Mysterious deaths

[Linda]

I am at my wits end, I can't seem to figure out whats wrong with my cherry shrimp.

I keep a breeding colony in a 15g long, they have been thriving for months, but for the last two days, I've been picking out dead shrimp, 5 yesterday, and 6 this morning already (8am).

They show no signs of fungus/parasites/muscular atrophy, but I saw one jumping around, landing on it's sides, and then on it's back for about 10 seconds before dieing. 

Nitrite = 0 Amonia =0 Nitrate = 20 PH = 7,6 KH = 7 GH = 12 

Tank = Spongefilter, marble gravel, hygrophilia diformis, javamos, cattapaleaves, small pieces of hardwood, coconut hut.

 

[jayc]

1 hour ago, Linda said:

 GH = 12

The GH is too high. Which means the shrimp are having issues with the hard water.

Issues like moulting.

 

Tells us about your water change routine and what type of water you are using?

Tap, RO, rain?

Quickest and safest way to reduce GH is with RO water, then followed closely by rain water.

But don't change out the water 100% in one go, it needs to be changed slowly over a couple of days, so that the shrimp acclimatise.

 

GH might not be the only issue.

Do you have any pics of the tank and dead shrimp?

How long has this tank been running for?

What additives do you add to the tank? list all of them.

 

Edited March 21, 2018 by jayc

[Linda]

I use well water, I change about 10% once a week, with a 20-30% every third week, recently did a 50% water change because i was trying to get rid of excess planaria and was vacuuming the substrate.

The tank has been running for 5 months with no issues, shrimp molting with no issues, and ran for 3 months before that on city tap water with a slightly higher GH of 14 with no issues before I moved to the countryside.

I don't use additives at all,  except cattapa leaves, as our well-water does not have any chlorine or other pollutants that our watertesting facility can find (have to send it in once a year to get it approved for consumption).

 

[Cesar]

Hi @Linda,

My first thought is the vacuuming of the gravel, there is a lot of beneficial bacteria that lives in the gravel and the combination of a 50% water change along with the vacuuming may have kicked off a “re-cycling” of sorts... This could have caused spiking and consequently shrimp death...

Just a theory, based on the mathematics, 15 gallons, 50% water change and gravel vacuuming...

HTH
;)



Sent from my iPhone using Shrimp Keepers Forum

[jayc]

16 hours ago, Linda said:

well-water does not have any chlorine or other pollutants

Well water is generally very hard, as evidenced in the GH reading. It is abundant with minerals leeched from the earth.

GH test kits generally detect Calcium and Magnesium, but it also detects other minerals that contribute to hardness. Unfortunately, GH test kits do not distinguish between minerals. There might be something in the water that the shrimps are not agreeing with long term. It isn't lethal and cause deaths immediately, but over a longer term exposure, it might be an issue.

Do you get reports back for the well water tests?

 

Edited March 22, 2018 by jayc

[Shrimp>Wife]

I would recommend you get a tds meter. Is it possible your tds has been slowly climbing over months via evaporation?

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[jayc]

That's right ^^^

If GH reading is at 12, TDS is going to be high too. That Nitrate reading of 20 will also contribute to TDS.

A TDS meter can be bought for cheap nowadays. It will confirm another water parameter. But you still need to do something about lowering the GH, and TDS.

@Linda, Do you collect rain water?

[Linda]

I haven't set up rainwater collection yet, but it is in the works. 

The TDS meter is ordered.

I think I found the culprit sadly, I had bought a  few coconut huts at a pet store, and instead of boiling them I just rinsed them in hot water... on a hunch I took them out and did a big water change this morning after finding 18 new deaths when I got up. there have been no new deaths so far today, but the huts did give off a weird film when boiled that I didn't expect. 

[jayc]

15 hours ago, Linda said:

the huts did give off a weird film when boiled that I didn't expect. 

Hopefully that's it.

The TDS meter won't be a waste in any case. 

Put a few buckets out when it rains and use that for a water change to help reduce GH a bit.

 

Edited March 23, 2018 by jayc

[Cesar]

16 hours ago, Linda said:

I think I found the culprit sadly, I had bought a  few coconut huts at a pet store

Oh no! Sometimes stuff sits on the shelf for long a while, or the processing / shipping materials... who knows... 

Keeps us posted!