Parameter help for cherry shrimp

[AmesLea]

Hi everyone, I've got my Aquamanta Xanti 26 set up with red cherries And a couple of Neon tetras in it. I noticed today that I lost a shrimp, and had lost one earlier in the week also. I've checked the tank and this is the info:

PH 6.4

Ammonia, nitrates, nitrites 0

Gh 11

Kh 4

Temp 23 degrees

Substrate is fluval stratum, and decor is gold vine with Java moss on it, and a piece of cave rock (or lava rock, whatever it's called). Have some mineral balls of their way, also.

Are these ok for red cherries? There are new ones (not very good quality at all) which I wouldn't ve surprised if they didn't survive long, and my older ones which are nice big, red, healthy looking shrimp. Not sure which dies but by the size I'm thinking it was some of the new juvies.

Also, I have some big healthy looking females that have nice saddes but just aren't breeding. Is this related, do you think?

[Disciple]

Just wondering were the shrimps recently added? If so how did you acclimatize the shrimp? Were the water parameters a large difference from the person u bought it from?

The other thing that it might be is that the ph is a little but saying that people have kept them at lower ph.

Have you used any sprays near the tank recently.

[AmesLea]

No sprays near the tank at all. The shrimp were added about two and a half weeks ag, and we're floated, then I added tank water to their bag twice in five minutes intervals before letting them in. I don't know why the pH is so low.. I'm assuming it's from the substrate as all the other tanks in the house run at 7.2 and are using the same water.

[revolutionhope]

how old is the tank? what is your water source and how do you condition the water? do you fertilise the tank and if so then how?

ps I think your gh is quite high for tetras? neons are hardy though ..

also how is shrimp behaviour and appetite? - plus what and how often do you feed? overfeeding is bad news

Edited May 10, 2015 by revolutionhope

[AmesLea]

Water source is rain water and we are on a farm so there's next to no air pollution. The tank has been used on and off for about 12 monthS but has only been a shrimp tank for abous a month as I cracked it when It had axolotls in it so I could no longer use the filter. Swapped it over and used all 'old' water from my big 200l tank and let it cycle with a bubble filter in it instead, and then once it was cycled I added the fish and shrimp. The big tank has has perfect parameters every time I check over the last few months and so I figured that water would be best. The neons are thriving like mad.. They don't seem to be upset by the water at all and neither do the shrimp. They're all roaming around and looking happy. I feed them crab cuisine or fluval shrimp food depending on what I feel like that day and only feed them a few pieces every few days.

[revolutionhope]

just curious how do you mineralise your rainwater?

[revolutionhope]

also perhaps the rainwater could have metal contaminants? jayc among others here would be able to advise better about rainwater for use with shrimps.

[AmesLea]

How do I check for metal contaminates?

I used a little bit of biobooster and bioculture to start up the tank, and I have some mineral balls on the way that I purchased last week. Is that what you mean?

[revolutionhope]

by mineralising I mean calcium and magnesium and potassium primarily. salty shrimp gh/kh+ is the most commonly used for cherries. seachem equilibrium is an example of a common one that most lfs has it is a generic one that can be used for fish and also shrimp too but it doesn't have correct ratios of minerals..

mineral balls im sure will go some way towards helping but my understanding is that they're not going to provide enough calcium and magnesium alone.

I guess the question I have to ask now is do you see successful moulting happening at all? frkm whay you say it sounds like you have 2 batches of cherries - one older and one younger is that right?

[revolutionhope]

ameslea hopefully one of the more experienced hands can offer you advice. my water chemistry knowledge is very limited but I think that might be the key - im not sure what may be contributing to your gh to make it as high as 11 if you have used rainwater alone for your tank. re metals there is a copper testkit available. but maybe a tds meter might be more use. another option again might be to get5 some blackwater conditioner for example which will bind heavy metals and also create good conditions for tropical shrimps n fishes etc.

im sure you'll figure it out pretty soon with help from others around skf. there are some very knowledgeable and helpful folks here :-)

[revolutionhope]

was just thinking about your situation and one other piece of info you havent mentioned is water changes snd if you have done any or not.

yet another possibility is that your tank is still undergoing a minicycle - unless im mistaken you said you transferred water but not any actual filter media?

[AmesLea]

Thank you for your help :) I appreciate it as you're making me think of all sorts of things it could come down to. I'll look into what I can get to help with minerals, maybe grab a tds meter. I'll take a water sample to my local aquarium specialist And get them to check for copper, etc as I know they do that there. Thank you for your help.

I do have a rock in my tank at the moment just to hold down the goldvine as it's still trying to float a bit. I'll take that out just in case. The new shrimp were poor quality but they were all I could get here. My older shrimp are shrimp from the colony I've had for 12 months and are really healthy. They're babies from the first lot of eggs I believe. I lost all my adults during a power failure so they're some of the babies I had, at least.

[AmesLea]

I've done a couple of small water changes (approx 1/4 to 1/3) and the tank has the media from the axolotl still in it, I'm just not running that filter so it's not pumping through it as much. The bubble filter is the same one that was in the old shrimp tank, also.

[jayc]

Hi AmesLea,

 

Rainwater use and your pH and temp are fine for Cherries.

However, the GH and KH seem a bit too high for just rain water without remineralising it (adding Calcium & Magnesium to raise mineral content). 

Either the reading is wrong (could be old test kits) or something else is raising it. Rocks are the usual culprit. Take out that rock, unless you know exactly what rock it is. 

GH 11 is on the high side for cherries. 

 

Why are you NOT running the filter with the old media from the axolotl?

 

You said you let the tank cycle, how was this done? And how long?

I suspect the tank and filters aren't properly cycled.

A cycled tank will show some Nitrates.

Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrates at 0 is most unusual for a cycled tank. This is something that needs to be checked/confirmed immediately.

 

You mentioned that you can get your LFS to check your water parameters. Get them to confirm your GH and KH again.

 

A TDS pen is a valuable tool, so get one asap.

Rainwater is great for shrimps and fish, but it needs minerals added. Otherwise your livestock will not do well. So products like Salty Shrimp GH+ is a must and is easy for newcomers to use - just follow the instructions on the packaging.

 

Inspect your rainwater collection system.

Are your tanks metal? Is the roof metal? Any rusting?

Is the gutter clogged with debris?

Edited May 11, 2015 by jayc