# CRS shrimp colony die off - any thoughts?



## flanneryc (Jul 25, 2009)

Hi all,

About a month ago I had a vibrant colony of CRS shrimp that were breeding and looking great. 

My tank is a 5 gallon build with good filtration, and with good parameters. I use RO water and get a PH of 6.5, no ammonia, no nitrites, always less than 5 ppm nitrate, KH of 1 and gh of 3. I fully test the water once every 2 weeks and it is rarely anything different than these numbers. I check TDS daily and it is anywhere from 130 to 170 at all times. I also have an air stone so oxygen shouldn't be an issue. 

I have an LED that is now on timer so it's on every day for 12 hrs. 

I have different mosses and plants for the shrimp and any babies. 

About a month ago I started to lose a shrimp every second day and my colony has gone from 28 plus some babies and is now at 4. 

The only thing that changed was an order of Crs that I got from shrimpfever so I'm confident that nothing bad was introduced as they are a very well respected store. 

The only thing I can think of that would have such a slow but steady rate of death is something happening during a moult, but I think my parameters are ok for that. Maybe I'm wrong. 

Can anyone tell me if they have any ideas. I've really enjoyed my colony at work and am quite sad/disappointed to see so many, including babies, die. 

Thanks for any input.

Chris


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

You do not mention your temperature, if it is getting up to or over 80 then that would be one cause. Crystal can not take high heat.


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## flanneryc (Jul 25, 2009)

Temp is 75 or 76 usually.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

Do you have AC and is it on? If not the tank will be going to high during the day. Did you recently add any plants. Some importers use a cooper based solution to kill all bugs on the plants. That has been known to kill shrimp as well, but usually quicker. How old is the substrate? I help out at Shrimp Fever sometimes and that is all I can think of. Maybe give Tommy a call tomorrow?


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## Mykuhl (Apr 8, 2013)

Do you regularly check your Ph? With such a low kh there is a very real possibility that your ph could crash is you are not doing very regular water changes. This.is the only thing that stands out to me. A ph crash could have killed your shrimp.


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## flanneryc (Jul 25, 2009)

Mykuhl said:


> Do you regularly check your Ph? With such a low kh there is a very real possibility that your ph could crash is you are not doing very regular water changes. This.is the only thing that stands out to me. A ph crash could have killed your shrimp.


Hi there.. Yes, I check my PH a couple of times a week and it is always at 6.4 or 6.5..


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## flanneryc (Jul 25, 2009)

darkangel66n said:


> Do you have AC and is it on? If not the tank will be going to high during the day. Did you recently add any plants. Some importers use a cooper based solution to kill all bugs on the plants. That has been known to kill shrimp as well, but usually quicker. How old is the substrate? I help out at Shrimp Fever sometimes and that is all I can think of. Maybe give Tommy a call tomorrow?


The tank is in my office, and the AC is on during the day. I did actually buy a plant from BA in Whitby about a month ago, but with the death still continuing I'm sure that it wouldn't be that. The substrate is about 2 months old (Fluval stratum).

Another death this morning when i got in. Colony almost gone. 

Interestingly, I've had 2 Blue diamond in the tank as well, and they appear to be as healthy as ever.

I've lowered the temp on the tank to see if that helps.

Any other ideas?


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## woopderson (Feb 12, 2014)

That is worrying for sure, but at least your Blue Diamonds are ok. Questions incoming!

Did you perhaps put your hand in the tank when it may have had some sort of residue on it? (soap etc)

Have you tried doing some water changes since the issue started?

When you do water changes, do you drip them in? Mine demand that I very slowly drip the new water in, otherwise they want to climb out. I drip pure RO in, so it is probably the TDS difference that bothers them. 

I second the insecticide on the plant that was put in recently. Did the plant have any sort of ring around the roots/bunch?

Were the shrimp swimming around a lot and trying to climb out of the water?

Dosing any fertilizers?


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## flanneryc (Jul 25, 2009)

woopderson said:


> That is worrying for sure, but at least your Blue Diamonds are ok. Questions incoming!
> 
> Did you perhaps put your hand in the tank when it may have had some sort of residue on it? (soap etc)
> 
> ...


Great questions and thank you for asking. 

1) I rarely put my hands in the tank, but I have lately because I'm trying to make sure i remove any dead shrimp so that I can minimize the decay into the water. I'm pretty sure that I haven't put in any soap, but this is one thing that possible could be the problem.

2) I have performed numerous changes of water and replace with R/O as well. I don't drip the water in, as I buy my RO from BA in Whitby and wouldn't have the time at work to make that happen. I've never noticed the shrimp trying to get out of the tank, at any time

3) The plant did have a metal ring on it when I bought it, and I removed the ring

4) I have only dosed once in the last couple of months as my plants were growing fine with the LED light. I dosed with Flourish Excel, but again, I've done water changes since then, so even if it was the problem I should have such long lasting impacts (i could be wrong though)

Chris


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## woopderson (Feb 12, 2014)

Aye, it can be easy to forget to rinse off our hands prior to playing in the tank. I usually keep a small jug of RO just for that purpose.

Dripping was difficult for me to arrange as well, as my two kittens make sure that I cannot leave the drip line unsupervised for long. Even with a stream of water through an air line my CRS were swimming and trying to climb out. Slow slow drips were key in the end. (~1 drip/second).

If you haven't yet, perhaps put an Indian Almond leaf in there? They do have some beneficial health effects. I always keep one in my tank.


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## flanneryc (Jul 25, 2009)

woopderson said:


> Aye, it can be easy to forget to rinse off our hands prior to playing in the tank. I usually keep a small jug of RO just for that purpose.
> 
> Dripping was difficult for me to arrange as well, as my two kittens make sure that I cannot leave the drip line unsupervised for long. Even with a stream of water through an air line my CRS were swimming and trying to climb out. Slow slow drips were key in the end. (~1 drip/second).
> 
> If you haven't yet, perhaps put an Indian Almond leaf in there? They do have some beneficial health effects. I always keep one in my tank.


Thanks..

I do have the almond leaf in there already.  At one point i wondered if this was the problem as I didn't seal the bag of 10 once I opened them up and wasn't sure if they get old or stale. (As you can see I'm thinking of every possible cause..  )

So you think it was my hands in the tank then? Would that explain the slow month long die off?

I'm going to buy a new temp guage, just in case the one i have is faulty and I actually have the water warmer than i want. Just in case.

I love keeping shrimp, so even if the last ones die off, I can see myself trying again with CRS or something a bit sturdier that is just as pretty.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

When you say office what exactly do you mean? A home office, a cubicle, a locked private office? Is there any chance the cleaning staff have switched cleaning products or are using more aerosols? Is there any animosity in the office that someone might do something to your tank? Have they done any renovations lately anywhere in the building?


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## woopderson (Feb 12, 2014)

I'm glad to hear you aren't discouraged! I'm trying to think of everything as well 

The thing is, if it was stuff from your hands in theory it would have come out with some water changes. 

Darkangel66n brings up a good point. I work at an IT Help Desk and am a bit leery about keeping a tank at my desk. The cleaning staff tend to be careless, and wouldn't want a user to sabotage my tank!

Perhaps it is a parasite? Planaria maybe? I know shrimp safe medicated planaria removal methods exist. 

Alternatively you could try this just to test: 

Get a bottle of some sort that is safe in the aquarium, and put some sort of protein-y food in there. Then make the entry to the bottle small enough that the shrimp can't get it, but a worm could squeeze through. Leave it in there for a day or so and see what you catch.


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## flanneryc (Jul 25, 2009)

darkangel66n said:


> When you say office what exactly do you mean? A home office, a cubicle, a locked private office? Is there any chance the cleaning staff have switched cleaning products or are using more aerosols? Is there any animosity in the office that someone might do something to your tank? Have they done any renovations lately anywhere in the building?


It's actually an office in the church, so it is locked and private and I'm very confident that no one would intentionally do anything..  although..... LOL

Our cleaning staff haven't changed anything that I know of, but it would be good for me to double check.. Thanks for the idea.

Chris


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## woopderson (Feb 12, 2014)

Best of luck! Let us know how things progress.


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## novice (Mar 14, 2006)

*CRs*

Any changes in feeding habits or new food introduced?


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## flanneryc (Jul 25, 2009)

novice said:


> Any changes in feeding habits or new food introduced?


Nope... Nothing new in that month.. Using CRS Shirakura shrimp ball food and occasionally a small piece of Algae Wafer.

Colony is down to 2, but the good news is that no death this morning


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

Have you opened a window in the last month that was not open prior to your deaths?


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