Friend losing shrimp

[Kimbo]

Hey guys,

A friend of mine has been losing shrimp, I think shes now lost rcs, crs and a ninja, the loses have been sporadic over a couple of weeks. Heres the info from her;

"Over the last month i have lost about 5-6 shrimp and i cant work out why??? All my berried shrimp are carrying full term with a great survival rate, have great colour, and seem happy to swim around and forrige in my moss, but about once a week im finding a dead one.

My tank is a 2 foot cube

Eheim 2217 + Air driven sponge

PH-6.2

Temp-24 stable (Chiller)

KH-0-1

GH-5

Nitrates-0

Nitrites-0

Ammonia-0

Copper-0

Feeding every 3 days with shrimp specific foods, Top-ups wth mineralised distilled water, no bugs that i can see, and i am not one of those people who mess with my parameters every day. Please help im stuck with what could be going on."

If anyone has any ideas what can be causing this please shoot, I have no idea and she cant work it out either!

[lachie1998]

possibly over feeding and whats the TDS?????

[BlueBolts]

Hi Kimbo,

IMO top ups without balancing the water parameters i.e. temp, TDS.... can give shrimps a shock, casuing death.....ever since I balance my temp and TDS with my top ups, I definitely notice a drop in un-explained deaths .... several members even drip their top ups....etc which is great, and reduces that risk....

Does she add any liquid plant food...etc....

[Brado]

is she using any minerals???

[Sprae]

Hi Kimbo' date='

IMO top ups without balancing the water parameters i.e. temp, TDS.... can give shrimps a shock, casuing death.....ever since I balance my temp and TDS with my top ups, I definitely notice a drop in un-explained deaths .... several members even drip their top ups....etc which is great, and reduces that risk....

[/quote']

Good tip! I try to match the TDS and GH at the minimum for top ups. I don't match temperature as I only add tiny 80-50ml at a time.

Wonder if she has planaria in her tank. Also some of us have had damselfly nymphs too. What bugs you don't see might be killing shrimps too.

[Brado]

sorry just read that post properly... is it kirsten? could it possibly be related to c02??

[Kimbo]

Not adding any minerals and cant check the TDS, I tried with a cheap pen I got off ebay but its broken and doesnt work :/ Dont think shes adding any plant food etc and co2 is off im pretty sure. ^^ yeah its kirsten, I do know she has seed shrimp though.. dont think she has any planaria though. I told her to look around for the nymphs too, but she doesnt think anythings in there

[Brado]

well i would think distilled water would have very low if not 0 tds...(probably wrong)

but she needs to be adding some form of mineral supplement, saltyshrimp +gh is good:)

tell her i said gday

[Triggs]

If she is running co2 and has a kh of 0-1 that could be causing a pH swing that could lead to deaths.

My shrimp took ages to berry and my KH was around 0-1 also. Once I added some gypsum which raised the KH I had 6 berry within a week.

With small water changes and tanks in my opinion the drip change method is the best option also.

I just use a small airline hose with a peg squeezing it off to a drip.

Of corse this is just my opinion, I'm in no way an expert like some members here.

[Kimbo]

Will do brad! Her co2 is off thats for sure. Its really strange, hoping theres no nymphs or anything in there!