Crystal red shrimps, hard to care for?

[CRS]

Hi,

So i've recently bought several crystal red shrimp, are these more difficult to care for than red cherries? I know atleast one died as for the others they're either hiding or i've lost the lot of them, i've got 50+ shrimp in my community tank mainly red and blue and i've never had any issues with them, other than the amano shrimp dying after using white spot treatment.

I have a 45L tank in my kitchen with some Rummy nose tetras, nitrite 0, ammonia 0, PH7, but i'm not able to reduce the nitrates from 5ppm even after large water changes, to my knowledge 5ppm shouldn't be an issue, could this be linked to the shrimps dying? If so any advice on how i can reduce them? the nitrates on my main tank is always 0 ppm, both tanks are well planted,

Thanks for any help

 

[mbsqw1d]

That level of nitrates shouldn't be an issue.

Is the tank brand new? If not I wonder if copper sulfate based medicine (usually used for treating ich) has been used in it previously.

Have you bought your plants from the same place as the tank where the shrimp are thriving?
Some plants are treated with pesticides which are harmful to shrimp, I understand that if they are imported from certain regions then you can be sure they'll have such pesticides on them.

Otherwise I'm not sure, it wouldn't make sense for your other tank with the same water chemistry (kh, gh, ph etc) to have healthy shrimp and this one not so.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

CRS (Caridina shrimps) must have cooler water compare to the Cherry shrimps(Neocaridina shrimps) that are more hardy and able to take warmer water.

What is your water temperature?

If you can maintain this cooler temperature especially during your summer time, then you will be fine.

They prefer lower pH but pH 7 might be ok.
Probably they can get used to it.
What is your water GH?

Shrimps cannot tolerate most of the medications for fish. Shrimps will die with most medication except probably for Praziquantel.

If you need to treat the fish, separate the fish from the shrimps.
Shrimps are usually not affected by most parasites that can attack fish (eg. white spot).

 

[CRS]

That level of nitrates shouldn't be an issue.

Is the tank brand new? If not I wonder if copper sulfate based medicine (usually used for treating ich) has been used in it previously.

Have you bought your plants from the same place as the tank where the shrimp are thriving?
Some plants are treated with pesticides which are harmful to shrimp, I understand that if they are imported from certain regions then you can be sure they'll have such pesticides on them.

Otherwise I'm not sure, it wouldn't make sense for your other tank with the same water chemistry (kh, gh, ph etc) to have healthy shrimp and this one not so.

I've had the tank a few months now, about October, i started the cycle again in Decemeber when i had covid, filled it with dragon stone and Tropica plants, i bought the tank new.

Some of the plants are from my local garden centre where i bought the shrimp from, most of the Tropica plants i bought from Abyss in Stockport.

CRS (Caridina shrimps) must have cooler water compare to the Cherry shrimps(Neocaridina shrimps) that are more hardy and able to take warmer water.

What is your water temperature?

If you can maintain this cooler temperature especially during your summer time, then you will be fine.

They prefer lower pH but pH 7 might be ok.
Probably they can get used to it.
What is your water GH?

Shrimps cannot tolerate most of the medications for fish. Shrimps will die with most medication except probably for Praziquantel.

If you need to treat the fish, separate the fish from the shrimps.
Shrimps are usually not affected by most parasites that can attack fish (eg. white spot).

The tank ranges from 22-24C throughout the day the tank is in the kitchen and struggles to reach a higher temperature, the heater seems to keep the tank at 21-22C throughout the night though.

I don't actually know the GH, i can order a test kit if you recommend testing, i know the ph is stable at 7, i slowly increased the kh from 3 to 6 a couple of weeks ago due to having issue with plants in both of the tanks i were told to increase as this will help the plants and tbh it's made a huge difference, i had issues with the shrimp before increasing the KH.

 

[mbsqw1d]

I've had the tank a few months now, about October, i started the cycle again in Decemeber when i had covid, filled it with dragon stone and Tropica plants, i bought the tank new.

Some of the plants are from my local garden centre where i bought the shrimp from, most of the Tropica plants i bought from Abyss in Stockport.



The tank ranges from 22-24C throughout the day the tank is in the kitchen and struggles to reach a higher temperature, the heater seems to keep the tank at 21-22C throughout the night though.

I don't actually know the GH, i can order a test kit if you recommend testing, i know the ph is stable at 7, i slowly increased the kh from 3 to 6 a couple of weeks ago due to having issue with plants in both of the tanks i were told to increase as this will help the plants and tbh it's made a huge difference, i had issues with the shrimp before increasing the KH.

Are the shrimps dying of anything in particular? Are you noticing the white ring of death at all?
Low KH would likely mean you have low GH too. Shrimp do require a good level of GH/KH so it might be worth testing your water. Or checking your water supplier's website for the water report which usually tells you. Then consider adding some salts to raise gh and kh. Adding a cuttlefish bone (usually sold for budgies to sharpen their beaks) can help

 

[Essjay]

Crystal red shrimps are soft water shrimps - their requirements are pH 6.2 to 6.8, GH 4 to 6 dH and KH 1 to 2 dH.
Do you know the hardness of your water? Your pH at 7 is a bit on the high side for this species of shrimp. Increasing the KH to 6 may be good for the plants but not good for these shrimps I'm afraid.

 

[Slaphppy7]

"Crystal Red shrimp require near perfect water quality to thrive and reproduce."

Crystal Red Shrimp - a guide to the rare breed of aquarium shrimp

aquariuminfo.org

 

[CRS]

Are the shrimps dying of anything in particular? Are you noticing the white ring of death at all?
Low KH would likely mean you have low GH too. Shrimp do require a good level of GH/KH so it might be worth testing your water. Or checking your water supplier's website for the water report which usually tells you. Then consider adding some salts to raise gh and kh. Adding a cuttlefish bone (usually sold for budgies to sharpen their beaks) can help

I didn't notice anything in particular to be honest, i only bought a few crystal reds, i had issues with another few dying before i started the cycle again last year.
For what it's worth i'll order a GH test kit

Crystal red shrimps are soft water shrimps - their requirements are pH 6.2 to 6.8, GH 4 to 6 dH and KH 1 to 2 dH.
Do you know the hardness of your water? Your pH at 7 is a bit on the high side for this species of shrimp. Increasing the KH to 6 may be good for the plants but not good for these shrimps I'm afraid.

"Crystal Red shrimp require near perfect water quality to thrive and reproduce."

Crystal Red Shrimp - a guide to the rare breed of aquarium shrimp

aquariuminfo.org

I will find out the hardness of my water, thanks for the response and link.
Do you know the ideal PH, KH AND GH for red cherry or Blue shrimp?