Hi there, just joined this forum as I'm relatively new to shrimp keeping and I'm having an issue that has me stumped. For context I have a dedicated tank (5 gallon) just for some bloody mary neo caridinas. But over the last few weeks since I got them, they have been dying one by one and I find them literally in pieces (I've attached photos as reference). I have no other fish in the tank except some tiny snails and I cannot see any form of parasites (not even a single scud) in the tank. I've estimated I lost around 10 of them so far.

Here are my water parameters: FYI I use RO water with Shrimp King mineral salts , I only top off water when needed and have avoided water changes for now as the TDS is stable at 180PPM

- TDS 180

- PH 6.5-6.6

- GH 6

- KH 1-2

- Zero ammonia, zero nitrites and zero nitrates

- Temperature is steady at 21 degree C (room temp with no heater)

- I have a sponge filter and a eheim compact filter that has a net so that shrimp don't get sucked in.

- For a small tank its very heavily planted with driftwood and lots of moss and plants

I think the PH maybe a little soft for a neo caridina but I cant imagine its lethal? I can only assume its molting gone wrong (which is why they're in pieces). If the water is so bad I thought that they'd die en masse? But it's always been just one at a time, max 2. I even have one female that is berried and I'm extremely anxious that something is going to happen to her. 

Any help or insight would be helpful as I cannot diagnose what the problem is.

Thank you!

😲that's my shocked face.

Your water parameters are fine. 

There is a possibility, and I stress possibility, that the other shrimps attacked it. 

It's pure speculation. But I have seen my male shrimps go bonkers over a female shrimp during breeding, to the point of killing the female. Over exuberant mating session. I had too many males to females ratio in that tank. I took 50% of the males out. 

Another possibility is that the shrimps are lacking some sort of nutrition and they think it can only be obtained by eating meat proteins. In this case try feeding frozen blood worms once a week, replacing the normal food you would normally feed them. Frozen bloodworms are a great source of proteins for breeding, especially for the female shrimps.

Never saw it again after the steps above. Doesn't mean it didn't happen again, just never saw it personally.

Thanks for the reply @jayc, appreciate your insights.

I'll try the frozen bloodworm method and see if there's any difference.

On 8/25/2022 at 9:38 AM, tabris10000 said:

I'll try the frozen bloodworm method and see if there's any difference.

@tabris10000 do report back if you see any change in their behaviour or if you find out what happened.

@jayc Yep will do, I'm getting some bloodworms today and start supplementing their diet with those, see how it goes.