pretty upsetting morning...

[Selenacrowe]

Not sure what happened woke up this morning and all my shrimp died yesterday was a bad day too.... lost about 25 shirmp...Ive decided to shut down the tank and pretty upset all the shrimp i got just basically was money down the drain 

[pm]

Ouch!  Was the tank fully cycled?  What kind of shrimp were they?

[charlie]

That's very upsetting, I can relate after loosing 100 plus crystals due to my own negligence.
I also woke one morning to 70 Cardinals dead after purchasing them the day before.
I hope you give it some time and restart your tank.
Sorry for your lost.
Errol

[Selenacrowe]

Ouch!  Was the tank fully cycled?  What kind of shrimp were they?

tank was fully cycled they were just cherries a few chocolates and some yellow's

That's very upsetting, I can relate after loosing 100 plus crystals due to my own negligence.
I also woke one morning to 70 Cardinals dead after purchasing them the day before.
I hope you give it some time and restart your tank.
Sorry for your lost.
Errol

Yeah im going to wait till my finances are a bit better then get new substrate and all that.

just very sad after just buying stuff from Shrimpfever.

[sippingtowel]

A few questions if you don't mind:


1.What substrate did you use?

2.Did you acclimate them? (temperature, PH, hardness)
*If it's from shrimpfever those water are in the 6.X in PH I'd assume with low hardness.

3.Did you use any products in your tank? Such as adding new silicone, glue, tape, or washing it with some kind of soap. (Are shrimps sensitive to soap/detergent that may be on your hands if you were fiddling with the tank.

4.How did you cycle your tank? Did you remove as much nitrates after said cycling?

5.Seeing as how they all died at night... I'm not sure if it matters much but was your tank in a pitch black environment? I've read that some creatures when in pitch black conditions get nervous/panic.

Oh, I notice you said you've gotten a planaria outbreak, did you ever change the substrate and killed them off? Both the planaria and it's excrement kills them so I've heard. You can try contacting the guy if he can offer some help, I'm assuming they have some sort of replacement being only 1 day. If you haven't disassembled your tank yet, go to petsmart and buy 1-2 of those feeder shrimps (ghost shrimp) and add them to your tank, and then observe the next day to see if they die.

6. Finally did you have injected co2 by any chance? They might cause a PH imbalance at night if not taking that into account at night.

[Selenacrowe]

A few questions if you don't mind:


1.What substrate did you use?

2.Did you acclimate them? (temperature, PH, hardness)
*If it's from shrimpfever those water are in the 6.X in PH I'd assume with low hardness.

3.Did you use any products in your tank? Such as adding new silicone, glue, tape, or washing it with some kind of soap. (Are shrimps sensitive to soap/detergent that may be on your hands if you were fiddling with the tank.

4.How did you cycle your tank? Did you remove as much nitrates after said cycling?

5.Seeing as how they all died at night... I'm not sure if it matters much but was your tank in a pitch black environment? I've read that some creatures when in pitch black conditions get nervous/panic.

Oh, I notice you said you've gotten a planaria outbreak, did you ever change the substrate and killed them off? Both the planaria and it's excrement kills them so I've heard. You can try contacting the guy if he can offer some help, I'm assuming they have some sort of replacement being only 1 day. If you haven't disassembled your tank yet, go to petsmart and buy 1-2 of those feeder shrimps (ghost shrimp) and add them to your tank, and then observe the next day to see if they die.

6. Finally did you have injected co2 by any chance? They might cause a PH imbalance at night if not taking that into account at night.

the tank has been running for over 5 months and haven't used any chemicals.. the substrate was the fluval stratum

I was having issues with shrimp the day before i got the new shrimp...
What i plan to do is save up some money and start new... new substrate a new filter (using sponge filters right now) and new shrimp
I think it the planeria issue  had something to do with it due to the fact when i did the treatment that's when i started loosing shrimp...

Wont give up just need a break those guys are so sensitive.

[sippingtowel]

Indeed they are! Once again talk to the shop that supplied your shrimp, they should have a replacement policy(never dealt with them but all the local fish/verts/plants stores here has this policy) call quickly before that opportunity past!!!!

Also seriously, go to petsmart and put 1 or 2 ghost shrimp and see how they react.

[limed]

  Have you done any big water changes? With the fluval stratum within the first month
should have done a big water change . But this was running for 5 months. What other
fish are in the tank? 
 Shrimp Fever has good stuff and I would be looking in doing a big water change and change your filter
substance. I can give you a dozen cherry shrimp to try out when you done this to test.
  You also mention you were having issues with shrimp the day before i got the new shrimp. Then it not Shrimp
Fever new shrimp.  So big water change and get rid of the old filter med. 

Ed

[limmer]

I had crystals in the past with planeria.
I tried treating it and lost quite a few.
Probably did something wrong with the treatment.
Could this be your problem.

[Selenacrowe]

Yeah I didn't do a good cleaning on the stratum

there was no other fish in the tank it was just a mix of cherries and some yellows/chocolates


That could be the issue and I did do a25%water change after the first 4 shrimp died before adding new shrimp


Im not blaming shrimp fever at all for this there was defeat something wrong with the tank before I put them in


Finances for me are low right now when I have the money I'm going to start over with new substrate/gravel ect

Any ideas on what filters I should use right now I'm using 2 sponge filters but I am wondering if that's not enough filtration and water flow moving around the tank if that was the issue?


Thank you guys for the information it's really helpful

[sidarnold]

Morning. The collapse that you experienced is definately a water quality issue. Some things to note for the future:

1) Squeeze out the sponges of your sponge filters on a monthly basis or sooner - buy a few gallons of distilled water, remove sponge and put in bucket and fill with distilled water (or treated tap water) until you cover the sponge, squeeze out and refill until water in bucket shows no brown. A clogged sponge will impede water flow leading to reduced bacterial activity and a reduction in shrimp waste disposal.

2) Think about putting a small flow power head on one of your sponge filters - I have them in all of my shrimp tanks and it makes a big difference.

3) You must have a good substrate in your cherry tank and Fluval is the most cost-effective way to go for neocaradina shrimp - you must though give time for the bio-film and bacteria to colonize the substrate and walls of your aquarium. All neocaradina and caradina feed on bacteria and the bio-film. You can supplement a couple of times a week with the high-quality shrimp pellet food but d'ont overdue it (if they eat too much protein their waste will put demands on your sponge filter).

4) Consider adding in addition to your sponge filter a HOB filter. I have Aqueon 10's on my tanks and it is a good insurance policy.

5) No need for a heater in a shrimp tank - they like it cool and too high a temperature fosters bad bacteria growth.

6) Try to foster a green coat of algae on 3 sides of your aquarium - lights on for at least 8 hours and the shrimp like to graze there on the bacteria and biofilm that colonize the algae.

7) Keep things off of the substrate as much as you can - too much wood or plant growth creates "waste dead spots" which can lead to bad spikes in your water chemistry.

Consider purchasing a few BioDigest ampules for seeding your new tank setup before the shrimp arrive. These glass ampules are filled with a high-quality solution of the correct bacteria for your filter and substrate. You empty the contents into your tank about a week before the new arrivals and they will "boost" your aerobic bacteria colony to optimum levels. They are available from Shrimp Fever or can be found on EBay.

I have had very good success with the above notes and I learned the hard way which path to follow. Think of contacting Tommy at Shrimp Fever for additional advice - he got me on the "straight and narrow" almost 2 years ago and things have been very good since then.

If I think of anything else I will make a further posting.

Regards

Sid Arnold
OVAS Vice-President

[Selenacrowe]

Thank you so much for the information sid!! Im going to keep thst in mind when i do start it up again right now isnt a good time due to finaces and also me traveling to the states frequently

I miss the little guys alot and when i do start the tank back up i do apperciate the info

Good to know about the heater i did have one in but glad yo know its not really needed


I appericate everyones kind words and help with this issue.


Once i do start up the tank again ill be sure to post lots of pictures

[bergenm]

1) Squeeze out the sponges of your sponge filters on a monthly basis or sooner - buy a few gallons of distilled water, remove sponge and put in bucket and fill with distilled water (or treated tap water) until you cover the sponge, squeeze out and refill until water in bucket shows no brown. A clogged sponge will impede water flow leading to reduced bacterial activity and a reduction in shrimp waste disposal.

I used to clean the sponges out with tank water in a clear container. I would then let all the debris from the sponges settle for an hour or two, once settled I used to find an alarming number of newly hatched shrimplets running around on top of the settled mulm.