shrimp dying!

**ManEatingShrimp** · 03-14-2012, 6:47 PM

I recently got some "golden yellow shrimp" from aquabid.
I got 13 in total and spread them out with 5 my 10 community and 8 in my 2.5 gallon. The ones in the 10 gallon are in a DIY "breeder box" made from pantyhose and a juice bottle. The bottle is filled with moss and the bottom is cut off and covered in pantyhose. The 10 gallon is slightly overstocked at the moment.

For the first few weeks the shrimp have been doing fine but 1 1/2 weeks ago one shrimp in the breeder box died (the only one that was completely gold

) and since then either 1 or 2 has died. Now I have 2 problems.
The shrimp in the 2.5 are doing great but like I said the ones in the 10 are dying. I don't know if its the fertilizers, overstocked, stress, or what I fear, disease.
They seem pretty healthy but I don't want to risk infecting the 2.5 which seems to be doing great. Basically I am freaking out because these are my first shrimp but I decided to get the nicer, more expensive yellows. Should I move them all into the 2.5 or just cross my fingers?

Problem #2 is that the shrimp are showing 3 different colors it seems:
#1 golden shell (mostly clear but bright, thick yellow layer forming on shell- seller told me these are the "golden shrimp" - at the moment just developing golden shell)
#2 yellow (yellow translucent- very yellow to slightly yellow - some are slightly yellow and starting to grow yellow shell)
#3 clear/ reddish (1-2 showing this... it started clear but is getting darker)
I am going to separate the completely clear or strange colored shrimp but should it be ok to breed the yellow with the golden shell? Will that just produce yellow shrimp that grow a golden shell?

Any help is appreciated

**Jody** · 03-14-2012, 6:58 PM

Do you know your water parameters if so can you post them for us , what is your stock in the 10Gal.

One thing that comes to mind is the pantyhose most of them are treated with antibacterial product that could give you grief ,I use pantyhose but only get my wife to buy untreated kind

,

**ManEatingShrimp** · 03-14-2012, 7:15 PM

Well I do weekly water changes (sometime over the weekend) and last Friday the parameters seemed good before the water change. Nitrates and ammonia are hard to read on the api test kit but they were either none or barely readable. I have 3 cherry barbs, 3 neon tetras, 2 2" plecos, and a golden killie. The tank also has a tetra 30 gallon filter and about 10 different plants.Would I be able to see if they were sick?

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**Jody** · 03-14-2012, 7:30 PM

well if the shrimp in the 10 Gal are dying and the 2.5 Gal are doing fine i would say the shrimp are fine its there environment, how are you feeding the shrimp that's in the breeder box ? the test kit is that a liquid test kit, ammonia should be 0 . Are you dosing any ferts ? you sure the killie not getting at your yellows you did have another thread saying he killed most if not all you ghost shrimp

**ManEatingShrimp** · 03-15-2012, 9:17 AM

The test kit is liquid but i cant tell the difference between the 0 and .25 reading on the scale. Its very low if there is any. I did add a very small amount of petco ferts but I added to both tanks. I saw the dead shrimp and the killie could not get into the cantainer although he does stare at them and at feeding time he sometimes attacks the breeder box so he could be stressing them out.
I feed the shrimp through a hole in the top of the box with the same food I feed the other shrimp.
I think i will just move them all into the 2.5 but what signs should I look for if they are diseasd?
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**Jody** · 03-15-2012, 12:06 PM

only thing i even seen is when they turn white inside kinda looks like a white cloud inside there tail area , the few shrimp i had like that all died .

Are they molting ? are you having any PH problems

maybe something here can help

http://www.planetinverts.com/Invert%20Tank%20Setup.html

**ManEatingShrimp** · 03-15-2012, 6:09 PM

just moved them all into the 2.5
Im pretty positive one of the 3 shrimp is a cherry

**AfishIonado** · 03-15-2012, 8:13 PM

Could it be the moss in the 10gal?

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**ManEatingShrimp** · 03-16-2012, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by AfishIonado

Could it be the moss in the 10gal?

Do you mean how the cherry got there? The yellows are the only shrimp i have so it must have been mixed with the package... What should I do with him? The only other tank I have is a half cycled 10 gallon without a heater and dosed with ferts to grow plants

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**Jody** · 03-16-2012, 12:15 PM

well yellows and cherry's are the same shrimp (Neocaridina heteropoda) and well interbreed and most likely the baby's well revert back to the wild coloration, i would guess the shrimp in question is a male, some of my male cherry's look kinda like my male yellows. Both the cherry's and yellows came from wild type so i cant see no reason why some yellows might show little red the males anyway but it could be just a cherry or a cull and if you want to breed the yellows best to move him/her. pics would be great