Amano's (and other shrimp) dying in one tank...

[DutchMuch]

In my fluval I just added amanos today, and 2 of 4 died within 1 hour of being in there. Parameters are as should be, nitrates are higher than normal though due to the lack of plants atm, not off the roof though. nitrite 0, and ammonia 0.
Do 50 percent WC every sunday on all tanks.

I have a shrimp tank (5.5 gallon) and there is 150 plus shrimp in there with the same water as the fluval, well water, hard and above 7.6 ph. But the shrimp in the shrimp tank have no problem, the stock in the fluval is 4 danios (2 died when I was gone on vacation) and 2 blackfin corys (they are going in the 65 with more corys when sand arrives). Surely the danios couldn't kill the amanos? the 2 alive right now are the biggest out of the batch? I added 2 fire reds to see if they die in there within a few hours, if so I know I have a true problem.

Thing is, the fluval used to be a shrimp tank to, but back before the house was built (same thing, hard water, etc) we didn't have a Water Softener, could that be it?

Anyway the shrimp when dead (amano's) had Blue Heads, light blue basically covering there whole head. I really have no clue...

 

[rajkm]

Could be molting issue that happens when water parameters change.
However I would check the CO2 levels. Also higher micro levels sometimes causes issues. My amano for e.g. Cant handle higher dose of Seachem iron which is gluconate. They go swarming around and try looking for exit.

 

[DutchMuch]

Co2 levels are Low, drop checker is blue. Didn't see any swimming symptoms, and in our water we don't have iron. Or at least noticeable amounts. The other 2 are doing fine now, and I added 6 more cherries, show no symptoms of Anything and are thriving now. Idk what was wrong with them, I don't think it was a molting issue either, drip acclimation, and other shrimp molt fine.

Honestly I think I just got "a bad batch" because after all, These guys were from Petco I just got them for free.

 

[Edwin]

In setting up, actually re-establishing my 75 gallon, I added 12 Amano shrimp after adding new plants. They were fine for almost a month. They were feeding and shedding with no obvious problem. Then all but two died suddenly. I didn't see them die but the next morning all but two were gone. The last two turned brown and were obviously in some distress. They lived for several more days. All my numbers looked good though my CO2 had not settled down to where I wanted it but even there nothing extraordinary. Looking back through my log book I did two things just before the die off. I did a large 70% water change and I started adding Seachem iron for the first time. I am not sure why either would have killed the Amano shrimp. I have had Amano shrimp that lived four or five years though that was a five years ago. While I certainly remember doing water changes I cannot find my all my old log books and so I don't know whether I ever used Seachem iron. Why would gluconate affect shrimp.

 

[DutchMuch]

This just in, tested the amano shrimp thing.


In my high tech fluval: all the amano's I added DIED or killed all my other cherry shrimp.


In my Neglected tank: literally don't do squat, and they thrive in here.... Guess they thrive on neglect to some extent.

 

[Edwin]

Dutchmuch, how big is each tank? What other livestock do you have in each? I can't put shrimp in my neglected tank because my two Sidthimunki loaches would have a feast, that is why they are in the neglected tank to begin with. Having had Amano shrimp in the past in my large higher tech tank that lived more than a couple of years I still can't figure out why the last bunch died after a month. Iron? Tap water during the big water change? I am actually betting that it was the later. Changed my system, added a charcoal filter, and will start using a dechlorinator each time from now on. Having been in the water management game in a past life I know that tap water quality can change dramatically after years where most of the parameters had been relatively stable. Some systems rotate their wells. During droughts, even minor ones, parameters can change even from the same water source/ well, even if the well is not overdrawn. If THMs (trihalomethane) start showing up in the water supply the supplier is required to change how they treat water. In some cases the treatments are almost as bad as the THMs are believed to be.

 

[DutchMuch]

Dutchmuch, how big is each tank? What other livestock do you have in each?

5 gallons.
Nothing.

 

[Edwin]

Dutchmuch, very strange. The only deal with smaller tanks is that often parameters can change more dramatically just due to their location, age, etc. Of course what we don't know is much about shrimp diseases. In white shrimp pond aquaculture, where we get most of our eating shrimp, a pond can be good for several years of harvest. Then the next year, with all the water quality parameters nearly identical, every shrimp in the pond will die before harvest. Culprit was unknown for years but turned out to be a virus or viruses apparently a part of the shrimp's genome. The original solution was to just create a new pond. What in the "older" ponds trigger the virus to shed or to become lethal was unknown last time I asked, which is now a decade or so ago. I know that there are folks trying to raise Amano shrimp. Could be they are running into virus problems. Shipping the shrimp and the stress involved may be triggering a virus. It would necessarily affect other species of shrimp.