# CRS/CBS and RCS random deaths



## GaryC (Apr 2, 2012)

Hi guys, 

I'm actually pretty new at keeping shrimp but I had pretty good success keeping them in my Fluval Specs at the time (started with 12 and ended up with 100+) so I wanted to get some CRS and see how that went. Normally I just use aged water for water changes or very little straight tap water for just top ups when I kept the RCS.

With the CRS I started messing with almond leaves and such since I bought some. The CRS were fine for the first few weeks but they started dropping one after another every few days. I started with 10 CRS and bought 10 CBS thinking everything was good.

Anyway I know have 7 and 7 before I took them all out of my 5.5 gallon tank and put them in my 90 gallon main tank but now I have RCS randomly dying in the 5.5 gallon.

The 5.5 gallon had these readings

6 GH (Is that how many drops I had to put in to turn green?)
2 KH
PH 6.8
NH3/NH4 0
No2 0
No3 0

My 90 gallon is 

7 GH
3 KH
PH 6.0
NH3/Nh4 0
No2 0
No3 0 

Any clue why I had so many deaths? It's been a few days since I moved the CRS/CBS into the 90 and I see them all the time in the mornings and at night when I turn on the lights again just to have a quick peak. The RCS are huge in my 90 gallon.


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## GaryC (Apr 2, 2012)

Here is the tank right now.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2


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## camboy012406 (Jun 11, 2010)

i think your kh is not okey it should be 1


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## Greg_o (Mar 4, 2010)

I don't know if a kh of 2 would kill them though

I'd start with the water used for changes and top offs - consider ro/di. Otherwise what conditioner / additives are used?

Bacterial problems also are blamed for a lot of 'unexplained' deaths. I can not answer how to treat other than almond leaves and patience. Maybe there's more current advice out there these days about that.


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## GaryC (Apr 2, 2012)

I don't use any additives in the water for any of my tanks. Normally for my fish I just use my python and take out like 30 - 40% and just fill straight.

The shrimp tank I just pour water into a plastic container and let it sit there for like a week before I take cups of water out and fill with the container. 

It looks like the crs/cbs are doing better in the 90 gallon though so I really don't know. I found another cherry dead today in the 5.5 gallon and it was one of the bigger ones.


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## srolls (Apr 25, 2010)

did you check your tds? tapwater in Toronto pretty high tds for crs and cbs.


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## GaryC (Apr 2, 2012)

Hmm I don't have anything to check TDS unfortunately. It just makes me wonder why the cherry's did pretty well in the Fluval and even my 90 gallon but are dying in my 5.5 gallon. Well I guess the colony is still growing in my 5.5 but deaths are more noticeable? I'll have to think about getting RO/DI I guess if I want to continue to try to keep CRS/CBS shrimp.

Mind you if the CRS/CBS start multiplying in the 90 gallon I'll be totally confused.


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## Symplicity (Oct 14, 2011)

Drip water changes.

Your parameters are changing too much due to tank size.


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

camboy012406 said:


> i think your kh is not okey it should be 1


generally, 1-2dKH is fine


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## jon021 (May 19, 2009)

Are you using any dechlorinators with your tap water? Aging the water won't gas out the chloramines.


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## GaryC (Apr 2, 2012)

I don't use anything normally. The cherries never had a problem before in a Fluval spec. I might look to invest in something like a under sink drinking water filter, it's not a RO/DI unit but just something I was planning on doing anyways.



jon021 said:


> Are you using any dechlorinators with your tap water? Aging the water won't gas out the chloramines.


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## jon021 (May 19, 2009)

Is it one of those water softener units? Shrimps didn't seem to take well to that type of water when I used it. I think its because of the salts used in my particular system. I'd suggest picking up a bottle of seachem prime, it'll last a while. The bee shrimps are a lot more sensitive than cherries so the chrolamines will affect them more.


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## GaryC (Apr 2, 2012)

I'll check it out, the thing I was going to use is probably the carbon type. I might even check out the API tap water filter thing.

I might just give up on CRS / CBS anyways.


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