unable to currently sustain any shrimp

[new2tanks]

I have a 10 g that I have had for a couple of years now.
A while back I had some ghost shrimo that lasted only a week or so....It seems that my water chemistry is unable to sustain any shrimp which I would love to have aspart of my tank . (the other inhabitants are a school of neons and corys). I do water changes once a week and have pristine water numbers....What can I add to my tank to be able to keep some shrimp?
Is it calcium? (I has a large apple snail once but the poor things shell withered away :( )

Thanks.

[Squawkbert]

What numbers are "pristine"??

If your NH3/NO2/NO3 are all at or near "0", what's your pH and how stable is it?

Are you using tapwater? If so, has it been through a water softener?

What is and how stable is your tank's temperature?

Will your LFS test your water for GH?

[TwoHobbies]

Based on your assessment of the water, that's not it! The likelyhood is that the ghost shrimp you are purchasing are such a weak strain that they don't live anywhere long. That and the fact that fish stress shrimp. Try getting some Cherries from a breeder. I think you will have much better luck.

[new2tanks]

Yes i mean My ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all at 0 and my pH is stable at 7.6

i do use tap water but this hasnt been softened in anyway. my temperature is mostly between 75 to 78 degrees. It is stable.

I will report back with gH and kH numbers.

[new2tanks]

gH is 11 dGH

and kH is 7 dKH

[247Plants]

Have you ever used any copper based medications in this tank?

[msjinkzd]

Those numbers are great for shrimp, specifically neocaridina (cherries, snowballs, yellows, blue pearls). I am curious as well if any medications were ever used in this tank. Its also possible the ghost shrimp you got were not very healthy. I would also suggest trying something like cherry shrimp as they are pretty hardy. You would need to make sure you intake is covered with a sponge and they would appreciate live plants or areas of dense cover.

[new2tanks]

Thanks all for your replies!

No Ive never used copper based meds in my tank. ever.

So I called my lfs and they have some RCS! im very excited. going to pick some up this week.

So I should cover the intake on my filter now? (I have an AC 30 on my 10g).

[inkyjenn]

ghost shrimp are generally in pretty poor shape when you get them. a lot of places treat them as food and for some reason think this is a great reason to neglect them (look at feeder fish as well). ghost shrimp can be quite touchy about water parameters since they are pretty stressed out to begin with.

cherries seem pretty hardy, but you do have to keep up with water changes. i think i killed off about half my population recently thanks to not enough vacuuming. the parameters checked out (no ammonia or nitrite, and 20 ppm of nitrate with the pH at 7) ok, but i noticed my cherries dying off in droves. i vacuumed and notice huge amounts of muck. i ended up doing about an 80% water change with full vacuum (i pulled up all of my plants to do this) and upgraded my filter. the remaining cherries seem to be doing a lot better. im keeping an eye on this