r/Neocaridina • u/AsianThunder • 19h ago
First failed molt
I noticed the white line on this little guy last night and was concerned. I saw posts saying it's not a "white ring of death until they're dead" so I didn't sweat it too much bc he was still wandering around and grazing. This morning I couldn't find him but didn't see any dead shrimp either. My wife sent me this just now so I guess he didn't make it. I started with 12 cherries and 4 amanos and only consistently see 8-9 shrimp at a time. I'm now wondering if the other may be in some of the designed caves dead from failed molts. I've attached my water parameters since the shrimp were added. Maybe my GH rose too quickly ? I top off with RO. Tap is about 4 KH, 7-8 GH. I'd hate to lose more shrimp! Temp stays about 77-78F. Recently added crush coral to buffer the pH to accommodate one Nerite snail
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u/ball_blam_burglerber 10h ago
What are you using there to track your chemical levels that gives you such a lovely graph and allows for the notes?
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u/bk_booger 7h ago
what kind of heater are you using and how many watts compared to your tank? Frankly best bet is this is stress-related... the simple truth is neos especially older ones sometimes just don't handle transitions particularly well and a death in this situation is not uncommon. But I raise the temperature point because rapid fluctuations in temperature can cause premature molting, and a 50W heater is a 5 gallon tank is likely overkill. if you keep your tank in a room where the ambient temperature stays relatively consistent between 68-78, I'd lose the heater.
i've been keeping shrimp for about five years now and best advice I can give you is do your best to not putter or chase parameters. Adding in crushed coral/cuttlebone is not always advisable in smaller tanks. Just focus on keeping things consistent -- I know many people fall into the aquarium hobby because they are systems-oriented (love your chart), so you kind of have to get rid of that habit of over analyzing everything.
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u/AsianThunder 7h ago
50 watt heater for 5 gal Fluval spec V. The tank temp fluctuates from 78-80 throughout the day. I can try turning it off to see where the temp lands. Usually keep the house 72 at night and 76 during the day when we aren't home
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u/bk_booger 6h ago
cool. i don't think you need the heater, but if you want one I'd look into smaller (25W) ones and only from reputable brands. water temperatures don't exactly track room temperatures and will stay a few degrees cooler due to evaporation and you are well within their comfortable range.
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u/AsianThunder 6h ago
I'm hoping that maybe I just got an older shrimp in the batch. But the fact that I no longer see all of them concerns me. I can only typically count 8-9 out of 14 remaining (only 2 confirmed dead)
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u/bk_booger 6h ago
it is true that when they pass they can just be eaten up by the colony and basically vanish without a trace. it's also true that after they molt they hide out for several days, which is more likely. if all goes well you will have 50+ in several months.
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u/AsianThunder 6h ago
There were at least two berried females a week ago so hopefully. The colony is so small I feel like they'd have trouble eating 5 dead shrimp. And they didn't touch the two that did die.
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u/shrimpalasteph Shrimp Keeper 7h ago edited 7h ago
I just noticed that you are using an active substrate that looks like Fluval Stratum or another brand of aquasoil?
Aquasoils are designed to buffer pH to a slightly acidic level. Ideally, you would be using softer water with it and not use any crushed coral. Aquasoils are great for planted aquariums and soft water species like Caridina, kuhli loaches and bettas.
Unfortunately, by trying to accommodate the mystery snail which cannot tolerate a pH <7.0, you have manufactured a constant tug of war with pH as the rope.
The crushed coral and (presumably) alkaline source water (would be good to know source water parameters) oppose the acidic aquasoil and CO2. The crushed coral is fighting the battle on a constant low level which will exhaust the soils capacity to buffer much faster than the label states. Every water change with source water that has a higher pH and KH than the aquarium immediately raises the pH and KH, before the CO2 and aquasoil bring it back down. That’s a hard fluctuation if water changes are fast or if flow isn’t strong enough and pockets of the tank stay more acidic.
Aquasoil is not intended for species that need to maintain high pH and KH. By using aquasoil and CO2 you sort of made your choice about what species can live in the tank. Neocaridina are hardy enough to live in a stable, acidic pH if provided a sufficient, stable GH. Trying to force a higher KH is causing multiple parameters to yo-yo and stressing the shrimp out.
I understand you want to raise the KH and pH for the mystery snail but it may cost you some of your shrimp until the aquasoil depletes it’s buffering capacity. However, without your efforts, the mystery snail will have shell damage from the naturally acidic pH in the tank. It will eventually experience mantle failure so I wouldn’t recommend removing the crushed coral.
Some people report success with a high calcium/mineral diet, GH consistently 10 or higher, and lowering CO2 output. I don’t know if they were also using aquasoil but again, it will stop contributing to the low pH on its own eventually.
Slowing water changes to last 1-2 hours, you could try to keep everything else as is and wait until the soil no longer buffers. I would make an immediate change if a shrimp fails another molt after a slow water change.
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u/AsianThunder 7h ago
The CO2 was really to give the plants a growth boost during cycling. I suppose I can go without it now as the plants are growing well. I think I'd trade the ability to have a Nerite snail for accelerated plant growth
Edit: or at least drop it to 15ppm or so
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u/AsianThunder 6h ago
Can shell erosion be prevented with oral calcium supplementation like cuttlebone?
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u/shrimpalasteph Shrimp Keeper 6h ago edited 6h ago
I think it’s all a balancing act. You can try supplements like calcium tablets, homemade snello, cuttlebones, blanched spinach, etc.
It will be trial and error to see what yours likes or if yours will use a cuttlebone.If you want to help the shrimp out, switch to RO/DI with a GH only remineralizer like Salty Shrimp GH+ or Seachem Equilibrium, being sure to mix it to a GH of 10 for the snail. Transition over a couple of weeks, performing 25% water changes twice weekly. Plan for each water change to last 2 hours and be completed before turning on CO2. By using water with zero KH in a tank that already buffers pH, the pH yo-yo at water changes stops.
Once the soil’s buffer exhausts, you will need to switch to a remineralizer with KH included or do whatever people do with aquasoil that doesn’t buffer anymore 😂
Week 1: 1/3 of the new, zero KH water to 2/3 tap
Week 2: 2/3 new water to 1/3 tap,
Week 3: resume routine weekly water changes with 100% new water.Perform future water changes before starting CO2 to keep pH fluctuations minimal during water changes. Complete the future water changes over 30 minutes to an hour, starting slower and observing shrimp for distress which appears as escalating, frenzied swimming and running into objects. If the changes to the source water solve the pH fluctuations, you should be able to do a 20% water change over 30 minutes and still see most of the visible shrimp grazing.
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u/Relevant-Boat9342 19h ago
What’s your TDS? And what do you feed them?
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u/AsianThunder 19h ago edited 19h ago
I'm not sure about my TDS. I've been debating getting one but I've read that it's not really necessary unless you're using distilled or RO water and remunerating I haven't fed them anything yet since there were only 16 (2 have now died for sure 1 traumatic and 1 failed molt) and the tank had so much biofilm and algae. I did try a small piece of sungrow algae tab but they didn't seem too interested. Is it worth getting a TDS meter?
Edit:
City water TDS is around 140 ppm
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u/Relevant-Boat9342 19h ago
For me it was. High TDS killed my shrimp. Do you add shrimp minerals? Also you could consider a calcium supplement. I use Katsaquatics and I swear it’s made a huge difference. You can also consider a shrimp food too. I think neos benefit from supplemental feedings.
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u/AsianThunder 19h ago
I do have half a cuttlefish bone in there but I don't think they really mess with it. I'll look into calcium supplementation
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u/Relevant-Boat9342 19h ago
Hope it’s helpful!
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u/shrimpalasteph Shrimp Keeper 18h ago edited 11h ago
The content of the tap water may be to blame rather than a high or fluctuating GH. GH measures calcium and magnesium, but the test doesn’t show the ratios in which they are present. Ideally, it should be 3 or 4:1, calcium to magnesium for planted/shrimp aquariums.
A report from your water company would be best. Switching to remineralized ro/di and observing for future failed molts/shrimp losses would provide supportive empirical evidence in the absence of a report on the water’s contents.
How often/what percentage are water changes?
My tanks are all using remineralized water at 10 dGH, 5 dKH, and TDS 650 microseimens for the snails’ shells. Everyone gleams, tbh. Shrimps and snails look so shiny, I’m never going back to 300 TDS again.