Hello folks,

Over the course of a few weeks, the red and yellow cherry shrimp (one each) in my tank have lost color and become more clear compared to when I first got them.  Physically, they seem fine, though, and walk around and graze.

In the case of the yellow shrimp, it used to have a solid opaque yellow stripe along its back, but that has disappeared, revealing its digestive system.

In the case of the cherry shrimp, I was told by the aquarium that it was a "painted fire red", but really it started off as a nearly opaque maroon color with a pink stripe down the back.  I noticed a few days later that its color would fluctuate, sometimes becoming more or less clear.  But after this last molt, it is even more clear, with internal organs visible and looking like a maroon low grade cherry.  It still changes from more to less clear.  (I think when it is active, it becomes more clear).

This red shrimp came from the store aquarium with TDS 450 (!) GH 6-8, KH<4, and from a tank with fluval Stratum, so probably slightly acidic.  On the other hand, my tank has pool filter sand (lighter color), TDS 200 GH7 kH5 ph 7.2-7.6.  My shrimp are fed biofilm, cholla log, bacter AE, jayc's agar recipe, and only rarely Hikari Shrimp Cuisine.

I added two pics: one from the first day I got it, and one from two weeks later.  At its palest, it's even more clear than the pic shows.

It's almost always water quality as the primary cause, then food.

Improve on water quality will help restore their colour.

Try reducing pH to 7.0 and KH.

 

Over the last few days I added a capping layer of buffer substrate (Seachem aquasolum) and started using Salty Shrimp GH (only) in my water changes.  The parameters are now:

pH 6.8-6.9 (ph swings with lights on and off are smaller now)

TDS 160

kH 3

The color of the red shrimp still fluctuates a bit, but on average looks about half-way between my before and after pictures.  The yellow shrimp is still kind of clear looking.  I guess I will wait a week or two more since that was the time period over which they lost their color.

Can't help but wonder if it's a combination of light colored substrate and being color fed?

 

KH should be zero with a buffering substrate.

20 minutes ago, Zoidburg said:

KH should be zero with a buffering substrate.

The Seachem Aquasolum doesn't seem to deplete KH.  So I wonder if I should have some KH around anyway?  Right now my KH value is somewhere around 1.5.  (after many partial water changes since the last post)

I'm honestly not familiar with Aquasolum but it does say that it softens water (potential issue with shrimp!) and lowers pH.

 

Kind of curious to know if GH and KH remain stable once you've got it set at where you want them in the tank?

Well first of all I have a small 1.x gallon tank, and only a capping layer of Aquasolum. 

I looked at my old notes, and it seems a fresh batch of aquasolum wants to have a pH of 6.4, and will take GH down one notch, and KH down either a tiny bit or none at all.  My tank originally had a problem where the GH slowly rises, and the aquasolum is not enough to counteract that.

But other than that, GH KH and pH are fairly stable.

Regarding the Aquasolum, I mean it has a picture of a shrimp on the bag, so...

My tank right now is pH 6.6 (lights off) to 6.8 (lights on), GH 5-7, kH 1-2, TDS 180-200.  I do partial water changes with a mix of Salty Shrimp GH/KH and GH only.

 

That's what I thought would happen. It's a soil that should, in theory, absorb GH and KH until it's reached it's limit, then GH and KH remain stable after that. Controsoil does the same - supposedly, although I've never tested it.

Rising GH would tell me it's either due to rocks/coral in the tank or evaporation, and can counter-act it by doing top offs with pure RO water or doing water changes with slightly lower GH.

 

I've learned years ago that just because something is marketed towards a specific animal doesn't mean that it's actually good for them... you could look at human products and see just how much crap is sold for us that's not healthy for us! I'm not saying that Aquasolum is bad at all (not familiar, don't know enough people who have used it), just that not everything on the market is good. I've come across many people who have used the Fluval Shrimp and Plant Stratum and struggled to keep shrimp on it. Others have great success. Most people who use it don't actually know how to use it to it's fullest potential.

 

I've been MIA for a few months so kind of just 'catching up'. :)