

[Ziek]

It's a 30L tank which has been setup since December with about 25+ cherry shrimp and I do about a 10% water change once a week. Planted side of things it's got quite a lot of moss in the tank which I've had growing from the start.

Here's a crappy photo I took with my phone. Also with the nitrate it's probably not exactly 0 but doing the test with my api test kit it comes up yellow.

[blindfisherman]

is there any reason why you are using bee shrimp rather than the sulawesi for cherries?

as for the nitrates. it looks to have a lot of moss which should keep them pretty low.

[Ziek]

Bought it before I found out sulawesi salt was better for cherries

[jacet]

What is your temp mate... I dont know to much about RO and adding minerals.. I lost a heaps 6 months ago and I put it down to over stocking back then... Not sure what else I could add mate... Do you have a mini oxy thing in there that might help out..

[Ziek]

Temp sits between 25 and 26, yeah got a mini running in the tank at all times

[BlueBolts]

Hi Zeik, tank looks great and the WP all seems within the preferred levels for cherries..if you're using RO & Salty Shrimp at the recommended dosage , the your TDS should theoretically be below 350, so that shouldn't be an issue, unless there's something (stone) in your tank/filter causing an increase in your TDS.

Try adding some mineral powder...

[mr_c265]

For a start, that white 'slate', looks like it may be Marble. Secondly, that stone may be leaching heavy metals, do you know what type of stone it is? Thirdly, what brand is the ball? That may be contributing to TDS.

Also, id be checking environmental issues, like is your RO working properly, do you wash your hands with water without soap before playing in the tank, are you rinsing any fresh food that you are feeding the shrimp?

[Aquathumb]

Anyone regularly using fly spray in the room? or have cockroach bates nearby? do you fertilize the tank?

[Dean]

if you dont have a tds or ec pen how are you measuring the mineral additive?????

when ever i have a problem that i cant explain i always throw in a big bag of charcoal to absorb any impurities that may be in the tank..

[Ziek]

Thanks for getting back to me guys. The stone is what I'm worried about, got another one similar to it and poured vinegar on it to see if it would react but it didn't but that doesn't mean the one in the tank won't tho.

As to what sort of stone it is I'm unsure, got it from an aquarium shop in Brisbane and the ball is a benibachi bee ball. I buy my RO water from a nursery/marine shop near loganholme they have a huge commercial RO system would have cost them in the tens of thousands for the system so I'm pretty sure the water is safe.

I'm very careful with putting my hands in the tank, very rarely do I have to usually only to refill my oxidatior. Only thing I can think of is the rock is causing the deaths but my peacock tree is attached to it and won't be able to remove it easily.

I'm at a loss as what to do, have to move in a couple of weeks so can't setup another tank till then and I have a heap of shrimplets in the tank also which would make it really hard to catch them all if I was to move all my shrimp out.

Cherry shrimp were meant to be easy lol

[Ziek]

For a start' date= that white 'slate', looks like it may be Marble. Secondly, that stone may be leaching heavy metals, do you know what type of stone it is? Thirdly, what brand is the ball? That may be contributing to TDS.

Also, id be checking environmental issues, like is your RO working properly, do you wash your hands with water without soap before playing in the tank, are you rinsing any fresh food that you are feeding the shrimp?

The flat rock is a piece of slate I think got it from Jag aquatics with rose moss attached

[mr_c265]

Just wondering what you feed the little fellas?

Also, do you ever spray around the tank, deodorant, fly spray, anything?

It is quite possible the rock is the issue. There are issues other than Carbonates in rocks, there can be heavy metals or ionic salts that are leached into the water, normally an indicator of this is veins in the rock of a colour different to the rest of the rock, however this isn't a sure sign that the rock is the issue. Only thing you can do is remove it and see if the issue goes away.

As Dean said, carbon would be a good move as early as possible.

[Squiggle]

Hey Ziek if you want to try a bag of carbon I have a 20kg bag, I'll give you a big bag to use if ya want :encouragement:

[Ziek]

I feed them Biozyme, Shiakura shrimp ball food and spirulina,chlorella,barley grass and wheat grass mixture. No spraying in my house as my girlfriend and I own two Eclectus parrots and we're very careful for them as well as my shrimp.

Yeah that's what I found out a while after I had that rock in my tank which is why it has me worried but for only a couple of shrimp to die every couple of days I'd have thought they would all keel over if there was something really bad in the water.

Yeah got a bag of carbon in there for about four days now but lost 3 shrimp today and 2 yesterday so not sure if the carbon is helping.

Dean I've just followed the directions on the jar for the mineral additive. Hoping this TDS/EC pen gets here before I lose anymore shrimp

[Ziek]

Hey Ziek if you want to try a bag of carbon I have a 20kg bag' date=' I'll give you a big bag to use if ya want :encouragement:

[img']http://i1284.photobucket.com/albums/a580/Betta_lover/image-74_zpsa8099683.jpg

Cheers Squiggle got a big jar of the seachem carbon and have loaded my filter up with a big bag of it four days ago

[MrShrimp]

Those rocks have to go before you do anything. Mosses can reattach to some thing else.

[Ziek]

Ok so after removing the big rock I've had no deaths for a couple of days, well I'm pretty sure I havent. Lost all my rillis and nearly all my solid red cherries to a stupid rock but I've learnt a valuable lesson. Thanks for all the help, without it I probably wouldnt have had any shrimp left

[Gbang]

Are they still dying mate?

[Ziek]

Are they still dying mate?

No prety sure the deaths have stopped now thank god.

[Squiggle]

That's awesome news Ziek, so glad to hear it :encouragement: