Raising KH?

[Essjay]

I first bought red cherry shrimp 10 or 12 years ago and every one of them died within a few weeks. Someone on another forum said there could have been a shrimp-specific virus in my tank and to use beta glucans as an immunity booster. Whether that actually works I have no idea.
The last shrimp was a berried female, and she died once the eggs hatched. But the baby shrimps thrived and were the start of my current shrimp colony.

Why did the babies which were born in my tank thrive when the adults bought from a shop die? I have never found an explanation. Nor for the fact that the odd shrimp or two I have bought since to increase the gene pool have also thrived.




I'm glad to hear you use Tropica plants (Aquafleur and Dennerle are also safe as they too are EU grown). Although they are not 100% guaranteed shrimp safe, they are a lot safer than plants grown in the far east. I've had no problems with plants from these suppliers.

 

[kiko]

The tank used to be a Betta tank, so I used to do much large water changes as I was advised that large water changes can kill shrimp. The tank was rescaped September/October time - the substrate was refreshed by removing some of the old stuff and adding in some new as I wanted a gravel/sand mix. Lots of plants were added - I try by Tropica plants only, but the ones that have been purchased elsewhere were left soaking for days before being added. And I swapped out most of my seiryu stone for coconut shells (which were boiled before adding to the tank). Filter media was cleaned using tank water.

large water changes can and will kill shrimp....water changes should be minimal so the 10% you're doing is fine...I do about 20% a month on my shrimp tank
now...as you changed substrate and added plants...did you get root tabs or some kind of plant fert?
as stuff is used up in your tank your shrimp won't have enough minerals for their molts causing the white ring of death
as for raising the kh...grab a mesh bag and put some crushed coral inside it (not much) and give it a week to see how your tank water changes
keep adding more once a week until you reach the value you want...
I don't use liquid ferts on my shrimp tank just root tabs (2 tabs every 6 months)
my ph is at 6.95-7.10 and I keep rcs/black crystals/zebra otos in this tank

 

[Essjay]

Back to the subject of KH, it's GH which is more important as that's the amount of calcium and magnesium. With a GH of 8 dH, yours is high enough to be suitable.

The recommended KH for neocaridina shrimps is 1 to 8 dH. Yours is 2, so that is within their range.





I do 50% weekly water changes in my shrimp tank and I don't have dead shrimps littering the tank afterwards. I rarely see a dead shrimp.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I do 50% weekly water changes in my shrimp tank and I don't have dead shrimps littering the tank afterwards. I rarely see a dead shrimp.

Same here....water changes done properly don't kill shrimp, no matter how much water is changed

 

[Slaphppy7]

I used the Tetra Aquasafe (which is what I’ve been using for years). If there is something more preferred for shrimp, I’m happy to change and use the remaining Aquasafe on my betta tanks only.

I use the NT Labs liquid test kit. All have been checked recently and were all 0.00, but will check again today to be safe.

The AquaSafe is fine for now...if your tap water is treated with regular chlorine, consider getting API Tap Water conditioner when the AS runs out

If your tap water is treated with chloramine, get Seachem Prime