I am about to quit the hobby

D

david052856

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Nov 9, 2010
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I have no idea what is happening. But I have a 50 gallon tank that is heavily planted. My plants are doing amazing.....spreading and a very vibrant green.

Something is happening to my shrimp. I dont know if I have a water bug that has been brought in on my plants, I dont know if I have a water scorpion.....but SOMETHING is eating my shrimp.

They are vanishing without any trace what so ever. I am so very pissed I dont know what to do.....
I bought 20 cardinal shrimp.....thats right TWENTY of them. They were imports. Placed them in my tank. They were doing great for two weeks. But slowly they started dwindling. At first I thought that they were hiding......and I would only see three or four at a time. Now there is one. ONE of the things out and eating happily.

My cherries have taken a nose dive.......same thing.

Let me point one thing out. I check my tank on a DAILY basis. There is absolutely NO bodies what so ever....no sign of dead shrimp no nothing. I checked my filter which has a sponge on it.....nothing.
I have checked my water twice a week - NO fluctuations of my ammonia or my nitrate level or my ph. Everything is on a time and very much established and constant.

I dont know what else to do except throw all of my plants away and start over.

Are there any other suggestions?
 
I wouldn't do that. I doubt your plants are causing a problem...if there is something eating your shrimp, such as hydra, they will be in the tank whether the tank has plants or not. Taking the plants out is going to cause a huge disruption, and isn't going to solve the problem.

Cardinal shrimp are fussy and need very specific parameters, if you are noticing mostly your cardinal shrimp disappearing, I don't think there are any bugs or parasites specific to them. It may just be that you have, or don't have, something in your water that they can't tolerate, or that they need.

I would first try getting some PolyFilter. Not the polyester filter floss, but this:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/211559/product.web?gdftrk=gdfV2226_a_7c268_a_7c6967_a_7c211559
At least that way you can rule out chemical contamination.

I completely understand why you are frustrated. However, it's important not to let it get the best of you. I'm sure it is possible to figure out what is going on.

Do you dose CO2? CO2 can cause some pH fluctuations. What is your water chemistry like?

Do you use tap water with dechlorinator? I believe cardinal shrimp are more sensitive to heavy metals.

What kind of substrate do you have? Is that a canister or hang on back filter?

This is just the beginning of the investigation process. Lots of ways to go from here! We do need some more info from you, though.
 
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Exactly as platytudes said. keep plans in there, if there flourishing then why remove them. Now we just have to adress the problem of you stock. If you plants are doing well then leave um, there have been no traces of any bodies? have you searched in all plausible spots??
 
I have no idea what is going on I am at a complete loss.

I am using dechlorinator. The expensive stuff and usually I let it sit out at least two or three days in a tub before I use it.
 
You should continue to ride this out. You need to see what happens. Have you added any new plants recently? It could be a protozoan parasite.
 
What do you feed them? Could they have gotten a bad batch of food?

Honestly, not seeing the bodies doesn't convince me that something is eating them. That is why I'm asking you all of these questions, to see if there is some kind of pattern or something that stands out.

Think about how shrimp are smaller than most fish fry, and yet fry die in breeding tanks all the time and "disappear" because they are a very small mass. We don't find their tiny skeletons or anything, yet in some cases their numbers dwindle steadily...and not usually because something is eating them.
 
I had 7 cardinals healthy for several months. One day there were 4, then none.
They're fussy little guys, and that's all there is to it. When a shrimp dies, it'll get eaten by other shrimp very quickly. You generally won't see bodies.
Keep on trucking with your other shrimp, and don't try the Cardinals again unless you want to try a whole new set-up and spend a lot of money.
I'm going to try again someday, but not soon.
 
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