Whats killing all my shrimp?

[ccLansman]

I am really baffled as to why all my shrimp recently died. I even purchased more and same thing happened. It’s really sad and i would like to get it figured out before i cause any more to perish.

Here are some initial specs on my tank.

Nitrates 5ppm
Ammonia 0
Phosphates 1 ppm
Ph 6.8-6.4 (depending on co2 levels throughout the day)

I dose excel once a day at double the recommended value.
And micro ferts 3x weekly.

I use mixture of tap and RO with dechlorinizer and GH booster.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[tedr108]

None of your tank specs raise any red flags for me ... our tanks are similar. Shrimp are sensitive to nitrates and nitrate testing kits are notorious for being innaccurate. The one test I did not see in your list is nitrites -- high levels can be very deadly to fish at least. Shrimp are more sensitive than fish, so if anything is wrong, they'll often be the first to let you know by dying.

I recently killed my shrimp (amano and cherry) off by treating ich with a copper compound and then adding another chemical that broke up the compound leaving the toxic copper by itself -- shrimp were all dead the next morning. All seems OK now as my new shrimp are doing fine. Good rule of thumb: stay away from copper if you have invertebrates.

 

[Sintei]

Id say Excell may be the culprit here. Glutaraldehyde (main ingredient) is poisonous to shrimp. Kick back to normal dosage and check if that helps.

 

[ccLansman]

will do. thanks guy, i have 1 survivor from my last test batch. Ill cut down the excel and see if he makes it through another few days, and check my nitrites.

 

[Tom Barr]

Yes, 2x and recommended dosing and 2x and frequency of dosing is a perhaps a good reasons based on what you have told us here.

They do suggest the dosing rates for a reason
You have CO2, so do not bother with Excel.

Other things are more general, always do a large water change after you do any large changes, pruning etc, do not wait a couple of days etc.
Clean filters often, make sure you do more water changes, check the Tap water etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[ccLansman]

Yes, 2x and recommended dosing and 2x and frequency of dosing is a perhaps a good reasons based on what you have told us here.

They do suggest the dosing rates for a reason
You have CO2, so do not bother with Excel.

Other things are more general, always do a large water change after you do any large changes, pruning etc, do not wait a couple of days etc.
Clean filters often, make sure you do more water changes, check the Tap water etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Thanks Tom, ill do a large water change later this week and stop the excel, then slowly introuduce a few shrimp back and see if they make it.

 

[tedr108]

Is Excel in the recommended dosage OK for baby shrimp?

I have a 10G quarantine tank and was planning a low-light, Excel planted setup. While the tank was just sitting around doing nothing, I thought I would make the water parameters good for cherry shrimp breeding and try to add a few to my collection. If Excel is slightly poisonous to them, they may not even breed, I suppose.

 

[Dusko]

Id say Excell may be the culprit here.

I agree on this. I have tested numerous times with Easy Carbo (like Excel) and shrimps (Caridina sp, Neocaridina sp) in different tanks.
I wouldn't over dose, just the recommended dose, and some shrimps would die the same day, but all shrimps would just stand on one spot for long time without eating, which is their thing. 50% daily WC until you see the shrimps eating again and moving around (picking stuff).

Shrimps and Easy Carbo (Excel) is not a great idea in my experience.

BTW, low to medium light tanks don't need shrimps as an algae eating crew if you dose Excel and other macros and micros (no CO2). With this kind of dosing (medium lights) the only algae I got was Spyrogyra, and that was because I didn't do wc for more than a month, and still dosing EI 2x a week. Good water circulation, less fish, bit more KH2PO4 (less GSA) in a case your tap has little of it, 50% weekly wc and things will run smooth. It is always a good idea to have good nutrient rich substrate. It helps a lot. Also plant slow/medium growing plants, less work IME
This is the tank I am referring to;

Regards, Dusko

 

[ccLansman]

Quick update, stopped excel and did a 40% water change. Let it cycle for a day and tried a few more shrimp, same results. They all turned white and died within a few hours. I guess my excel conentration must be waaaaay high for them to keep dieing. Any ideas other then do a few water changes more and dont use excel?

 

[Tom Barr]

What is your tap like?
Copper pipes?

Something seems amiss.

Tap might have something in it, try add more dechlor, run it through a carbon prefilter etc, or add carbon to the tank.

Regards,
Tom Barr