RCS die off

I've put chunks of home made food (I wouldn't call it a jello, but it does have calcium in it and stuff) in there, small chunks since there are so few animals in there. I haven't seen much in the way of molts in there, now that you mention it. I guess I'll keep watching. But I did inadvertently add 4 or 5 RCS, so they shouldn't have any of the damage from the crashed cycle. And one of them was a berried female which I can't positively identify anymore, so I'm guessing the clutch hatched, and the shrimplets are just doing a good job of hiding from me. I'll look again tonight; it's been 9 days since they were added with the driftwood. I'm thinking about moving some glowlights or von rios to the tank, just to see what happens.

I'm also thinking about moving some of those tetras into the betta's tank to see what kind of interaction there will be.

Is there a freshwater test kit for calcium levels?
 
as an aside, the driftwood should lower the pH (as you're seeing), not raise it as you suggested earlier. the tannic and other wood acids should want the pH o stabilize around 6. this is perhaps a good thing, since calcium is more soluble at lower pH which might help them absorb it
 
pbeemer said:
as an aside, the driftwood should lower the pH (as you're seeing), not raise it as you suggested earlier. the tannic and other wood acids should want the pH o stabilize around 6. this is perhaps a good thing, since calcium is more soluble at lower pH which might help them absorb it
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I didn't suggest driftwood would raise the pH. Just a simple misreading, as I'm sure we've all done at some point.

My tap is 8.2, the shrimp tank was 8.2 prior to adding driftwood, the betta tank is 8.2, the shrimp tank is now 7.8 after adding driftwood, and my 55 was 7.4 with 3 pieces of driftwood. It may be higher now (I haven't checked yet) due to the one piece of wood being moved out. In my initial post there was verbiage about the 55 being at 7.4 and the shrimp tank being at 8.2, and the only difference was the driftwood and Purigen in the 55. Everything else was relatively the same.

I doubt calcium solubility is a factor in the deaths. It just doesn't make sense, especially since I added nothing with calcium to my 55 for quite a while, before I realized it's a good idea for inverts.
 
OrionGirl said:
Calcium levels? Maybe make some snail jello with added calcium and see if that makes a difference. I know it's tough with cherries, but have you noticed them molting? Still could just be residual damage--bladder snails are MUCH hardier than either shrimp or ramshorns when it comes to ammonia exposure.
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The molt question is a bit of a conundrum. I know it has to be happening, but I can't find any molts in the tank. I'm seeing juvies that are bigger than when I first saw them a week ago, but no molts. And, somehow, I managed to have a blue shrimp of some sort. It was such a surprise, I had to do a double take, grab a flashlight, and get a look at the back of the tank (where it was) and yep, it's a blue juvie. That just means someone kept blues with the reds, so I'll probably cull that out once I'm sure the random deaths have stopped. Until then, it's part of the experimental group, so to speak.

Oh, and I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I moved the ramshorns over when I added the driftwood (weeks after the cycle got stabilized) so they weren't exposed to the ammonia, which reads at .25 on my API test kit (thanks to Prime), just like it does on the 55 they were thriving in before I moved them over. It's weird, because the shrimp aren't strong enough to move the ramshorns, and I'll find the ramshorns on top of stuff, laying on their sides and tucked in, but they move when I'm not looking.
 
Color is pretty variable. I had pretty red, and had a crash that reduced my population to 3-4...and a few months later, almost every shrimp in the tank was green.

Sounds like you have slacker ramshorns. :)
 
Ugh. I love the reds. My wife loves the reds. She most emphatically does not like the blues. Happy wife equals happy life.

Something's going on with the ramshorns. It's why I've been wondering if there's something bacterial going on. Maybe I'll dose with Stability for a while, and see if the population stops dying off.
 
Found another dead one today. It also seems like the shrimp are much less active in this tank. The bladder snails seem to be reproducing well, so I assume that means there's food for the eating, not to mention I drop some food in every time I feed my 55, usually a couple pellets, or part of a shrimp food stick, so starvation shouldn't be an issue.
Maybe I'll have to let them all die out, take everything out, including the snails, which I guess I'll euthanize, in case there is something bacterial causing the problems, and boil or bleach dip everything. I seem to have less than a dozen shrimp in there now. It's hard to tell with all of the possible hiding places, but that's how many I could find today.
 
The only thing I can think of, because it was the only thing people could suggest to me when I had this problem, is that it only takes a momentary ammonia spike to kill and weaken shrimp. Well, one dead shrimp in a spot where other shrimp cannot eat them fast enough can cause that momentary spike and cause a chain reaction. But I have had horrible luck with shrimp (except my 3 yr old amanos, go figure) besides a couple months of good breeding so take that with a grain of salt.

Sorry I can't be of much help but I want to let you know again that I am rooting for your little guys and I understand your pain. Good Luck!
 
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