Problems in my shrimp tank

[Atmosphere123]

Have included as much info as I can think of to help so apologies for length.

I have a 60l shrimp only tank, also used to grow out plants. Originally stocked two weeks ago with 30 RCS bought from a local hobbyist plus a couple oranges I already had. Filter was cycled previously in a tank with 6 large platys and I have since added a second smaller sponge filter to help cope with extra bio load.

I have noticed a few shrimp deaths of various ages, usually spaced a few days apart and have caught them eating another shrimp. I pulled a dead one yesterday and the one I pulled today was blue on their back half for some reason.(see pictures below)

I have also noticed a few of them turning white on the inside and was wondering if anyone knows the cause of this as most sites just tell you that it’s going to die and not much other information(see pictures below). I had a red rilli that turned opaque inside and was eaten and also had a shrimp turn completely white with no other colour.(see pictures below)

Tank temperature is currently 22.6 and there is a heater in there

Tank parametersapi master test kit)
Ph-8.2
Ammonia-0.25ppm
Nitrite-0ppm
Nitrate-20-40ppm

dechlorinated tap water parameters:
Ph-7.4-7.8
Ammonia-0.25ppm
Nitrite-0ppm
Nitrate-10-20ppm
(dechlorinated with fluval water conditioner)

Have now switched to Seachem Prime after discovering ammonia in tap water but haven’t measured tap again since.

Don’t have a Gh and Kh test kit yet but my water is hard

Have unfortunately overfed them a little to try out some Shrimp King complete and Protein aswell as some Bacteria AE that I bought so I expect that’s why the ammonia isn’t at 0

Water changes are done with 0.25 ml of prime in a 10l bucket and I scoop out a plastic cups worth and drip it into the tank at 1-2 drips per second using knotted airline tubing and cup is refilled probably twice a day I syphon about 5l of water out and add 5l back over the space of a few days and use any left over water in my other tanks

I have approx 20 Red cherries left, I have never been able to keep shrimps alive previously, I’m aware my mistake this time is over feeding but I have tried many different things I’ve watched in YouTube videos by shrimp keepers and none have seemed to work for me so any info would be great

can include a list of plants in the tank if that makes a difference.

Thanks

 

[Colin_T]

Microsporidian infection. It spreads to other shrimp when they eat the contaminated body.

It would have been introduced with the new shrimp and usually takes a week or two to kill a shrimp or fish that ingests contaminated meat.

Fish can also catch this.

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt for every 20 litres of water.
Keep salt in the tank for 4 weeks.
Fingers crossed it works.

 

[Atmosphere123]

Microsporidian infection. It spreads to other shrimp when they eat the contaminated body.

It would have been introduced with the new shrimp and usually takes a week or two to kill a shrimp or fish that ingests contaminated meat.

Fish can also catch this.

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt for every 20 litres of water.
Keep salt in the tank for 4 weeks.
Fingers crossed it works.

Thanks for the info Colin. Would you recommend removing the ones turning white to treat in a quarantine tank or leaving them in the main tank as I haven’t researched yet if any of my plants are particularly sensitive to salt.

 

[eatyourpeas]

I also recently experienced Myxosporea in my shrimp tank. They die from the inside, as if they "cook". I did a bit of salt as @Colin_T suggested, and quickly removed any dead shrimp so it would not be ingested by the others. I was losing anywhere from 3 to 6 a day Daily 75% water changes and vacuuming substrate, reduced feeding, and eventually the tank stabilized. Plants did ok. My suspicion is that it came in frozen food that contained shrimp as I did not introduce any critters to the tank. Good luck, I hope you can get rid of it.

Also, your ammonia should be 0

 

[Atmosphere123]

I also recently experienced Myxosporea in my shrimp tank. They die from the inside, as if they "cook". I did a bit of salt as @Colin_T suggested, and quickly removed any dead shrimp so it would not be ingested by the others. I was losing anywhere from 3 to 6 a day Daily 75% water changes and vacuuming substrate, reduced feeding, and eventually the tank stabilized. Plants did ok. My suspicion is that it came in frozen food that contained shrimp as I did not introduce any critters to the tank. Good luck, I hope you can get rid of it.

Also, your ammonia should be 0

I’ve just ordered some salt which will be here tomorrow so I’ll give it a go thank you. I’m trying to get it down to 0 again but large water changes seem to kill off my shrimp which is why I only remove a little and add it back incredibly slowly I can’t remove too much as a currently have an external fluval holding box with some Cory fry in it as this has been my cleanest tank until recently. I will remove the holding box during treatment as I’ve read scaleless fish can’t tolerate much salt and I’d hate to kill my fry. How do you do your large water changes and get them to still survive ?

 

[eatyourpeas]

My shrimp are used to 60% weekly water changes, and I match the parameters so they do not get shocked. Same pH, KH, GH and temperature. My guess is the ammonia is what may be killing your shrimp, they are very sensitive.

 

[Atmosphere123]

my ammonia is usually 0 due to the filters changing it to nitrates quite quickly but due to over feeding has spiked a little, I’ve tried all different recommendations in the past and have still lost over £150 worth of shrimp all together. my tap water contains 0.25ppm ammonia and all I can do to fix it is add prime Would adding prime straight to the tank help the filters remove this quicker as my shrimps aren’t used to large water changes ?

 

[eatyourpeas]

I have never added chemicals directly to the tank, so would hesitate to give you advice. In the past, if I need to remove ammonia in a hurry I put a pad of Poly Filter. @Colin_T @Slaphppy7 @Essjay or the other mods should be able to help with that.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

Are you sure your water is hard without a test kit? I assumed my water was hard before I started keeping fish (and now shrimp). When I got a test kit, I had 0 gh - absolutely no minerals in my water. I now dose with Seachem Equilibrium to get to about 4 dgh.

 

[Slaphppy7]

my ammonia is usually 0 due to the filters changing it to nitrates quite quickly but due to over feeding has spiked a little, I’ve tried all different recommendations in the past and have still lost over £150 worth of shrimp all together. my tap water contains 0.25ppm ammonia and all I can do to fix it is add prime Would adding prime straight to the tank help the filters remove this quicker as my shrimps aren’t used to large water changes ?

"due to over feeding"
Perhaps the most prevalent problem (and mistake) that causes water quality issues with freshwater tanks, regardless of the inhabitants

 

[Colin_T]

Thanks for the info Colin. Would you recommend removing the ones turning white to treat in a quarantine tank or leaving them in the main tank as I haven’t researched yet if any of my plants are particularly sensitive to salt.

Microsporidia will be in the tank water, gravel, plants and filter. You need to treat the main tank with all the shrimp in it. You can also treat other tanks to kill it in them too. The fish in the other tanks might not be showing symptoms yet but if you use the same equipment on all the tanks, then the parasites will be in all your tanks.

Don't add salt to the baby Corydoras tank though. Adult Cories can tolerate salt but the babies don't.

If you have any shrimp that look white, you can take them out and put them in a separate tank. Or just watch them and remove any that die.

--------------------
If you dechlorinate the tap water before adding it to the aquarium, you should be able to do bigger water changes. Get a big plastic container and fill it with tap water. Add some dechlorinator and aerate the solution for at least 30 minutes. Then use this water for the tank.
You can warm this water up a bit if necessary to get the temperature similar to the tank temperature. You can add boiled water or just hot tap water for this. Or you can put an aquarium heater in the container of water to warm it up.

If it has ammonia in, you can use a power filter or box filter filled with Ammogon or Zeolite, and put it in the container of water. Leave it running until the ammonia is gone. Then use the water to do water changes.

Most water conditioners will break the chloramine into chlorine and ammonia. The chlorine will be neutralised and the ammonia will be converted into the less harmful ammonium for about 24 hours. During this time the filter should convert the ammonium into nitrite and then nitrate.

 

[Atmosphere123]

Thanks for all the help I am currently in the process of a larger water change and have removed as many shrimp that appear white as possible as my last red rilli turned white overnight and will treat them in a separate tank as well as treating the main tank.
I have just discovered a white bubble like film on a few leaves of my Elodea and not on any of the other plants, is this caused by the microsporidia issue the shrimps are having? Or is this a separate issue I’ve never seen before.
I’ve always been told my water is hard but I can order an API gh and kh test kit which will be here in two days to check.

 

[Atmosphere123]

Forgot to attach the picture sorry.

 

[eatyourpeas]

I had the same thing in my tank:

Are these snail eggs?

The sack looks similar, but a lot smaller than what I am used to and not as gelatinous. They are all over the hornwort in a tank with mystery snails, cherry shrimp, and planaria (for now). I am hoping it is biofilm.

www.fishforums.net

Came to find out there was no planaria in the tank, just Rhabdocoela.

 

[Atmosphere123]

I had the same thing in my tank:

Are these snail eggs?

The sack looks similar, but a lot smaller than what I am used to and not as gelatinous. They are all over the hornwort in a tank with mystery snails, cherry shrimp, and planaria (for now). I am hoping it is biofilm.

www.fishforums.net

Came to find out there was no planaria in the tank, just Rhabdocoela.

Oh wow, I’m almost certain this stuff appeared overnight as I check on this tank quite thoroughly every day. I have 9 different types of live plants in here and it is only on that one Elodea and not the other one on the other side of the tank. After a bit of Googling it looks pretty similar to this picture of Vorticella in my opinion

Shrimp Vorticella Parasite. Treatment - Shrimp and Snail Breeder

In this article, besides the most popular folk methods (Freshwater aquarium salt and API Pimafix Treatment), you will know about actual scientific researches and conducted experiments with Vorticella and shrimp. You will know how Permanganic acid, Copper sulphate, Malachite Green, Formalin and...

aquariumbreeder.com

If you scroll down a little it shows you a picture of them on plants, is anyone able to confirm this ?