# Why did my shrimp die?



## UnderseaGal (Mar 4, 2014)

I have 4 amanos in a 12g community tank. 
3 of them have been "pregnant" for a few weeks now - the eggs started out dark and now are clear.
My water parameters have been consistent for a long time (see below for actual numbers) and I've made no changes to the fish in the tank or the food I feed them.

One of the pregnant shrimp just died.
The others don't look very good either (including the one I think is male, seeing as it's the only non-pregnant one). They are all much more static than they used to be. 

Possibly related: one of my ember tetras has a fat belly and is hanging out at the back.
Also possibly related: my pleco has been going crazy at feeding time for about a week - chasing all the fish away from the bottom and changing colours. I observe him and never saw him hurt anyone. He usually settles down within a few minutes, but this is new behaviour.

What's going on?
A) My shrimp was old
B) My shrimp died as a result of its pregnancy
C) There's an issue with my water parameters that I'm not measuring
D) Pleco is driving everyone crazy
E) There's some kind of infection/parasite going around (how did it get in?
F) The blood worms I fed them were bad
G) ???

Any help would be much appreciated as I'm completely clueless here. Everything was going so well!

More details:
Food:
I feed my guys little pellets on most days, blood worms about 2 days/week, and nothing 1 day/week. I throw in a pleco log about 1-2x/week.

Water parameters (all stable since at least May, according to my nerdy spreadsheet):
pH: 6.5
Ammonia: 0
Nitrates: 10
Nitrites: 0
KH: 20
GH: 80

Water change frequency: every 1.5 weeks, about 30-40%.
I treat my water with Prime, Kent pH buffer, and Equilibrium.

Apologies for the long post! Thanks for reading.


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## UnderseaGal (Mar 4, 2014)

Additional info:
Someone (likely the pleco) has been digging holes in the ADA soil. This is also new. Could he be releasing bad stuff into the water? About 1 cm under the top of the soil line there's a line of green stuff that has built up.

We'll get him a cave asap.

No more deaths this morning but after checking water parameters I did a big water change.


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## nigerian prince (Mar 8, 2013)

no idea, stress? temperature swings, molting complications? 
how long have you had the shrimp? a quick google search says 2-3 years maybe it just died young


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## UnderseaGal (Mar 4, 2014)

Thanks for the reply, nigerian prince. I'm stumped also. I've had the shrimp for only a few months, but it's quite big - I'm not sure if size and age are related in any way, though.

I'll keep an eye out on everything and up my water change frequency for a little while. I hope it's not some big disaster.


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## Livyding (Feb 6, 2013)

_It is not uncommon for the Amano Shrimp to die shortly after introduction to the aquarium. Virtually all Amano Shrimp are wild caught and are not used to captive conditions. Also, a lack of feeding can cause death as well. Most first timers keeping these shrimp think that they are solely algae eaters and can live off of the tank and require no food. You must feed this shrimp. Deaths are also caused by stress from shipping, handling, lack of acclimation to new conditions and from being introduced to multiple tank parameters. Remember that the Amano Shrimp is caught in the wild. It goes through a lot of stress during capture and during shipping around the world. Once it reaches the local fish stores it undergoes even more stress. When it ultimately ends up in the hobbyists tank it can be marked for death regardless of what the hobbyist does to keep it alive. Do not be surprised if this shrimp dies on you shortly after introduction._Amano Shrimp .:. Caridina multidentata .:. Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp Species Information Page

So If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say stress related death.. could be that there was stress from going from the wild to captivity... Seems they were in your tank a while already before your shrimp died though. Plus 12G is small to hold tetras and a pleco and 4 amano shrimp.

One thing I have personally found is that my scaleless fish (and inverts have no scales) seem to get a little distressed when I use Prime. You could try a different kind in your tank and see if the shrimp perk up.

Also there is a lot of debate as to whether it really helps or not but personally I do add a bit of Kents Iodine to the shrimp water. Seems like they have less moulting problems when I use it.


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## UnderseaGal (Mar 4, 2014)

Livyding - thanks for your the information and for your input. Good advice re: Prime and Iodine.


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

Sorry to hear that your shrimp died. When i first started keeping fish and shrimp it was happening to me too. It's very frustrating when you are doing everything you're supposed to and still it goes off a bit.

It's interesting how every ones experiences are different! My shrimp kept dying until i started using prime! I use a few drops of kh booster and prime and I've had more success then ever. I do weekly water changes and that's it.

Feed a small amount, moderately planted, but no fish this time. I kept trying to have fish with them but never worked out. Amano's can be a bit sensitive when new, hopefully your other shrimp and fishes will be ok.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Temperature is definitely a major contributor at this time of year for sudden die offs. Heck even the plants in my tanks died off a bit.


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## UnderseaGal (Mar 4, 2014)

Tazzy_toon and Reckon, thanks for the insights.
I now have two dead Amanos (well, I think - I used to have 4, now I can only see 2 - I think the fish in the tank are pretty quick to eat a corpse, though).
That said, the two remaining ones look a little better now and are more active.

The two who died were both "pregnant" - I wonder if there was some issue there. I know the eggs don't hatch because of the whole salinity thing, but I guess I'm not entirely sure how the process goes. The one remaining pregnant shrimp still has a bunch of clear-ish coloured eggs on her.

All the fish look ok now, though someone is definitely digging around in the soil.

Keeps things interesting, I guess!
Thanks again everyone for chiming in.


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