RCS deaths

[ayachi]

I just came home after work to find more dead shrimp in my shrimp tank. I checked the water parameters but everything is fine. (Ammonia = 0.25ppm, nitrite=0ppm, nitrate=0ppm)

I do 25% weekly partial water changes so the water quality should be ok. However, there are little moving white spots on the glass that I'm afraid may be some kind of shrimp parasites.

I was planning to get more shrimp but now I'm afraid to add more shrimp to the tank. What should I do?

[stonedaquarium]

ayachi,

you need to get your ammonia to zero... shrimps are quite sensitive to it... how old is your tank? do you use a water conditioner to your water after each water change? the small white spots? it could possibly be copepods and i would not be worried about it. what is the GH of your water?

[effox]

I'd get a test kit and check your GH, if you don't have special substrate or use GH booster, it's likely zero, and they'll die when they molt (water changes can induce this).

Those white dots on the glass are probably planaria or as mentioned harmless copepods, check google images to compare.

[hlee72ca]

The little white spots could be shrimplets, check to see how they swim, if it is for short distances then you have baby shrimps,

[Tarobot]

you have to monitor gh for shrimps, the little white spots are copepods and they thrive if your water quality is good. could be they died from not enough minerals when molting so check your gh

[ayachi]

The tank is about 4 months old, but I cycled it using substrate from an established tank. So it's stable. However, I've recently had an explosion of snails in the tank from some new plants I just got, that's probably where the ammonia came from.

I don't have a GH test kit, but I do use GH booster and water conditioner with every water change. I'll go get a kit tomorrow and check.

Aside from the white spots, I've also got brownish wiggling little worms in the shrimp tank. Not sure what they are though.

[Tarobot]

if you boost but dont check, maybe it went overboard? snails are usually from overfeeding as well which is possible for wiggling little worms, overfeeding is number one cause of quite a bit of aquarium issues.

[ayachi]

It's possible that overfeeding is the problem. I stopped feeding them about a week ago as soon as I noticed the snails. The RCS seem to be doing quite well feeding off the algae on the tank walls so I don't think I'll feed for a while.

The problem is that I can't vacuum the gravel since it's a planted tank with ground cover so I can't get rid of the worms in the substrate. I guess all I can do is do more frequent water changes. *sigh*

[gklaw]

As noted by others, the worms in the substrate is not going to harm anything. They only issue with that is when you overfeed, they are everywhere and is somewhat unsightly.

I am no shrimp experts. In fact, after the last crash, I still do not have the opportunity to set up a shrimp tank.

You will do well taking the advice of the experts above

[BelieveInBlue]

Lets back track a bit and go back to that ammonia problem that just about everyone has missed... A cycled tank does not contain ANY ammonia and nitrite, unless a spike was to occur. Also, unless you're doing 100% waterchange every week or so, you should see SOME nitrates. The fact that you have ammonia but not nitrates makes me think that your tank has somehow become uncycled. Did you break down/reset the tank recently? Did you remove and wash the gravel/filter recently? How big is the tank and how many shrimp/fish? The worms, snails, and whatever other creatures in your tank will most likely not harm your shrimp, and in reality, neither would overfeeding. However, overfeeding could lead to excess waste/decaying food, which could build up and cause a spike. I'd say that at the moment, the most likely cause of death would be thr ammonia. Low GH/KH will kill shrimp, but not nearly does not happen nearly as quickly, and not usually in such a huge scale. Plus, it is easily fixable. Ammonia, however, can kill off your entire tank in a matter of days, if it is to build up to high levels, and with shrimp, high levels really aren't all that high.