Good or Bad?

I finally got Neocaridina shrimp yesterday afternoon, and was surprised when I found a fresh molt this morning...is this a good sign or a bad one? Shrimp otherwise look healthy, and are eating well (mmm, oak leaves!).

Some of my shrimp molted soon after arrival on several occasions. It never portended the sinister.

I don't think it's a bad sign either...

So you have received your shrimps, finally what color did you choose ?

MaloK said:

I don't think it's a bad sign either...

So you have received your shrimps, finally what color did you choose ?

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Red rilis! After much deliberation, I thought they would be light enough to "pop" in the tank, without looking washed out by the lighting and/or substrate

Well, quick update: out of the 7 shrimp I purchased, I found 5 dead this morning (plus one shrimplet unaccounted for). I read somewhere that the first 10 days are critical to their survival, and it's not always a good chance. I did a 15% water change (no telling how long the shrimp were in there before I found them), and will be going to get my water tested shortly. A bit of a bummer (that's $24 in the trash), but at least one is still alive

How did you introduce them ?

MaloK said:

How did you introduce them ?

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I hope this isn't what did them in...I emptied the water they came with into a nice size cup, and floated said cup in their tank (to acclimate temperatures). I added some of the tank water to their cup, waited a couple of minutes, then did the same thing again. From there I was able to net them out and put them in the tank.
I had them separated off from my betta so that he wouldn't bother them, and their little "enclosure" (an old livebearer trap with the separater removed) had pre-soaked oak leaves, Java moss enveloped in hair algae, and some guppy grass in it.
All were feeding well as of 11pm last night (no food added, just let them graze on the leaves and algae), but as of 8am this morning almost all were dead. I'm a little scared that it had something to do with some Java moss I treated in a separate cup yesterday with 3% hydrogen peroxide to help clean off the algae...while the hydrogen peroxide was never directly added to the tank, my worry is that some of it got in when I put a clump of the then treated moss back in and it harmed the shrimp
However, the remaining shrimp seems to be doing okay, so I'm not entirely sure....

EDIT: Nevermind, last night I found half of the remaining shrimp...in other words, there goes $30

gilltyascharged said:

I hope this isn't what did them in...I emptied the water they came with into a nice size cup, and floated said cup in their tank (to acclimate temperatures). I added some of the tank water to their cup, waited a couple of minutes, then did the same thing again. From there I was able to net them out and put them in the tank.
I had them separated off from my betta so that he wouldn't bother them, and their little "enclosure" (an old livebearer trap with the separater removed) had pre-soaked oak leaves, Java moss enveloped in hair algae, and some guppy grass in it.
All were feeding well as of 11pm last night (no food added, just let them graze on the leaves and algae), but as of 8am this morning almost all were dead. I'm a little scared that it had something to do with some Java moss I treated in a separate cup yesterday with 3% hydrogen peroxide to help clean off the algae...while the hydrogen peroxide was never directly added to the tank, my worry is that some of it got in when I put a clump of the then treated moss back in and it harmed the shrimp
However, the remaining shrimp seems to be doing okay, so I'm not entirely sure....

Click to expand...

The best way to introduce any invertebrate is drip acclimation. Invertebrates are much more sensitive to water parameter changes than fish are, and so their introduction to a new tank has to be much more gentle and gradual. If you decide to get more shrimp and would like to try this method, it's very simple. Take a length of airline tubing and tie a simple knot in the middle. Make it very loose at first. Use the tubing to start a siphon from the tank into a bucket and tighten the knot until the flow rate is 1-2 drops of water every 1-2 seconds. At this point, you can take your bag of shrimp and let the water drip in. You can either float the bag and clip it to the side of the tank, or have it in a container and temp acclimate after drip acclimating. The drip acclimation process should be conducted at least until the volume of water in the bag doubles, then you ideally remove half of the water and let the volume double again.

It's hard to say what did your shrimp in. It could've been due to a rough acclimation, or it could've just been bad luck or a bad batch of shrimp. I don't think it would've been the peroxide, especially if you rinsed off the moss before putting it back into the tank, but it's always best to be very careful with peroxide and avoid it when possible.

gilltyascharged said:

I hope this isn't what did them in...I emptied the water they came with into a nice size cup, and floated said cup in their tank (to acclimate temperatures). I added some of the tank water to their cup, waited a couple of minutes, then did the same thing again. From there I was able to net them out and put them in the tank.
I had them separated off from my betta so that he wouldn't bother them, and their little "enclosure" (an old livebearer trap with the separater removed) had pre-soaked oak leaves, Java moss enveloped in hair algae, and some guppy grass in it.
All were feeding well as of 11pm last night (no food added, just let them graze on the leaves and algae), but as of 8am this morning almost all were dead. I'm a little scared that it had something to do with some Java moss I treated in a separate cup yesterday with 3% hydrogen peroxide to help clean off the algae...while the hydrogen peroxide was never directly added to the tank, my worry is that some of it got in when I put a clump of the then treated moss back in and it harmed the shrimp
However, the remaining shrimp seems to be doing okay, so I'm not entirely sure....

EDIT: Nevermind, last night I found half of the remaining shrimp...in other words, there goes $30

Click to expand...

Hydrogen peroxide breaks down after 24 hours of exposure to water. So unless you added this moss immediately before the shrimp, I wouldn't worry about it. And even then, a good rinse is sufficient to remove the H2O2 before adding any treated plants to a tank.

I second the drip acclimation method wholeheartedly, 1-4 hours depending on water chemistry difference. A drip every few seconds is good, until you triple the initial volume. It's also a good idea to put the light off during this period.

Shrimps are very sensible, especially to water temperature, PH and conductivity changes.

While hydrogen peroxide is a very stable product, it breaks down to oxygen and water quite rapidly once in an aerated environment like an aquarium, diluted to that point, I don't think it would last more than a couples hours in these condition. Depending on the concentration used and the biological activity in the tank, It could break down really fast. I agree with SharkWeek, But If you put the shrimps too soon, it could be bad. It still remain a very dangerous product for invertebrates.

If you're going to give it another try, It would be good if you could compare your TDS versus the water they came in, and adjust the dripping period accordingly.

MaloK said:

I second the drip acclimation method wholeheartedly, 1-4 hours depending on water chemistry difference. A drip every few seconds is good, until you triple the initial volume. It's also a good idea to put the light off during this period.

Shrimps are very sensible, especially to water temperature, PH and conductivity changes.

While hydrogen peroxide is a very stable product, it breaks down to oxygen and water quite rapidly once in an aerated environment like an aquarium, diluted to that point, I don't think it would last more than a couples hours in these condition. Depending on the concentration used and the biological activity in the tank, It could break down really fast. I agree with SharkWeek, But If you put the shrimps too soon, it could be bad. It still remain a very dangerous product for invertebrates.

If you're going to give it another try, It would be good if you could compare your TDS versus the water they came in, and adjust the dripping period accordingly.

Click to expand...

That's specifically why I use hydrogen peroxide as a disinfectant. I think it's safer than bleach.

MaloK said:

I second the drip acclimation method wholeheartedly, 1-4 hours depending on water chemistry difference. A drip every few seconds is good, until you triple the initial volume. It's also a good idea to put the light off during this period.

Shrimps are very sensible, especially to water temperature, PH and conductivity changes.

While hydrogen peroxide is a very stable product, it breaks down to oxygen and water quite rapidly once in an aerated environment like an aquarium, diluted to that point, I don't think it would last more than a couples hours in these condition. Depending on the concentration used and the biological activity in the tank, It could break down really fast. I agree with SharkWeek, But If you put the shrimps too soon, it could be bad. It still remain a very dangerous product for invertebrates.

If you're going to give it another try, It would be good if you could compare your TDS versus the water they came in, and adjust the dripping period accordingly.

Click to expand...

I'm planning on going to the LFS I got them from this Saturday (this place has summer hours, so they're only open on weekends) and ask for a water sample to test. I wasn't able to go and get my water tested last night, so hopefully I can try and go tonight. The hydrogen peroxide-treated moss was added several days after the shrimp were added...I should have seen that things were going well and just left it be

Waiting on my next "paycheck" (I babysit for the neighbors), so hopefully I can get some more rilis next weekend (provided everything looks good).

sharkweek178 said:

Hydrogen peroxide breaks down after 24 hours of exposure to water. So unless you added this moss immediately before the shrimp, I wouldn't worry about it. And even then, a good rinse is sufficient to remove the H2O2 before adding any treated plants to a tank.

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I really hope so...my main worry was that I found the shrimp dead within 24 hrs after adding the hydrogen peroxide-treated moss, and that this is a 2.5 gallon...with no air stone. While there's lots of plants (I love watching the pearling on the guppy grass!), I really hope it didn't strip the shrimp of too much oxygen

It depends on how you treated the moss, How long in the solution, the concentration and how much you rinsed and let it soak, before adding it to the tank.

With delicate beings, It's good to let the moss soak 24 hours in a bucket with tank water before adding it.

Even a little more, if you used a solution strong enough to kill bladder snails for good. I use 3% peroxide at a 25% ratio with water and let soak ans swirl for 10-15 minute in the solution, then rinse thoroughly and let soak in tank water for 24h and +, before adding it to the tank. Some will quarantine the moss at lest a week in addition to make sure no living things appear before adding it.

If you can have readings of PH, KH and GH of both your water and LFS shrimp tank, by comparison It will give you a good idea of what is implied in your acclimation process.

You may even want to try to make your tank water a little closer to LFS parameters before trying introducing new shrimps.

Also if you can post your current water hardness parameters could bring more inputs.

If your current water parameters are close to your LFS, and current described timing, I would doubt it could left over peroxide trace in the moss that could be the culprit.

MaloK said:

It depends on how you treated the moss, How long in the solution, the concentration and how much you rinsed and let it soak, before adding it to the tank.

With delicate beings, It's good to let the moss soak 24 hours in a bucket with tank water before adding it.

Even a little more, if you used a solution strong enough to kill bladder snails for good. I use 3% peroxide at a 25% ratio with water and let soak ans swirl for 10-15 minute in the solution, then rinse thoroughly and let soak in tank water for 24h and +, before adding it to the tank. Some will quarantine the moss at lest a week in addition to make sure no living things appear before adding it.

If you can have readings of PH, KH and GH of both your water and LFS shrimp tank, by comparison It will give you a good idea of what is implied in your acclimation process.

You may even want to try to make your tank water a little closer to LFS parameters before trying introducing new shrimps.

Also if you can post your current water hardness parameters could bring more inputs.

If your current water parameters are close to your LFS, and current described timing, I would doubt it could left over peroxide trace in the moss that could be the culprit.

Click to expand...

That's good to know...I really should have let it sit in my separate tank. While I don't have the LFS or my current readings (fingers crossed the latter can come tonight, the former by Sunday), these were the hardness readings as of one week before adding the shrimp. (I doubt those have changed in my tank, although the nitrates and nitrites are probably higher after all the death)