# Help: Cherry Shrimps dieing rapidly



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

Hello

I need immediate help for a few days now I noticed that my cherries dieing rapidly. I have established 10gl planted tank (3 years old) that hosts cherries and Cristal shrimps only. Also has some assassin snails. This is heavily planted tank, where plant grow very well. It probably has over 500 cherries right now or more. A few days ago I noticed an unusual amount of dead cherries . Like 5-7 vs. 0-1 I have done small water change 15% and tested the water right away using API Master kit. And yes I discovered ammonia there (0.5, third one from the top on the indicator). My NO2 = 0 and NO3=0.2 (second one from the top on the indicator sheet of API master liquid tester kit) I've done major water change 50% yesterday and ammonia started to drop. I also put extra doze of Prime conditioner as it helps with ammonia as well. Also a few days ago I had to replace my AC20 filter as my old one broke but I'm still using same filter inserts to not to brake bio-filter. But today I unfortunately discovered another 10+ dead. And I also notices that for some reason most of my shrimps and assassins sitting at the top of the tank. I've done small water change again 15% and put little Stability bio-support. I do not know what else to do to stop the rapid dieing of the shrimps. The dead shrimps are different age from Yong to adults. I did not find and crustal dead but they are hard to find in the tank as it is less of them then cherries. Any help is appreciated.


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## darkangel66n (May 15, 2013)

Using prime will give a false positive for ammonia in your tank so you may or may not have an ammonia issue. If you do it is half of the .50 you are seeing as prime will show .25 even in the absence of any ammonia. What is the temperature of your tank at? Most shrimp will start to die once it is over 80*. What is your substrate and what are you using for water?


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

darkangel66n said:


> Using prime will give a false positive for ammonia in your tank so you may or may not have an ammonia issue. If you do it is half of the .50 you are seeing as prime will show .25 even in the absence of any ammonia. What is the temperature of your tank at? Most shrimp will start to die once it is over 80*. What is your substrate and what are you using for water?


My temperature is 24C. It is looks like more as ammonia. It looks stable now but I also have couple of Amonos there and they now look very white vs. see-through as they should. I spoke with my friend who is one of BA store managers and have been in this business for 20 years and he told me that the way it is happening exactly as ammonia outbreak. He told me that even after ammonia is gone the shrimps affected with it still will be dieing. Hopefully not that many.


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## tranceaddict (Apr 3, 2011)

hmmm, water change is good. maybe drop the temp. ive had cherries do well in 15 degrees tanks, but i keep mine around 75*F


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

tranceaddict said:


> hmmm, water change is good. maybe drop the temp. ive had cherries do well in 15 degrees tanks, but i keep mine around 75*F


My temp is the same. And it looks like it is stabilized as I don't see dead shrimps anymore.


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## exv152 (Dec 1, 2012)

Five hundred cherries for a 10g might be pushing the bio-load too. I know cherries are the toughest shrimp out there, but isn't the rule of thumb 5-10 shrimp per gallon?


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

exv152 said:


> Five hundred cherries for a 10g might be pushing the bio-load too. I know cherries are the toughest shrimp out there, but isn't the rule of thumb 5-10 shrimp per gallon?


I had 30 originaly. But they started to multiply. And I don't know anymore how many I have there but i see a lot !


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

exv152 said:


> Five hundred cherries for a 10g might be pushing the bio-load too. I know cherries are the toughest shrimp out there, but isn't the rule of thumb 5-10 shrimp per gallon?


There's no way anybody can count over 100 cherry shrimps in a heavily planted tank, nevermind 500! 

Also, cherry shrimps can have delayed reaction to stress factors. I remember when I transferred a bunch of shrimps to a new tank, I would find dead shrimps a couple of weeks later.


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## zzz (Sep 18, 2013)

50% water change (+15%+15%) was also quite a stability changing move which could contribute to recent deaths, although I understand that there was some issue before.
Shrimps and snails close to the top can suggest the lack of dissolved O2- check filter function, possible source of overheating and question (if applicable) recent dosing of CO2.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Is your pH stable and above 7 ? Cherries don't do well in acidic conditions, though crystals do. They often do not do so well together, since they prefer different water conditions.

It hasn't happened often, but any time I have found adverse water conditions, either ammonia or nitrites, I do multiple smaller water changes, until I have changed at least the total volume of water in the tank once. In a 30 G, I'd change 30% at least 3 times to start with. I also clean the filter, using some of the changed out water. Test again, and if the levels are not at zero, do more changes until levels are zero. There is much less risk to the animals doing the water changes than there is leaving them exposed to ammonia or nitrite. Yes, there is some stress with the water changes but chances are very high you'll lose less doing water changes than you will leaving the animals in high ammonia levels for any length of time after you discover the problem.

It is true that ammonia damage is permanent, though the severity can vary. Animals that initially survive an exposure will generally have shorter lives. They may live only a week or two, possibly a few months, by which time you may have forgotten it happened and not link the death with the ammonia.

Animals hanging out near the tank top are usually either seeking higher oxygen levels or to escape other adverse water conditions, so I'd always check water parameters if I saw such behaviour, unless it's a bunch of MTS, in which case they are more likely just releasing babies at the water surface.


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