I just got 10 RCS a few days ago and now they are dying left and right. They were really costly and I don't want to lose my last 5 or 6. I did do a water change in case of something in the water this morning and did tests (everything's fine). The water doesn't have any chemicals in it, the tank's cycled too, and my 2-4 day old cory fry in there are very healthy. Any last minute ideas as how to save them?
Dying Red Cherry Shrimp!
- Thread starter DiddleBug
- Start date
mike455555
i need to stop buying plants....
do you have anything with copper in the tank? how long have they been in there for, or have you ever treated the tank for anything
What food are you feeding the fish? Check the list of ingredients because the food could have high copper levels.
Has there been any new plants added to the tank? Could they have been treated with anything to remove pest snails? Anything to kill snails is lethal to shrimp as well.
I am guessing that your tank is inside your house, could somebody have used something as innocent as room freshener or body spray/ deodorant close to the tank? A neighbors fish kept dying for apparently no reason then I saw the automatic airfreshener set to squirt nice smelling chemicals out into the room containing the tank.
Has there been any new plants added to the tank? Could they have been treated with anything to remove pest snails? Anything to kill snails is lethal to shrimp as well.
I am guessing that your tank is inside your house, could somebody have used something as innocent as room freshener or body spray/ deodorant close to the tank? A neighbors fish kept dying for apparently no reason then I saw the automatic airfreshener set to squirt nice smelling chemicals out into the room containing the tank.
ph: 7.4
nitrates: 0
ammonia: 0
I feed them shrimp pellets, brine shrimp, tropical fish flakes, just stuff for my corys. No chemicals or any plant fertilizers.
I did put in some tea tree, not much. It always makes the fish healthy and it's proven to be good for them. I use it sometimes. Would this do it?
nitrates: 0
ammonia: 0
I feed them shrimp pellets, brine shrimp, tropical fish flakes, just stuff for my corys. No chemicals or any plant fertilizers.
I did put in some tea tree, not much. It always makes the fish healthy and it's proven to be good for them. I use it sometimes. Would this do it?phoenixgsd
Fish Herder
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no nitrate? thats unusual for a cycled tank, how did you cycle it? also what is your nitrite reading?
also you say no chemicles used, do you dechlorinate?
also you say no chemicles used, do you dechlorinate?
Do you mean melafix?
You shouldn't put that in your tank unless your fish have a disease and even then it's useless. It has side effects and can cause certain organ damage when misused so I am not sure where you've read it's good for fish for regular use. And I don't recall it being safe for shrimp but haven't tested...Rant over..sorry.
Did you acclimate your shrimp and if you did, how?
okay, so I don't really know how to cycle a tank. This tank has been up and constantly running for 3-4 years straight now, and corys, mollies, guppies, and gouramis have bred in it no problem. I figure it's fine.
The nitrate card showed the same color for 0 as my water sample with drops. I have been raising fry and breeding corys in there, so I have to change water often.
We have well water. Maybe a bit of iron in there, but it's chlorine free.
My shrimp seem to have stopped dying off. I still see 3 or 4 who are acting a right, just a bit slow. Time will tell if the water change got rid of what was bothering them.
Never heard of melafix. This tea tree I use is 100% natural with nothing fake. YoungLiving's to be precise.
What do u mean by acclimate?
The nitrate card showed the same color for 0 as my water sample with drops. I have been raising fry and breeding corys in there, so I have to change water often.
We have well water. Maybe a bit of iron in there, but it's chlorine free.
My shrimp seem to have stopped dying off. I still see 3 or 4 who are acting a right, just a bit slow. Time will tell if the water change got rid of what was bothering them.
Never heard of melafix. This tea tree I use is 100% natural with nothing fake. YoungLiving's to be precise.
What do u mean by acclimate?
Melafix is low concentrated tea tree oil, it's a medication. You are putting 100% one in your tank!!! A medication being natural is still medication, doesn't make it any safer.....and there are few medications that don't cause harm to shirmp.
Normally, when you move fish/inverts from water with certain water parameters(meaning different GH, Kh, Ph, TDS, etc....) to a tank with totally different ones, then they need to be slowly acclimated to the new water via adding the new water slowly to the old one. Inverts and sensitive fish species are normally acclimated via "drip acclimation" method. Otherwise they can get an osmotic shock, also known as Ph shock and die within 24 hours or less.
With the well water have you ever tested it to see if it is hard or soft ( lots of minerals = heavy, few or no minerals = soft). If your water is soft then it may not have enough calcium and other essential minerals that the shrimp will need to properly shed and develop new shells.
Do you still have gouramis and guppies in with the shrimp? If so shrimp are on a gouramis natural food diet, so they and or the guppies could be picking at the shrimp if not out right eating them.
Instead of adding tea tree oil to the tank I would look at adding Indian Almond leaves, they do wonders for shrimp and wont harm your fish either.
Do you still have gouramis and guppies in with the shrimp? If so shrimp are on a gouramis natural food diet, so they and or the guppies could be picking at the shrimp if not out right eating them.
Instead of adding tea tree oil to the tank I would look at adding Indian Almond leaves, they do wonders for shrimp and wont harm your fish either.
Supraman
Fishaholic
If he is like me, his well water will be hard water.
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