Dead shrimp...what am I doing wrong?

[AbbeyRanda]

Let me preface this with: I am TOTALLY new to the shrimp game, this is my first experience with them.

So as I mentioned on another thread, I have... or rather had some 3 mandarin shrimp (not the chinese dish, the little orange FW shrimp).

I got them on 2/3, a little over a week ago, delivered by mail from Drs. F & S live aquaria site. They were delivered @ about 2pm, and I brought them in immediately (or my DH did), but I had to wait until 8pm that night to introduce them to the tank (the F&S customer service lady assured me that shouldn't be a problem. They happily went to work on my drifwood, picking of algae with thier little mitts and stuffing it into their mouthparts.

Two days ago I searched and searched in the tank and could oly find two of the 3 shrimp. Thinking that one was hiding in the Java Fern (as he was wont to do), I was unconcerned.

Yesterday however, I saw a clear/white, limp shrimp shape attached to the stems of my anubis and fished it out with my net. Gross as it may sound, I pulled it apart to see if I could determine whether or not it was a molt or a dead shrimp. It was a little gooey inside so I suspected dead shrimp. Then, I did my regularly schedule water change and found a second carcass, confirming my theory that two of my shrimp had died. I found the third one yesterday, but he's nowhere to be found today and is presumed dead as well.

I tested my parameters after my change and they were fairly normal (0 Nitrites, 10ppm nitrates, ammonia trace to .25ppm). My pH is kind of high (7.6), but at least it is steady. This morning I rechecked and it was totally normal (0 nitrite, 0 ammo, 10 nitrate, still 7.6pH)

Can someone tell me what I'm missing for keeping shrimp alive?

I'm kind of disappointed, I had already named them all Zoidberg...

[Strider199]

Sorry to hear of the loss AbbeyRanda. What were you feeding them and how often? I'm looking at adding a few shrimp to my tank but am hesitant.

[AbbeyRanda]

Well I was under the impression that they were primarily algae eaters and lord knows there was plenty to go around. Brown and green. so really, I didn't feed them anything. They seemed to really be going at it... and not to be gross, but I watched one poop out a long, green poop, so I figure they were eating.

once they got the algae under control, I had some algae wafers to feed them.

[dragoonwoman]

From you signature: "Planted, 2.5watt/gal, Flourish products: Comprehensive, Excel, Trace, Iron."

If you've got shrimp in a tank, to dose with Excel is to add shrimp poison. I've been watching my shrimp die over the last week because I was (repeat was) dosing Excel. I've done 4 water changes of about 50% each, trying to clear the stuff out.

I've now lost 2/3 of the shrimp I started with. I'm beginning to think none will survive. And yes - the tank was cycled before the shrimp went in, and I added a sponge that had been in a year-old tank's filter for extra BB at the same time.

There are several planted tank forums around the web that post this information. I found it too late to save my stock, unfortunately.

Just an FYI.

[wijnands]

Searching for excel gives me loads of microsoft related hits. Can anyone tell me what that is?

[Lady Hobbs]

dragon......I dose now and then with Excel but I don't over dose and my shrimp have been fine. I've lost other fish to Excel but not the shrimp. Those water changes were probably really not necessary as Excel only has a life of 24 hours. But I also dose very seldom. I just am not all that comfortable with the product.

I would suspect the clear white dead shrimp Abby saw was a shrimp had molted. It looks just like a dead shrimp but is only the shell.

[wijnands]

What is excel? Some sort of water conditioner?

[Cascade]

It's a source of carbon for plants, http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/FlourishExcel.html

[Taurus]

I would suspect the clear white dead shrimp Abby saw was a shrimp had molted. It looks just like a dead shrimp but is only the shell.

Yep, shrimp molt. Abby needs to do some more reading or research to become familiar with dwarf shrimp and their life processes. :ssmile: