Losing shrimp! Help a kid out here 😩

[Alexander1702]

Yes rock salt is aquarium salt, you can also use swimming pool salt, which is rock salt too.

I don't think I have any of those at my disposal unfortunately. But all shrimp made it into the morning, and they seem alright. Currently treating a gallon of water with conditioner so I can do a 1/3 water change, and all seems well for the moment

 

[Slaphppy7]

I don't think I have any of those at my disposal unfortunately. But all shrimp made it into the morning, and they seem alright. Currently treating a gallon of water with conditioner so I can do a 1/3 water change, and all seems well for the moment

Good....don't add salt or anything else right now, just fresh, treated water...then, test your params 24 hours after the WC

 

[Alexander1702]

I treated the water and did a 1/3 change. All the shrimp seem alright, so I'm leaving them with the light off for the time being. The one that I separated out actually survived the night, so I added it back in in hopes that it might bounce back.
I'm using extra strength conditioner from API, but I'm a bit concerned about the dosing. The bottle is labelled for treating 20 to 30 gallons at a time, so I just estimated what I would need and then dosed conservatively with it. Any tips on how I might accurately dose water for a single gallon at a time? That's what I normally prep with. I do have a 5 gallon backup bucket, which is easier to dose, but I haven't filled it with new water yet. Am I just better off starting the new bucket and dosing it that way?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Yes, you can treat for that entire bucket amount, and use that water for however many WCs it provides

If the treatment doses are measured in ml, get yourself a medicinal syringe, they're cheap, readily available, and are marked in ml increments...makes dosing conditioner much more easy, and precise

 

[Essjay]

With API Tap Water Conditioner, the dose rate works out as 1 drop per gallon. When I do a water change I make up 2 gallons at a time and add 2 drops. That's the equivalent of 0.05 ml per gallon. There's a calculator on the Tap Water Conditioner page of API's website

API® | TAP WATER CONDITIONER™

API TAP WATER CONDITIONER treatment removes toxins from tap water instantly, so you can add fish to your aquarium (or add them back after a water change) immediately.

apifishcare.com

 

[Alexander1702]

Many many thanks I have syringes around here somewhere, so I will definitely track one down. I'll be heading both suggestions, thanks again for all the help. The shrimp I added back definitely isn't going to pull through but everyone else is behaving normally so I'm rallying hope within myself that I'll be able to remedy the situation.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Many many thanks I have syringes around here somewhere, so I will definitely track one down. I'll be heading both suggestions, thanks again for all the help. The shrimp I added back definitely isn't going to pull through but everyone else is behaving normally so I'm rallying hope within myself that I'll be able to remedy the situation.

 

[StevenF]

3.7 gallons
Ammonia: 0.0-0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
Nitrate 0.0 ppm
pH: ~7.4
GH: ~140
KH: ~180
Temp: 76° F
(I don't have anything currently at my disposal with which I can test for chlorine or anything of that nature. Currently working on it)

Meds and ferts:
-Tetra Easy Balance Plus
-Seachem Acid buffer
-Seachem Equilibrium
-Seachem Neutral Regulator
-Aqueon Aquarium plant food
-Seachem Flourish advance

you have 4 products that affect PH, GH, and KH. Tetra Easy Balance, Seachem Acid Buffer, Seachem Equilibrium, and Seachem flourish Advance. Flourish Advance contains only 2 plant nutrients calcium and magnesium and a buch of hormone that healthy plants make on their own.

YOur shrimp do't need a lot of Gh. And they don't need any KH at all. I would put a seashell in your tank it won't do anything if your PH is above 7 But if your PH drop i will dissolve counteract the acidity in the tank and push the PH backup to 7. In my RO tank that is the only ting I do to keep my PH stable.at 7.

Why is the GH of your tap water? I would be happy with 90ppm GH and you could even go lower. Only use enough Equilibrium as needed to maintain a stable GH. That with the Sea shell and the Aquino fertilizer and a good water conditioner should be all you need for your tank.

Your poblem is probably not copper. I have kept blue dream and Amano shrimp at 20ppm of copper without any issue and typically tap water has less than that. However PH KH stabilizers may have added a lot of potassium. I couldn't find the ingredients for those products but many such products have it. Too much potassium is leathal to animals.

 

[Alexander1702]

Yeah, you can use GH powder. But drop all the stabilizers. Plant fertilizers should be ok (make sure they don't have copper and iron) but use sparingly.

From what you said: You probably have buildup of copper from tap water.
Use dechlorinator, leave water with declorinator sit for an hour or two before adding to the tank. 5-10 minutes is ok to dechlorinate but takes longer to neutralize copper and metals in the water.
When adding water: add slowly and if possible over 10-20 min period. Never change more then 20% of water for shrimp. They really don't like that especially in small tank and if temp/parameters aren't the same as tank water.
I would also add carbon if you don't have one in the filter (to pick up any metals from water) or change carbon in filter if you have one there (they start releasing what they picked up after a while).

P.S. I never kept Amano but from what I heard from people that do: they are kind of hard to keep in small tanks. Cherries are much more hardy and forgiving once you manage to acclimate few and get offspring going.
GL

Apologies for the delay, I'm an awful responder. Ive been using dechlorinator on my water for a couple of days, and all seems well though the frequent water changes do seem to be affecting the shrimp. My last cherry seems to have developed the white ring of death but that's almost expected with these big changes. But the amanos seem to be doing alright. I just put in new carbon with a filter, so I'm covered there. Not optimistic about this poor cherry though.

 

[Alexander1702]

you have 4 products that affect PH, GH, and KH. Tetra Easy Balance, Seachem Acid Buffer, Seachem Equilibrium, and Seachem flourish Advance. Flourish Advance contains only 2 plant nutrients calcium and magnesium and a buch of hormone that healthy plants make on their own.

YOur shrimp do't need a lot of Gh. And they don't need any KH at all. I would put a seashell in your tank it won't do anything if your PH is above 7 But if your PH drop i will dissolve counteract the acidity in the tank and push the PH backup to 7. In my RO tank that is the only ting I do to keep my PH stable.at 7.

Why is the GH of your tap water? I would be happy with 90ppm GH and you could even go lower. Only use enough Equilibrium as needed to maintain a stable GH. That with the Sea shell and the Aquino fertilizer and a good water conditioner should be all you need for your tank.

Your poblem is probably not copper. I have kept blue dream and Amano shrimp at 20ppm of copper without any issue and typically tap water has less than that. However PH KH stabilizers may have added a lot of potassium. I couldn't find the ingredients for those products but many such products have it. Too much potassium is leathal to animals.

My tap water is a solid 0 for GH. I usually have at least 90ppm after I treat it with the equilibrium, so that seems alright.

My pH is usually around a 7.4 or so. Is that a good area for it to be in? And if I'm adding a shell what sort of shell would it be? I have an old mystery snail shell if that would work.

 

[Alexander1702]

Copper from plant fertilisers shouldn't be of a high enough concentration to kill shrimp. Your tap water could be the problem here and to rule it out you could always test for copper, what state are you in may I ask? Only most have a legal limit for copper of 1.3mg/L similar to us in the UK. Has the tank you're using ever been used to treat a sick fish with a copper based treatment?

Apologies for the delay. I live in Wisconsin, but I'm not sure what that means for my copper content. I've never treated any fish for anything in this tank, and I have checked to make sure nothing I use has copper in it, so far as I know

 

[Colin_T]

Don't worry about copper. If you have carbon in the filter, it will remove any copper from the water.

 

[Alexander1702]

Don't worry about copper. If you have carbon in the filter, it will remove any copper from the water.

Yea I feel pretty covered there, the filter pads I use have plenty of carbon in them. Plus with the conditioner all the new water I'm adding should be heavy metal free.

 

[Spyro]

Apologies for the delay, I'm an awful responder. Ive been using dechlorinator on my water for a couple of days, and all seems well though the frequent water changes do seem to be affecting the shrimp. My last cherry seems to have developed the white ring of death but that's almost expected with these big changes. But the amanos seem to be doing alright. I just put in new carbon with a filter, so I'm covered there. Not optimistic about this poor cherry though.

You've done all you can now. Cherry shrimps aren't very good at recovering once things start going down hill.
GL

 

[Spyro]

Apologies for the delay. I live in Wisconsin, but I'm not sure what that means for my copper content. I've never treated any fish for anything in this tank, and I have checked to make sure nothing I use has copper in it, so far as I know

Don't get obsessed with copper. Copper in food, most fertilizers, etc is just fine. Especially if you have carbon in the filter. (just use fertilizers sparingly).
You'll only have problem with copper if overdosing with fertilizers, meds or have high concentration in tap water.

Shrimp's blood is copper based. They can't live without it in small dozes (like in food) contrary to what some myths around internet would suggest