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Here are a couple of shots of the Taiwan bees. I just introduced them in the tank.

Hello all! I recently started a new shrimp tank and need help with some of the parameters. I originally had ~5 cherry shrimp that multiplied into ~15, and now all have died except 1. I have a 3 gallon tank and was changing ~2-3 cups of water every 1-2 weeks. I have gravel for substrate, a natural slate stone I got from amazon (pH neutral), cholla wood, moss balls, anubias nana plant, and a subwassertang plant. I have been using distilled water since the beginning (mixed with tap water) and just recently started using distilled water + remineralizer. Here are my parameters: Most recent: pH 8.0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10, ammonia 0, GH 14-15, KH 7, TDS 162 a month ago: pH 8.2, nitrite 0, nitrate 20, ammonia 0, GH 12, KH 7, TDS 159 What am I doing wrong? Thanks for all your help!

Sorry to hear you are having a problem with one tank. Regarding the breeding stopping, that may be as it is winter with the taiwan bee shrimp where you are so I wouldn't worry about that unduly unless it carries on after winter? It onl seems to happen with Taiwan bees and I had this happen and have seen you tube videos and heard it happens with others (not everyone though oddly). The main problem tank, I can't see anything that looks a problem at first glance and as you are running other tanks the same way it must be something specific to the tank. Are all the tanks kept together in the same area? Have you put anything wood/new etc new in the tank that may have been contaminated with pesticides that is slowly poisoning the tank etc? Anything you can list as tank specific may help give us a clue. Are the vegetables you feed ORGANIC (though if you use the same for all the tanks it is unlikely to be that)? The simptoms do sound as though it may be some kind of toxic poisoning! The picture is a lovely shrimp and I can't see anything obviously wrong with it. I had a similar experience with my last shrimp tank so I know how frustrating it can be to pin point the problem! Simon

Thanks everyone for the replies! Yes I just started using remineralization about a week ago since I thought maybe the shrimp weren't getting the minerals they need and thus were dying. For the first month or so, I was using half deionized water half tap water. I checked my DI water and it's pH 7 kh 0 gh maybe 1. Perhaps I was shocking my shrimp with water changes. I'm going to try replacing my current water with pure DI water ~20% at a time and recheck. Is it possible something in my tank is causing high gh and pH? I do have a zero water filter, but the filters are so expensive ?

I think they mentioned they were already using distilled water though. I think in that case it's just too much remineralisation.

Any clear container or an old jam jar would do. It is very difficult to see anything when they are out of the tank as all the legs etc will be clamped to the body, and as crabby states they will be extra stressed! Simon

Yes i guess you would be right in that the shrimps would be stressed out of water, i did put them back in the tank every 3 shots. Though it would be easier for me and the shrimp if I did have a small photography tank.

Wowee. Nice going @Steensj2004!

Tank looks amazing!!!! Unfortunate about the fish though. I'm sure I would've made the same mistake in that situation. Lets hope it all goes smoothly for you.

Easy one here mate! Over-mineralising! With cherries, you want a pH of about 7. GH aim for like 5-8, and KH for 3-4. I would also check those parameters in your distilled water, to ensure it is properly distilled and your problem isn't just remineralising way too much.

Update: 6 berried females currently, and starting to see the first generation of baby females showing saddles!

A little update..... This picture doesn’t even begin to show how many dang babies are now in this tank. I can’t even begin to guess how many, but I can count dozens and dozens while feeding.???

...wait so why are the photos taken out of water? I think it would be easier to see the spikes, and much less stressful for the shrimp, if the pics were taken with the shrimp maybe just in a little photography tank (like a 4x2x4 [LxWxH] inch-ish little glass tank, with a black or white back and bottom), which is pretty easy to do DIY. I mean... I haven't made one before lol. But it seems easy enough. Or alternatively you can just do it with them at the front of the tank!

For about 2 months now I've been losing one or two of my CRS every day. Tank has been running for about a year and initially everything was normal and they were breeding well. Then I started noticing the odd unexplained death, then it became more frequent, now it's every day. Parameters are: pH 5.5, GH 4, KH 0-1, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5, TDS 120 Temp 22C. What's left of the colony are fed 2 - 3 times a week on a variety of quality foods including blanched zucchini, blanched mulberry leaves, HWA bacterium, frozen bloodworm and a few foods I've bought from breeders who make their own. They only get a tiny amount and it's usually gone within a couple of hours. Tank maintenance includes once weekly 10% water changes and the water I use is rainwater that I run through the RO and remineralised with GH+ liquid. I have two other caridina tanks - one with tang tigers who are breeding like mad. I never have deaths in that tank and it's got almost the same parameters just the GH is 5 instead of 4. The other tank is for blue bolts, mosuras, pandas and shadow pandas. I don't lose any shrimp in that tank either, BUT they aren't breeding. I think I'll have to start another thread for that issue though. I'm careful to clean any equipment used in one tank before I use it in another so that I'm not cross-contaminating. The shrimp seem perfectly normal until they fall over and die. They did stop breeding a couple of months ago so my colony is getting smaller by the day. The tank has the usual shrimpy stuff - IAL, alder cones, cholla wood. Substrate is Amazonia II. Below is a photo of one of today's victims. I have a video of it in the throes of dying too, but can't seem to upload it. It just shows the shrimp on its back and its little legs kind of spasming. Is anyone able give me any idea what my shrimp are succumbing to? Muscular necrosis perhaps? Thanks in advance.