Can't keep shrimp alive - help!

**Bolsen27** · 03-19-2013, 12:17 PM

Last right before the Co2 & lights went off for the night the ph was a 6.8. This morning about 10 mins before the Co2 was due to come back on the ph was a 7.3. Not a huge difference. Though I did adjust the Co2 levels some last night. The biggest difference is I don't see any dead shrimp this morning!

In fact last night after I lowered the Co2 some I swear the shrimp were acting different I saw a few milling around and picking at things. And this morning they were out and about also.

Could the answer to my dying shrimp really be that easy?

**talldutchie** · 03-19-2013, 12:34 PM

Simple answer. Yes!

Since you really are determined to get to the bottom of this. Keep the co2 at this level for at least a week. In the mean time do some reading on shrimp physiology, especially how they breath.

**Lady Hobbs** · 03-19-2013, 01:56 PM

Why not send a message to the person you bought the shrimp from and ask him where he kept his pH?

I have cherry shrimp, in the hundreds, and only started with a dozen of them. I do not use CO2 in my planted tanks, however, and my pH is 7.6. You may need to put a pre-filter sponge on your filter tubes, tho, or the shrimp will get sucked into the filter. But in answer to why they are dying, I have no idea but pH jumping daily from 6.8 to 7.3 constantly is not a good thing.

CO2 also does more than lower the pH but it reduces oxygen.

**talldutchie** · 03-19-2013, 03:03 PM

The cherry's breathing mechanism isn't as effective as that of most fish. Not a problem normally since they aren't very quick but it does make them rather sensitive to higher Co2 levels.

A swing of .5 PH on a high tech tank isn't that unusual, there's aquascapers who have it higher still.

In this case Co2 seems like the most likely cause. See if it stabilizes with this. If it does add enough air during the night to make sure any non-used co2 is completely gone and even then I'd go no higher than 3bps.

**Bolsen27** · 03-20-2013, 01:19 PM

When I left for work this morning I did a quick check of the tank and for the 2nd morning in a row I didn't find any dead shrimp! In fact I did find 6-7 shrimp roaming around and picking at things.