Shrimp hiding all of the time

[TomJH10]

Hi, so I had a new aquarium around a month ago and had a couple of amano shrimp in there. The shrimp, along with all of the other fish were really happy and doing great. However i haven't seen my shrimp in around a week now so I looked for them and got a torch and looked under some drift wood and one of them is under there. I can only guess and hope that the other one is too. They are always under there. I have seen a couple of shells from where they had shed their skin but they have been there for quite a while now so they are not letting their new shell harden off because I'm pretty sure that would have happened by now. I'm really not sure what to think. Any suggestions please? I would be really great full.

 

[Colin_T]

Shrimp shells (exoskeleton) will automatically harden over 24 hours.

You should make sure the water quality is good and there is no ammonia or nitrite and the nitrate is less than 20ppm.

If you haven't done a water change in the last week then do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a few days to make sure the water is good.
*NB* Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Make sure there are lots of plants in the tank so the shrimp feel more comfortable. Floating plants like Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) is a good one to try.

Make sure none of the fish are trying to eat the shrimp.

 

[TomJH10]

Hi Colin, thanks for your reply I will do a water test and get some plants. I am due a water change either today or tomorrow so hopefully that will help.