# Cherry shrimp deaths



## lamyfung

Today is the 4th day I've got the cherries into my new tank and I just found a couple of dead shimps  My tank is cycled for over a month with household ammonia. test results Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 nitrate 10ppm pH6.5. Is it normal to have shimp deaths when introduced to new tank or is something wrong ? the rest of the shrimps look healthy to me but this is my first time having shrimps so I can't be 100% sure. Tank is a 10G planted and shrimp only with some baby snails


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## MadgicBug

Depending where you got your shrimps from as it could be PH shock. Cherries are pretty tough.


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## AvianAquatics

Might not necessarily be a pH shock but I think it's probably stress. Once I got 10 Crystal Reds from the pet shop with them lots dying in the tanks and 7 died within the first month and total death of 8 by the second month. Then when I shipped some CRS from Vancouver and left them in the central mailbox overnight in -5-10C weather and all 10 died within 2 month again. So maybe you put them under stress when bringing them in? Like leaving in the car too long or not properly accumulated before introducing?


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## Rastapus

Any buffers in there? With our poor buffering conditions in our tap water, shrimps are doomed.


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## bowman00

Would recommend trying to raise PH


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## Rastapus

Hardness, hardness, hardness, hardness.


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## jobber

Check Gh level


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## lamyfung

I don't have a Gh or Kh test kit .. maybe I should get one. Do shrimps really need hard water? A lot of web sites suggest that they like soft and low pH water that's why i didn't bother.. maybe I should look into that


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## Rastapus

lamyfung,
There is a big difference between soft water and rain water which is what we have in the lower mainland. Check out my sticky in our sub forum for more details on this. This goes for keeping fish as well.


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## MadgicBug

For Cherries its better to go with harder water and a ph of 7 to 7.5. They are not like CRS, Tigers, etc that does better in softer water. Takes the guessing out.


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## neven

crushed coral is the easiest way to acheive the hardness, a few table spoons in a mesh bag in your filter should give enough for them to be fine


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## VinnyD

whenever i introduce new livestock into my tank, i drip acclimatize them(dunno if there is that sticky anymore..but used to have it posted by mysticalnet)...basically:

1) put the new critters into a decent size container to be able to hold the contents of the bag(where the critter was held from the supplier) plus about the same amount of water from your tank. example..if u think theres like 400ml of water in the bag...put the content of the bag in a container that can hold like at least 1L or more. (so...approx 400ml of bag content plus about 400ml of tank water adds up to 1L or bigger sized container(make sure its clean))

2) use an air-line hose(the ones u use to connect airpump to air stone...the clear ones usually)..plus a airline valve(to regulate the amount of flow of air/water)...start a "vacuum" and draw the water thru the tubing into the container with the bag contents(water, live stock...plant)...adjust the drip to about 1 drop per second. it helps to use like a small clamp to hold the tube onto the tank...and one to hold the rim of container. if u like u can throw a bit of food into the container to 'calm the critter down"

3) wait till the amount of tank water introduced into the container is about the same amount of water from bag content. test the ph and water parameters if u want for both tank and container. remove tube.

4)put the container into the tank to equalize the temp between the tank and container(well if the temps are really different)...turn of the light for a few hours

5) slowly tip the container stuff into the tank(i usually let the livestock swim out on their own...) and that should be about it(well other than not dumping all the stuff on the bottom of the container into the tank..usually food wastes..sediments..and poop)

alternatively i have heard people who just add a few drops of water from tank into the container every few minutes until the water reaches the same level.

some livestocks tend to be more hardy/forgiving...but some are very sensitive to changing water conditions.

invest on test kits and water conditioners(example Seachem Prime..)


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## troutonafly

hi ive had cherrys for only about 3 months.they are in a 33g with lots of plants,i have gravel and about 10 lbs of crushed coral.i never test for anything.do water changes once a month with aged tap water.ive not lost any and have tons of breeding and babies.i think sometimes all this testing and adding stuff is the problem.or maybe im just lucky so far....


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## Rastapus

troutonafly said:


> hi ive had cherrys for only about 3 months.they are in a 33g with lots of plants,i have gravel and about 10 lbs of crushed coral.i never test for anything.do water changes once a month with aged tap water.ive not lost any and have tons of breeding and babies.i think sometimes all this testing and adding stuff is the problem.or maybe im just lucky so far....


Troutonafly,
Could be luck or you are adding a product that is raising mineral content without you knowing. Not testing your aquarium water is never a good thing, unexpected problems will arise a lot more often in an aquarium that is never monitored. Without appropriate minerals in the aquarium shrimp will not develop properly, that is biology, we cant beat that. 
Cherry shrimp breed prolifically in both our locations, considerably more since using appropriate buffers for over a year now. Water testing is the only way to truly know if you are providing the best water quality you can for your fish. Running an aquarium blind and succeeding is luck for sure, only performing a monthly water change in itself will cause undesirable levels to increase for sure.
The vast majority of clients bringing in water samples with problems rarely have good water quality, unfortunately this situation is the leading cause in driving people out of this great hobby IMO.
Also, very soft water encourages many fish etc. to breed, this is not necessarily a sign of good health, just an action stimulated by the water condition. As great as breeding all the time sounds, it can be very hard on fish that would not normally.


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## VinnyD

troutonafly said:


> hi ive had cherrys for only about 3 months.they are in a 33g with lots of plants,i have gravel and about 10 lbs of crushed coral.i never test for anything.do water changes once a month with aged tap water.ive not lost any and have tons of breeding and babies.i think sometimes all this testing and adding stuff is the problem.or maybe im just lucky so far....


yah maybe you lucked out and all...but i think it also has to do with the size of the tanks...urs is like 33g..the OP's is 10g i think...the extra capacity of your tank affects the "stability" of the water temp and so on compared to the 10g. but yah..check on ur water conditions once in a while to make sure its ok for the stuff in your tank.


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## lamyfung

They all seems to be dead during molting.. most of them have their head carapace flaped upward. I've done a water change and put some powdered calcium carbonate into the tank. hopefully they will do ok.. I don't think I have many of them left ..


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## VinnyD

yah hope it work out for u and the shrimps..dun worry...cherries are pretty hardy...as long as a decent water conditions are kept


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## plantedinvertz

lamyfung said:


> They all seems to be dead during molting.. most of them have their head carapace flaped upward. I've done a water change and put some powdered calcium carbonate into the tank. hopefully they will do ok.. I don't think I have many of them left ..


Is you rpoblem like this: CRS shell problem, virus, bacterium or change bad skin problem?


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## clintgv

Maybe it could because it's to hot? My friend had like 15-20 and his water has nothing wrong with it. He came home with his window closed and his room was hot as heck. Maybe that can be one of the reasons?


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## lamyfung

I think the tank is almost wiped out now  The temp is at 23-25 I check all the time. I'm so terrible !!! 
Plantedinvertz yes it's a bit similar to the problem in that link. but mine seem a lot worse it seems their head almost come off. But I haven't seen it happen just the dead shrimps


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## VinnyD

do u add co2 into the planted tank(just curious)?...


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## MadgicBug

I read that you used house hold ammonia to cycle. Perhaps there were trace chemicals and impurities in the product that was used. As tough as Cherries are, they are still susceptible to chemicals. There are better ways of cycling a tank than house hold ammonia?


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## lamyfung

No, I don't have CO2 in my Tank. but I suspect because the lack of buffering the pH drops when the plants release CO2? And MadgicBug that could be a possibility too.. the one that I got is supposed to be pure ammonia, but you never know for sure .. 

But now that I added calcium carbonate into the water, a few shrimps actually starts to swim around more and looks more active. hopefully they continue to live ..


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## VinnyD

i had DIY co2 in my tank last year summer...no regulator...small tank...high heat wave...

bad combo..........cuz ph dropped overnight and fluxed in the daytime..repeat for a few days...noticed it(ph test and some shrimp casualties)...so unplugged the co2 before i slept..helped a bit


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## Jeannelamp

I've had similar cherry deaths all spring and summer and couldn't figure it out! I've read so many forum posts and bought pH, GH and KH test kits. I've added Equilibrium and Alkaline by Seachem, and also a pH controller by Kent. Still I find dead cherries or they simply disappear! I had a good batch from Fragglerock and some from WSL and only the latest ones from WSL are still around. I bought 5 from Island Pets dying their recent sale and they all died! I froze them with some water and meant to bring them in to the store but the 7 day policy passed.
I even put Almond leaves into the tank now. I hope the remaining shrimps will survive. Everyone says they are hardy shrimp so it is very frustrating.
Well, enuf venting from me!
Hopefully your cherries will live happily now


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## lamyfung

I totally agree with you Jeannelamp... every where I read people are like my cherries are having tons of babies and doing super well.. even if they are kept in a milk bottle....... but mine just die or disappear every day  hopefully we will have it all figured out soon


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## lamyfung

Oh and I have a question, will strong water flow affect the shrimps? I have a AC20 HOB filter and the current of the water dropping down seems quite strong


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## VinnyD

lamyfung said:


> Oh and I have a question, will strong water flow affect the shrimps? I have a AC20 HOB filter and the current of the water dropping down seems quite strong


i use the same filter...but i turn it to med-low flow...i think it was the heat and co2 that caused the shrimp deaths in my tank...


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