Death :( Death Everywhere

[wayne6442]

Peppy, Most of us have had to start over again sometime ,I know it's devastating and my heart feels for you. Going through your thread I can see that you have covered just about everything possible as to the cause of your problems. That leads me to think that the only thing not covered is some kind of internal poisoning .Could be something leaching out of gravel, some poisoning from a plant but it has to be coming from something already in your tank, that has to be a constant that filtering and water changes cannot address. That is why I advise you to scrap everything and start again!

In my early days of shrimp keeping I lost a couple of thousand dollars worth of crs/cbs ,I thought I was doing everything right but could not figure it out. I eventually stripped everything down and tossed the lot out , started again with very low maintenance tanks and cherries, After a number of years I have just started getting a few crystals again, I have tossed them in with my cherries and LOL they are doing fine . I also highly recommend that when you get your tank re established that you stop mucking around with it, playing with water pm and adding all sorts of chemicals really does no good at all. You have to let your tanks build up its own biosphere, too many chemicals , too many water changes and cleaning of filters, and fiddling with this and that is devastating to shrimp.

We all think we are doing the right thing and I know that some people do and are successful breeders using constant adjustments with chemicals etc , but in my experience the minimal approach is the way to go.

Regards

Wayne

[Peppy_11]

Hi Wayne, Although it doesn't look that way with the amount of plants in my tank, I strongly agree with the 'less is more approach'. When it comes to my shrimp I do maybe 10% water changes fortnightly with top ups between them, and the only stuff they get is 3 different types of commercial foods, salty shrimp minerals in their RO, and a bit of shirakira minerals just to make sure they have everything they need. That's as far as it goes as far as messing with my shrimp. I will do a bit larger water change if I have detected ammonia or nitrates but that is very rare, and I clean the filter twice a year, only replace half the media and rinse the rest in tank water.

[wayne6442]

Well now I am out of ideas, you are obviously doing things right. but I still have a nagging feeling that the problem is stemming from something within the tank. The only other thing I can suggest is to move your shrimp into a smaller tank for the time being and continue running your planted tank as before. doing larger water changes etc and let it run for another couple of months. Then buy a couple of male gupps or the like and whack them in for a couple of weeks, see how they go , then put your shrimp back in

[CNgo2006]

What substrate are you using? I found that using an overly large filter vs tank size stopped my Benibachi soil (would have been sooner for other soil/sand I reckon) from buffering only after 4 months! I may have got a dud bag but I am sure this had some effect on the dying shrimp in my tank as when I checked the Ph was 7.1, I have added 2 bags of fulvic grains (PH gone down to 6.4) and a large UV steraliser and all seems fine now, also been dosing live bacteria once a week (with UV off for 1-2 days) the shrimp have coloured up and are much more active!

I know your PH is 6-6.2 as stated earlier but was it much lower before?

[Brado]

is simples!! u should have cleaned those 'druggo scales' beforehand my dear hahahahahaha

sorry darl i know how you feel im pretty much at the end of my shrimpin journey me thinks so you can have my remainders when the times right, speak soon mate hope ur well

[CNgo2006]

is simples!! u should have cleaned those 'druggo scales' beforehand my dear hahahahahaha

sorry darl i know how you feel im pretty much at the end of my shrimpin journey me thinks so you can have my remainders when the times right' date=' speak soon mate hope ur well[/quote']

Good one mate! @Peppy did you notice any white powder on the shrimps noses?

On a serious note I am sure we have all lost our share of shrimp, the trick is to stick to it and learn so it will be successful next time round.

[gowland]

not good peppy i feel for ya hun :(

[Garnelchen]

I just read the whole thread and because the first shrimp death occur so shortly after using the parasite treatment I find it very unlikely that anything else is the cause for the dead shrimp. One thing I could think of is overdosing by accidentally misreading the digital scales and using 10 times the amount intended. I know it sounds a bit far fetched but it is a mistake the happens very often in laboratories. Happend to me several times over the years.

[jayc]

Can you give us a linky to this internal parasite clear product you have/bought please?

[Trav80]

Peppy, when you weighed it, was 1 level scoop around 5g ?

[liljohn_83]

sadly id be leaning towards human eror ,, from what ive read ,, ive done it same as above 10 x the dose ph down = instant acid took me months to work out what id done wrong

i keept rtying to replicate what id done over and over and every conceavable sinario

[liljohn_83]

seings no one has responded after my coment , ??? thaughts and shareing opinions withut takeing it personally is part of this hobby ,, isent it ?

hey mate i have an idear post me your bottle and ill try it in one of my tanks ,then ill post the results and then ill post it back with a few shrimp ,, im not shy the offer is thair expect a 3 week turn around

[Peppy_11]

Hi liljohn, apologies for not replying sooner, I have been off work this week for a bit of r&r n haven't been on the net :/ although all my shrimp are dead I am in good spirits and keen to get back up and running. I definitely underdosed the product, and I think the most frustrating part is there's still planeria in there :(((( as much as its a great offer, I would rather not have my batch tested, as if it is not right, more shrimp die for no reason. After talking to a couple of mates, we have considered the cause could possibly be my frequent oil baths, which could have resulted in me poisoning my shrimp from skin transfer? Just another thought to consider I guess.

All I can say is I'm grateful for everyone's support and kind words. If I didn't have that I would have definitely given up by now. Thanks guys