Sudden Cherry Shrimp Deaths - Please Help

[chico's dad]

I do not have a TDS meter but from looking at other pages, it may be that when I do the change they try to moult and do not get enough minerals for new shell?  Could this be from excessive hoovering of the deep gravel?

 

[chico's dad]

Ok, so went to the LFS (thanks fishekeeper edinburgh) and there is no noticable copper in either the tank or tap water....
 
So went for just the kH tester, and the tank water is about 2 to 3 kH only....so from they told me at the LFS the gH is roughly the same as the gH which would make sense as the tap water is known to be basically zero gh here.
 
Only other thing they could think of was a population that reached critical mass and crashed, possibly as a result of inbreeding or having all the gravel deeply cleaned thus not leaving enough TDS for the water?
 
Any thoughts?

 

[DreamertK]

http/www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumKH.html
 
I doubt it was inbreeding or the gravel cleaner, unless you were taking out the shrimp shells left behind. What if it was just something crazy like you or someone else had sprayed something around the tank and a little bit had gotten in the water, or in the case of one unfortunate individual their family had used their WC bucket for house cleaning?

 

[chico's dad]

Hey DreamertK - Thanks for the link.
 
Its possible that the shrimp shells were being sucked up with everything else, but also possible that the bucket got contaminated as it is in the lots of random bits and pieces including household chemicals cupboard....
 
Anyway I now count 5 shrimp and touch wood no more deaths so hopefully this is the end of the mass die off!
 
The kH of the tap water is 1 I think as it truned the JBL test yellow after 1 drop - the tank water 1 day after last water change with 3 bits of coral in it is 3.  Is this enough or should I add more coral or something else?

 

[DreamertK]

Noooo! Household chemicals are killers for aquariums!
 
I dont have any experience on good products for making water hard since my tap water is liquid rock. You could try those shells that leach it into the water.

 

[chico's dad]

I know!  Living in a tiny flat doesn't allow for much space for those sorts of bits and pieces but will maybe be more fastiduous from now on to wash the bucket out even more and put something over the bucket.
 
Will see if adding some more shells helps.
 
Thanks!

 

[Meeresstille]

I had a similar issue a year ago. Soft city water, doing at least 50% WCs, and my pH went from 6.5 to a little over 5 killing some of my fish after a WC.
 
I added a bag of crushed coral to the filter compartment and that helped. Then I upgraded my tank and changed to eco-complete substrate that releases minerals into the water slowly. Everything's going great now!
 
Good luck with your tank!

 

[chico's dad]

Ouch must have been quite a shock for them - yup my ph seems to swinging quite a lot, so will gradually add more coral and see what happens.....Thanks!