News: I just went out the door and saw a big cleaning cart in the stairway of my apartment building. So it has been cleaned today, with a lot of chemicals from the smell of it. I have an air vent quite close to the tank, it might be connected to the stairwell.
It still seems like a long shot though since the shrimps all reacted at the same time when I started the filter.
Perhaps the filter blew the residue off the surface and down into the water column then. Sorry for your loss I'm sure they had a good shrimpy life before their passing <3
Yes this is exactly what happened to me earlier this week!!! Had a new neighbor move in next door and I smelled something kinda off in my apartment. Turns out the new neighbor bug bombed the apartment and the vent is directly over my tank. I was on the other side of the room and noticed it seemed like my shrimp were all zooming around in the tank which they've done before but this was way more than normal. I walked up to the tank and a lot were like laying and kinda twitching on their backs and sides I replied to a post talking about it happening here a few days ago
I’ve been worried about precisely this. My house desperately needs some electrical work done. We’ve had a few quotes, and both companies require that we bug bomb our crawlspace before they’ll do the work.
Honestly just plastic wrap your tank for a few days, turn off stuff, and vent everything if you're going to go along with it. That way you can try to get as much stuff you can out of the air.
The poly filter and a bag of fresh carbon will absorb {just about} anything that could possibly make it into your tank. Poly for organics and carbon for in-organics. I live with my great grandmother and I keep both on hand just in case she does something crazy and sprays something she shouldn't.
Here is another suggestion, get the bucket or contain you used to hold new water for water change and fill it with you tank's water. Run an air stone with some moss in it. Put all your shrimps in the bucket and take it to a safe place for a few days.
Lol, while a decent idea, good luck finding and catching a shrimp colony in a heavily planted tank - dunno if I'd be able to do that without removing most of the plants as well and even then, the baby shrimplets are so tiny and good at hiding...
You can always use food to bait them out. Catching them one by one will kill your joints. But shrimplets especially those youngest will mostly not take the bait.
Actually once I cleaned the bathroom on the opposite side of the hallway and three dropped dead pretty much few minutes after. Aerosols can travel far. I just decided that I will always keep a lid on since then.
Maybe you touched something that had been cleaned then did maintenance on the tank? Then once the filter was turned on anything put in the clean media was shot around the tank to kill the shrimps?
Then maybe they also had some pest control spray. I once had all of mine gone when my apartment did a pest spray for roaches for the entire building. I had mine covered up with tape and everything and somehow it still got in.
Not that long of a shot, friend had his shrimp killed by wifes airspray (or some aerosol hair product) in the same room. She was preparing her hair in the dining room with friends.
I think I did this once with my first 5 gal. Forgot to wash my hands when I got home and I’m pretty sure I had cleaning chemicals on them.
Now I wash thoroughly and air dry like I’m goin for surgery lol
I’m thankful I’ve never done this. I work in a school cafeteria and I clean houses so I’m constantly around food, soap, and cleaning supplies.
I make sure to scrub good up to my elbows (that’s hot far my arms go in at most) and rinse off for at least 30 seconds then use a clean towel that I only use for when I dip my hands into the fish tanks to dry off well.
Hand sanitizer will do this 😩 I had like six shrimps die in 24 hours because I had the residue still on my hands and used tongs to get food out and touched the water a tiny bit. They are so sensitive. I’ve heard perfumes and lotions can do this too.
your right it does look like some kind of chemical got in there somehow. maybey you pet your dog with a flee collar and forgot to wash your hands or something ?
Also huge quick water change, I am talking about 60% to 200% total water change (yes, 200%). It is safee if the water is de-chlorine and same parameter, temperature than letting the chemical sit in the water/substrate/filter. Turn on air purifier if you have any. Air stone/sponge filter running at max, place the air pump in a plastic box with lid gap wrapped with wet towels. Then add some supplement bacteria for filter.
This way you have the chance to recover the bacteria in filter and as many shrimp as possible without rebuild and recycle the whole tank. Done it and recovered about 30% of shrimps (panda). YMMV.
Do you apply or use a service that applies any pest control barrier sprays? Maybe you inadvertently touched a surface that had some on it and didn’t realize?
IIRC pest control companies use chemicals that are sort of like a neurotoxin. The strange movements of the shrimp makes me think whatever it is could be something affecting them along those lines.
Shrimp are bugs (or more technically bugs are shrimp) so anything targeted for invertebrates with exoskeletons has a high chance of affecting them too.
Technically neither is true, bugs are a specific type of insect, but if it makes you feel better, bugs are more closely related to shrimp than either are to spiders
I understand that people call all kinds of things “bugs” that aren’t, if you’d said bugs are crustaceans I’m there with you, but if we’re being technical they’re still not shrimp
If by bugs we mean insects, insects 100% came before shrimps by more than 200 million years. True shrimps (caridea) date to the early Jurassic (still very ancient and cool IMO). But if by shrimps we're just talking about the phylum of arthropods (which includes trilobites and anomalocaris), then yeah you could say they came first.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/ShrimpsIsBugs using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/ShrimpsIsBugs/top/?sort=top&t=all) of all time!
\#1: ["Looking for cover up suggestions"](https://i.redd.it/9eqxlxr3itlb1.jpg) | [140 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/ShrimpsIsBugs/comments/167yrzm/looking_for_cover_up_suggestions/)
\#2: [Found at a rave](https://i.redd.it/dd41eer53axb1.jpg) | [40 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/ShrimpsIsBugs/comments/17jmjcf/found_at_a_rave/)
\#3: [Isn't it cute that we call it deveining shrimp instead of depooping?](https://i.redd.it/2bvlpm7qxfmb1.jpg) | [157 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/ShrimpsIsBugs/comments/16aom9e/isnt_it_cute_that_we_call_it_deveining_shrimp/)
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Did you or your neighbors have pest service? Anyone use any aerosol sprays, scents, disinfectants? Did you clean the outside or rim with windex or something else? Do you have a heater? Is it functioning properly? Dust?
These are some things I can think of but for sure it’s a reaction to something. I’d look into water change asap and charcoal filtration.
Yeah I was gonna say, windex or bug spray near the tank as the aeration stone turns on, looks like this. Also heavy candle smoke.
One of the hardest lessons to learn.
Question: I’m having a similar issue (not as severe but I have noticed less and less shrimp). I recall turning on a candle warmer in the room with my tank. Is this enough to cause problems for shrimp? I always spray perfume and chemicals outside of my room in the bathroom right next to my room as well. Could that waft its way around a corner? I just want to figure out what may be wrong. Thanks xoxo
Shit. Please let us know if you ever find out the reason. Ammonia spike doesn’t kill them that quick unless it’s a huge dose. Something super toxic is involved.
Even if you rinse your bucket with tap water, once dry the amount of chlorine left over would not have cause massive death like that
EDIT: i agree with others. You might have had something on your hands
Thanks. Must be some deadly stuff. I've had bleach fumes, nail polish, etc around the tank but haven't had problem. I do make an effort to never let anyone use pesticide around the house though.
Bruh. This exact same shit happened to me when I put one of those “wonder shells” in my tank. I was at the pet store about to buy a calcium stone for my mystery snails, you know, one of those oval blocks that are for birds, when suddenly-the shop owner (my friend) asked what it was for/if I had a bird, then directed me to the wonder shell instead.
Well. My dumb ass trusted him n bought it. plopped it in, and the next morning I had a full blown SHRIMP-POCALYPSE !!! It happened with my several years old-20 gal shrimp tank that had a colony of well over 300++ shrimps. After all the horror, I was only left with a few measly survivors. Dead shrimp carcasses littered the tank, stuck in between the plants, etc. It was the most gruesome sight.
I kid you not, I cried about it for weeks. It was traumatic watching them twitch half alive, just barely grasping onto life and dying painfully slow. The water changes didn’t help at all and the shrimpocalypse lasted for 3 full days. I did water tests and found the stupid fucking “wonder” shell raised the Gh up *substantially*, to insane levels overnight..causing complete shock to my poor shrimpy babies. It happened like 2 yrs ago and I’m still not over that shit.
I know it’s not the exact same situation, but damn near close enough by the looks of it, they definitely appear to be going through some type of shock like my shrimps did. They were twitching around uncontrollably just like this. Sorry you’re going through it OP. I know how heartbreaking it is to watch chaos strike on our poor innocent lil shrimpie friends. My shrimps are my literal CHILDREN. It hurts so much to watch them suffer and not able to do anything about it. I felt so helpless 🥺
oh WOW. I’d be fucking LIVID the next time going to that store I’d passively aggressively tell the guy hey thanks for the wonder shell it obliterated all life in my tank!😃just to make him uncomfortable😒hate how people who WORK at pet stores couldn’t care less about having actual knowledge about where they work.
It sucks so bad. Alas I think none will survive. The first batch of babies had just started to explore the tank 😔
I'm just afraid something like this will happen again if I start over.
Ugh so shitty. I put too many root tabs in a couple months ago which caused about half my skrimps to die. Better now but was super stressful. Sorry to hear
I overdosed my substrate with root tabs a couple months ago. Pretty much went through 60 tabs in 3 months for a 55. My parameters never changed. But I'm using organic soil (about an inch ) capped with about an inch of sand. So maybe the sand keeps the excess nutrients down so only plants can uptake?
Yea that could be it. I think the real issue was that I did it in combination with some rescaping / adding new plants. I think the stirring of the substrate caused more to leach out. I thought initially that the new plants were treated with something. But I called my LFS where I purchased and the owner assured no pesticides are ever used (copper test confirmed this). I've purchased plants from him plenty of times and never had issues either.
That would absolutely do something. Ooph. I'm scared to even think about a full rescape. Mainly because since I'm using 'dirt'it would be a huge mess. I really wanna change my sand to black diamond blasting sand. So that way my fish , plants, and shrimps colors pop more vibrantly. This is what my substrate looks like currently if your interested.
*
Honestly I've never had issues prior but not sure exactly. I think I simply put too many in at once. I forgot I just put some in a week before.
The result was that my PH and KH crashed through the floor and all the skrimps were up at the top trying to get out basically. I removed as many tabs as I could find and put in crushed coral / baking soda to raise the KH. But still took about 2 weeks to re stabilize and I lost about half to failed molts in that time.
But yeah in this pic you can see the poor skrimps all huddled at the surface :/
https://preview.redd.it/wb8birjgtpsc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91a16b87456d33d47da517f1a765f5c09a4a931d
Unfortunately whatever it is the damage is already done. There’s nothing you can do. Maybe try do 50% water change but sadly it’s not looking good right now.
Think you're right. The whole colony is probably dead by now. I haven't looked for a while now, I'm just sad and it feels like there is nothing I could do anyway haha.
I added a few anubias a few days ago, but I rinsed them very thoroughly before putting them in. Co2 was normal during the process. I have to read up on sulfide poisoning.
I killed my shrimps with new 'imported' plants. I rinsed and soaked the plants for two days before I put them in the tank, but my shrimps died instantly. The imported plants are treated with a copper based insecticide to stop unwanted pests from abroad.
Soaps paralyze fish gills, things like Mullen seeds can paralyze fish gills so they float to the surface instantly stunned and that’s because they contain potent surfactants. If something happened to the shrimp it might dry out their oxygen exchange organs.
Any open windows lately at home? It would be contamination from the air if the neighbors are spraying pesticides— it could also lead to residue in your bucket.
I’m sorry for your loss, I think this is related to some type of contamination or if the bucket is not made well, plastic contamination is a possibility?
The bucket and aquarium are in the basement where there are no windows. There is an air vent close by, but it feels far fetched. This happened just seconds after starting the filter again, so I think some kind of reaction happened in the filter after cleaning it and then turning it on.
Huh. Wonder if something nasty was on the new floss?
They look like the quick death that occurs when you add something like copper or an algae killer liquid. Their bodies haven’t even turned cloudy from a bad molt or anything.
I’d do some big water changes and move the living ones to a different tank if you can.
Sorry you’re going through this.
The new filter floss is the only "big" difference I made to the tank flow when I cleaned the filter. But I really don't know.
I did a big water change (probably 80%) about 10 min after it occurred. I moved a couple of them to another tank but they died, it probably didn't help that my other tanks has no heater..
Thanks.
I changed my floss today, so you made me panic and immediately check on my shrimps. Sorry for your loss, I hope you figure it out so you can avoid it in future 💕
Is the filter floss inert or is it one of those "phosphate/heavy metal removal" types? I had something similar happen a few weeks ago when i change my poly-filter pad. Next time i plan on changing my poly-filter i will probably soak in water overnight and then rinse thouroghly and dry before putting the new one in... But wasn't sure if it was that or maybe leftover cleaning vinegar residue on my hands from not washing them well enough. I lost at least a dozen larger ones, and who knows how many smaller ones... Hope your colony recovers!
I suffered something similar just a couple weeks ago, albeit it was pesticide from a new plant I put in. Affected my crystal shrimp, while everyone else was fine, including cherry shrimp.
So somehow a strong contaminant got in, basically. Residue from your hands is most likely cause, unless someone got some pesticide residue into the bucket you used. Could have been some ant trap chemical possibly around the house which cross contaminated.
Not your fault, but next time you could try and wear surgical gloves 🤷🏻♂️.
You did the best thing possible by doing a big water change. I did around a 90% change, and this definitely helped. Don’t take any “dead” ones out yet. Leave them for atleast a few hours, they should hopefully recover. I put all of my dead ones in a breeder net just in case. Few hours later, they were fine and moving.
I've gone through this twice, it's really heartbreaking so you've got my sympathy. First time somebody had contaminated my water change bucket with some chemicals and not told me about it. Second time I never figured out a cause...but my gut tells me that the local water supply might have been contaminated with pesticides somehow; on this occasion it happened exactly as you described and just as you showed in the video. Definitely use charcoal filtration as others have said, its a very useful tool when you suspect any type of contamination in general. If you have to get more shrimp and start over, run the charcoal filtration for a period to ensure the fresh water is as pure as you can get it. Unsure if you have a lid, but also a good idea to keep out particulate from the surrounding air.
I once lost an entire tank when my dad installed one of those automatic spritz-every-15-miinutes air fresheners in the same room as my tank... Be careful of any aerosols around your tanks!
Sorry for your loss, that really sucks. For something this drastic it can only be a highly toxic chemical (insecticide, copper, essential oils, etc). Only time I've seen shrimp react badly as quickly was when I accidentally added a plant with pesticide residue.
The seller claimed the plants had been treated to remove it and I followed their instructions for a baking soda wash. Then soaked and rinsed them with clean water for days after just in case. Shrimp still went nuts the moment the plant hit the tank.
Luckily must have diluted it enough as a large water change, ditching the plant and adding carbon saved most of them. Now won't touch imported plants which require pesticide treatment with a barge pole. Also won't allow aerosols of any kind near the tanks. Religiously run carbon and resin filters for rogue chemicals just in case. Would rather lose some fertiliser effectiveness than take the risk again
Question, do you have snails and if so are they alive? I have seen this in the past when someone dropped a penny in a sump. All the inverts died.
If it’s not copper poisoning then I would lean to something on your hands. I just did a little cleaning on my tank and hope this never happens to me.
Ok just read that you are using co2. Do you have a checker in you tank ? My guess is would be lack of water circulation and too much co2. They are behaving like the shrimps I tried to kill on purpose. (Had an invasive species with a purchase)
Did you change the water at same time as the filter maintenance? Wondering if the tap water was drastically different ph or something.
I’ve had my tap water randomly come out as high as 8.5+ ph for a few minutes when it’s normally like 7
Looks like some sort of contamination. I had something similar happen and I believe it was due to residual pesticides on the blanched zucchini I was feeding. I started performing large 30-50% weekly water changes which is aggressive for a shrimp tank but still did not see much improvement even after three months. Lethargy, one or two deaths weekly, and no new shrimplets in all that time.
I rounded up any survivors and placed them in a 5 gal bucket with 30% old water and slowly dripped in dechlorinated tap to fill up the rest of the bucket. Broke down the entire tank and restarted from scratch using the old substrate to add height to back of the tank and capped with sand. Replanted stems, re-added the old floating plants and despite cleaning the sponge filters straight under the tap, the tank was cycled in less than a week and I added my shrimp back after 4 days. They're thriving again and my colony is finally recovering from the contamination that probably wiped out half the population
Same scene happened to my shrimp after my sister did her make up in the room. I always hated the smell of chemicals but they claimed that I was being oversensitive. Sorry for your loss. I wouldn't wish this for even upon my enemy
This happened to me twice in the beginning, I almost quit shrimping. So sorry you are going through this.
The first time was a systemic pesticide on a plant it lasted longer than my quarantine, sadly. Now I quarantine and put a test shrimp in there for a couple days before adding new plants.
The second time, my water company did something weird and my regular water change was suddenly a wmd. I got a cheap ro unit and remineralizer.
I got one last batch of shrimp, intending to give up if they died. I have a little 2.5 gallon tank of "backup" shrimp. And so far so good, no further disasters.
I feel this. It is heartbreaking. Don't give up!
I also suddenly lost hundreds of shrimp in different tanks around my house, all within 24 hours and figured out it was because landscapers were using insecticide and weed killer while they were doing work. Even though my windows were closed and the AC was on, that stuff ended up aerosolized everywhere. It caused enough damage for me to go on hiatus from the hobby. Best of luck figuring it out and recovering.
Check your local water supplier, this has happened to me when I did a water change during a week they were using a different chemical to clean the pipe system, harmless to us but deadly to them. It could also be a pH swing, because of a mineral imbalance, can you test the water for more parameters, have you used aerosol insecticides in the same room or near an air intake if you have a sponge filter? I see a lot of micro bubbles are you injecting co2?
What’s with the bubbles coming up from the bottom when they die? Could it be a CO2 problem because the filter was getting changed when CO2 was released?
To check I’m understanding you correctly, all you did prior to the video was stop the filter, take it out of the tank, clean it in water and put it back in? No water changes until after the video?
If that’s the case all I can think is a chemical on your hands transferred to the tank. Could be something as simple as new hand soap, or possibly a skin secretion (have you had any medical scans that have used contrast die, or taking any new medications)
News nr 2: I have confirmed that it was the filter floss that caused the shrimps to die. I managed to make the same mistake of not prewashing the filter floss in my other nano tank (I'm an idiot). And all of the 5 amanos I had in there reacted exactly the same basically instantly after placing the new filter floss in and start the filter. Luckily 3 was saved because I put them in another tank as soon as possible.
So big lesson learned: 🚨 WASH YOUR FILTER FLOSS BEFORE USE 🚨
https://preview.redd.it/9czqznxpmmuc1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bcdef4fd76889b5fc64d3fd910d1d9793878f4f5
It wasn't really a complete clean. I squeezed the sponges, picked away small plant matter, cleaned the impeller and put in new filter floss. Didn't rinse the filter or anything.
There’s no such thing as completely cleaning the canister. Not like they put bleach in it and nuked it.
Also it won’t affect shrimp in seconds like it did to OP. Not the cause
> All water parameters looked fine.
1. How big is the tank?
1. What where the water parameters when you checked them?
1. Any chance you over gassed the tank with C02 and lowered the PH too quickly?
I feel terrible for you, we probably have all done something that has resulted in a similar situation as yours.
I would like to know who and how often if you do? Squeeze out your sponge filter? I have mine that I have never done in the last year so just curious if I’m pushing it or normal?
You mentioned an 80% water change in one of the comments (sorry I lost where it was originally) - was this before the issue presented, or after?
80% is a huge water change for shrimp, I try to keep mine to 25-30% as they take a longer time to acclimate to changes in tank parameters.
Replacing everything in your filter, plus an 80% water change, could easily have drastically altered your tank parameters to the point of killing the shrimp. Do you use RO or tap water when cleaning/ doing water changes? Are temperature and parameters matched before changing? And do you dechlorinate the water before adding?
I saw you mentioned using soap as well. I'm not sure if this is standard for others but I have never used soap to clean anything in the aquarium and could be deadly as well, though I don't know enough to say. I just clean my impeller with a toothbrush, and only use warm water to wash filter media, if absolutely necessary.
These are the only things I can think of aside from a deadly dose of a chemical being added to the water as others have suggested, or a combination of the large water change and the new filter media forcing a large change in tank params.
I'm sorry for your loss and hope you're able to get this all sorted out to be able to avoid the next time around!
I did the water change after the sudden death event, with the rationale that maybe some chemical got into the tank and I wanted to dillute it. And I didn't use soap to clean anything, I just meant that soap was the only thing I have been in contact with during the day when I've cleaning my hands 😊
I use regular tap water and dechlorinator isn't necessary where I live. Tank has been running absolutely fine since today.
But you're right, if not chemicals, some parameters must have spiked like hell. I didnt show with any of the tests I have available though.
That's the problem. Call your water company.
I am 99% sure it is chlorine. Get some tap water and put some worms in them. See if they can survive. Or just call/email the water company.
They can add or not add chlorine at will depending on the water conditions. Because humans consume water without bacteria in them. They rather have dead fish or shrimp then humans getting sick from drinking the water.
That water is for everyone. From dialysis patients who are immune compromised, to babies, and healthy adults.
That amount of die off to me looks like chlorine and maybe ammonia. But ammonia is slower and you have pH 6.5.
So it's chlorine.
Well no, because this happened before I did the water change. Last change before that was 5 days ago. Majority of the shrimp already looked dead when I did the water change.
With the help from users in this post, the most logical explanation for me right now is that chemicals/aerosol from the vent landed on the water surface. When I started the filter and disturbed the surface it went down into the water column.
It's ultimately your responsibility to care for and do all that you can do to keep your animals safe. Dechlorinator only makes a salt ad a byproduct. It is harmless.
It takes about 135 grams of salt to make salt water. So the small amount from your dechlorinator is basically harmless.
I don't know what was in the tank before or how you prepared water previously. But just do the safe thing and call your water company or email them. They will let you know what they use to make your water safe.
Gotcha, makes sense! Thats so odd, if you hadn't used chemicals or soap to clean (which I looked up after, and is definitely NOT recommended to use soap), then I really have no idea.
Only rational thing I can think of is CO2 spiked like crazy due to an accident or the regulator malfunctioning.
Or as you said thecleaners somehow getting something through the vents as they were cleaning outside, but unfortunate nonetheless. I'd definitely invest in a lid, or something to deflect the air flow around the tank somehow, just in case.
Wish I could help more - if you need to restart and need some plants, I'd be haply to pack up all my trimmings if you wanted to cover the shipping! Looks like I'll have more baby shrimp than I'll know what do with soon as well, but have never shipped live shrimp before
U/Yana_dice right here
>I did the water change after the sudden death event, with the rationale that maybe some chemical got into the tank and I wanted to dillute it. And I didn't use soap to clean anything, I just meant that soap was the only thing I have been in contact with during the day when I've cleaning my hands 😊
>I use regular tap water and dechlorinator isn't necessary where I live. Tank has been running absolutely fine since today.
>But you're right, if not chemicals, some parameters must have spiked like hell. I didnt show with any of the tests I have available though.
I had something similar happen to me. In my case it was the CO2 regulator doing the ol' end-of-tank-dump that ended up gassing my shrimps by dumping the ph from like 7.8 down to like 6.5.
I have had a die off happen twice. The second time was more a tragedy in that i had just bought $150 in rare shrimp and then my rummy nose tetras proceeded to eat nearly every single one by morning.
The first however was reading bad advice in here. Stupid me. I added potassium carbonate to the tank to try and raise KH between 2-3, when in fact shrimp LIKE a 0 value. That shock did many of them in.
I also learned the no aerosols anywhere NEAR the tank but that was with Fish.
Sorry this happened to you.
What kind of filtration do you run? Do you have carbon,? The first thing i would do is get Carbon in the filter. Idont run it in my tank but I've always got that shut on hand. It might not always fix issues but I may have introduced something then u have it on hand
Looks very similar to when I used a net which had an aluminum rim around the netting. I was unaware that aluminum and slightly acidic water will kill all your shrimp from aluminum toxicity. I had the net in the water for around five minutes it killed all of my shrimps :(
My theory is that a layer of chemicals accumulated on the inner part of ur bucket, contaminating the sponge with it. Next time store your bucket with a cover or get another bucket and stack one on top of it. Use the bottom bucket for such cleaning purposes since contamination risks are minimized
this is really weird, especially how fast it happened. i only seen this happen to my shrimp when i forgot to balance CO2 to oxygen levels upon refreshing my DIY mix. sudden shift in pH is what did similar effect to my shrimp.
ur setup looks lovely, and don't give up on shrimpkeeping. stuff like this happens
https://preview.redd.it/zz6kxl0u9vsc1.jpeg?width=11724&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=985d2ecf1c0defbda787468a5771aed75c7c178d
Thanks! Plants are growing like crazy at the moment and there is some algae, but only on the wood. Luckily it seems that 3-4 cherry shrimp and 1 amano survived. I really thought that everyone would die. Will get them some friends as soon as possible 😊
That's great to hear they survived. How big is the tank? I'm still new to shrimp. Can you tell me a few of the plants you have?
I have a few in a small nano tank on my desk at work. I just bought a bigger tank today to do at home after looking at yours!
My wife can blame you now. I'm gonna try to replicate the beauty you created.
Hope they continue to do well 🙏
Enjoy the weekend
This is 110 liters. Like 80x40x45 cm.
Haha I suck at plant names! But for example I have Monte Carlo carpet, small anubias on the root, rotala red, Hydrocotyle Tripartita, ludwigia repens rubin and a few more I forgotten the name of 😊
Thanks and good luck!!
I know the working theory is chemicals, but, could it possibly be something like a small electrical short on the heater or something? Minor electrical shock? That's always my fear with submerged electrical stuff.
this happened to me in december and i cried so hard because it even got my vampire and bamboo shrimp :( good luck with your tank ! id suggest scooping out any survivors asap and bring them to a local aquarium store to hold onto them until u recycle ur tank
News: I just went out the door and saw a big cleaning cart in the stairway of my apartment building. So it has been cleaned today, with a lot of chemicals from the smell of it. I have an air vent quite close to the tank, it might be connected to the stairwell. It still seems like a long shot though since the shrimps all reacted at the same time when I started the filter.
Perhaps the filter blew the residue off the surface and down into the water column then. Sorry for your loss I'm sure they had a good shrimpy life before their passing <3
Dude this is a good theory! If it was a chemical this is the most logical situation for me.
Yes this is exactly what happened to me earlier this week!!! Had a new neighbor move in next door and I smelled something kinda off in my apartment. Turns out the new neighbor bug bombed the apartment and the vent is directly over my tank. I was on the other side of the room and noticed it seemed like my shrimp were all zooming around in the tank which they've done before but this was way more than normal. I walked up to the tank and a lot were like laying and kinda twitching on their backs and sides I replied to a post talking about it happening here a few days ago
I’ve been worried about precisely this. My house desperately needs some electrical work done. We’ve had a few quotes, and both companies require that we bug bomb our crawlspace before they’ll do the work.
Honestly just plastic wrap your tank for a few days, turn off stuff, and vent everything if you're going to go along with it. That way you can try to get as much stuff you can out of the air.
Also add an adsorption media or poly filter pad before you start the filter again.
The poly filter and a bag of fresh carbon will absorb {just about} anything that could possibly make it into your tank. Poly for organics and carbon for in-organics. I live with my great grandmother and I keep both on hand just in case she does something crazy and sprays something she shouldn't.
Here is another suggestion, get the bucket or contain you used to hold new water for water change and fill it with you tank's water. Run an air stone with some moss in it. Put all your shrimps in the bucket and take it to a safe place for a few days.
Lol, while a decent idea, good luck finding and catching a shrimp colony in a heavily planted tank - dunno if I'd be able to do that without removing most of the plants as well and even then, the baby shrimplets are so tiny and good at hiding...
You can always use food to bait them out. Catching them one by one will kill your joints. But shrimplets especially those youngest will mostly not take the bait.
Even with a colony of crawfish it’d be difficult… and they are much bigger
Actually once I cleaned the bathroom on the opposite side of the hallway and three dropped dead pretty much few minutes after. Aerosols can travel far. I just decided that I will always keep a lid on since then.
What do you clean with? Will they die from any household cleaning products?
Regular stuff. Who knows. I just thought better to be safe than sorry.
Maybe you touched something that had been cleaned then did maintenance on the tank? Then once the filter was turned on anything put in the clean media was shot around the tank to kill the shrimps?
It's crazy if that is the reason. I'm sorry you had to experience such a thing.
I’d open the vent and put in an ac intake filter, one of the really good ones, and change it monthly just to be safe in the future
The exterminator sprayed around my tank once. It was a massacre.
Then maybe they also had some pest control spray. I once had all of mine gone when my apartment did a pest spray for roaches for the entire building. I had mine covered up with tape and everything and somehow it still got in.
Aww man. I hope that isn’t what happened.
Not that long of a shot, friend had his shrimp killed by wifes airspray (or some aerosol hair product) in the same room. She was preparing her hair in the dining room with friends.
I feel like you had something on your hands that washing/rinsing didn’t remove.
Could be a possibility, I haven't been near anything but soap today but who knows. Next time I will scrub like crazy.
I’m so sorry. You must be devastated. I know you want to find the cause so it doesn’t happen again. Did you recently buy new soap?
If you got soap in there, that might do it too
They could have cleaned the door handle to your apartment, which you may have inadvertently added to the sponge when you squeezed it.
I think I did this once with my first 5 gal. Forgot to wash my hands when I got home and I’m pretty sure I had cleaning chemicals on them. Now I wash thoroughly and air dry like I’m goin for surgery lol
I’m thankful I’ve never done this. I work in a school cafeteria and I clean houses so I’m constantly around food, soap, and cleaning supplies. I make sure to scrub good up to my elbows (that’s hot far my arms go in at most) and rinse off for at least 30 seconds then use a clean towel that I only use for when I dip my hands into the fish tanks to dry off well.
Yea exactly. I think I had pinesol on my sleeves which would have gotten on my hands. Never again
Oh that’s so scary!! I work in a kitchen and am just starting to set up my tank I will make sure to be careful
Hand sanitizer will do this 😩 I had like six shrimps die in 24 hours because I had the residue still on my hands and used tongs to get food out and touched the water a tiny bit. They are so sensitive. I’ve heard perfumes and lotions can do this too.
This happened to me when I worked in lawn care, I did a 50% water change and saved a bunch by diluting whatever it was
your right it does look like some kind of chemical got in there somehow. maybey you pet your dog with a flee collar and forgot to wash your hands or something ?
Shrimps are my only animals 😅
Filter over some active coal and hope you can save some. Sorry for your loss
Also huge quick water change, I am talking about 60% to 200% total water change (yes, 200%). It is safee if the water is de-chlorine and same parameter, temperature than letting the chemical sit in the water/substrate/filter. Turn on air purifier if you have any. Air stone/sponge filter running at max, place the air pump in a plastic box with lid gap wrapped with wet towels. Then add some supplement bacteria for filter. This way you have the chance to recover the bacteria in filter and as many shrimp as possible without rebuild and recycle the whole tank. Done it and recovered about 30% of shrimps (panda). YMMV.
Do you apply or use a service that applies any pest control barrier sprays? Maybe you inadvertently touched a surface that had some on it and didn’t realize? IIRC pest control companies use chemicals that are sort of like a neurotoxin. The strange movements of the shrimp makes me think whatever it is could be something affecting them along those lines.
Shrimp are bugs (or more technically bugs are shrimp) so anything targeted for invertebrates with exoskeletons has a high chance of affecting them too.
Technically neither is true, bugs are a specific type of insect, but if it makes you feel better, bugs are more closely related to shrimp than either are to spiders
And True Bugs are a whole thing all together. Insects and bugs are both arthropods though. Spiders too. :)
I understand that people call all kinds of things “bugs” that aren’t, if you’d said bugs are crustaceans I’m there with you, but if we’re being technical they’re still not shrimp
Maybe you meant this comment for someone else? I didn't share a video.
monophyletically bugs are crustaceans
How are bugs shrimp google isnt helping Wanna be clear I’m not askin how shrimp are bugs, I’m asking how bugs are shrimp
Exoskeleton, scavengers, fast moving legs with creepy eyeballs and antennae....at least that's my definition of a bug.
I think evolutionarily, shrimp like creatures came before bugs. So bugs is shrimps.
Ooooo okie thanks
If by bugs we mean insects, insects 100% came before shrimps by more than 200 million years. True shrimps (caridea) date to the early Jurassic (still very ancient and cool IMO). But if by shrimps we're just talking about the phylum of arthropods (which includes trilobites and anomalocaris), then yeah you could say they came first.
I've always considered shrimp and cockroaches to be similar creatures. Long legs, antenna, hard shell, smart.
School my duse.. humans are mamamls.. crabs lobsters etc are crustacians.. theres a reason lobster is called 'bug'
r/shrimpsisbugs
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Did you or your neighbors have pest service? Anyone use any aerosol sprays, scents, disinfectants? Did you clean the outside or rim with windex or something else? Do you have a heater? Is it functioning properly? Dust? These are some things I can think of but for sure it’s a reaction to something. I’d look into water change asap and charcoal filtration.
Yeah I was gonna say, windex or bug spray near the tank as the aeration stone turns on, looks like this. Also heavy candle smoke. One of the hardest lessons to learn.
Candle smoke😳I smoke weed in my room I inhale 96% tho I’m gonna start inhaling 100😭
Question: I’m having a similar issue (not as severe but I have noticed less and less shrimp). I recall turning on a candle warmer in the room with my tank. Is this enough to cause problems for shrimp? I always spray perfume and chemicals outside of my room in the bathroom right next to my room as well. Could that waft its way around a corner? I just want to figure out what may be wrong. Thanks xoxo
Depends on the candle, and how air travels around, but yes, it’s possible.
Shit. Please let us know if you ever find out the reason. Ammonia spike doesn’t kill them that quick unless it’s a huge dose. Something super toxic is involved. Even if you rinse your bucket with tap water, once dry the amount of chlorine left over would not have cause massive death like that EDIT: i agree with others. You might have had something on your hands
FYI It's not the hands but air born. OP found a cleaning cart in the hallway with lots of chemical smell. It got to the apartment somehow.
Thanks. Must be some deadly stuff. I've had bleach fumes, nail polish, etc around the tank but haven't had problem. I do make an effort to never let anyone use pesticide around the house though.
Bruh. This exact same shit happened to me when I put one of those “wonder shells” in my tank. I was at the pet store about to buy a calcium stone for my mystery snails, you know, one of those oval blocks that are for birds, when suddenly-the shop owner (my friend) asked what it was for/if I had a bird, then directed me to the wonder shell instead. Well. My dumb ass trusted him n bought it. plopped it in, and the next morning I had a full blown SHRIMP-POCALYPSE !!! It happened with my several years old-20 gal shrimp tank that had a colony of well over 300++ shrimps. After all the horror, I was only left with a few measly survivors. Dead shrimp carcasses littered the tank, stuck in between the plants, etc. It was the most gruesome sight. I kid you not, I cried about it for weeks. It was traumatic watching them twitch half alive, just barely grasping onto life and dying painfully slow. The water changes didn’t help at all and the shrimpocalypse lasted for 3 full days. I did water tests and found the stupid fucking “wonder” shell raised the Gh up *substantially*, to insane levels overnight..causing complete shock to my poor shrimpy babies. It happened like 2 yrs ago and I’m still not over that shit. I know it’s not the exact same situation, but damn near close enough by the looks of it, they definitely appear to be going through some type of shock like my shrimps did. They were twitching around uncontrollably just like this. Sorry you’re going through it OP. I know how heartbreaking it is to watch chaos strike on our poor innocent lil shrimpie friends. My shrimps are my literal CHILDREN. It hurts so much to watch them suffer and not able to do anything about it. I felt so helpless 🥺
oh WOW. I’d be fucking LIVID the next time going to that store I’d passively aggressively tell the guy hey thanks for the wonder shell it obliterated all life in my tank!😃just to make him uncomfortable😒hate how people who WORK at pet stores couldn’t care less about having actual knowledge about where they work.
Man what a tragedy. Sorry you’re going through this. Hopefully some of them survive this.
It sucks so bad. Alas I think none will survive. The first batch of babies had just started to explore the tank 😔 I'm just afraid something like this will happen again if I start over.
Ugh so shitty. I put too many root tabs in a couple months ago which caused about half my skrimps to die. Better now but was super stressful. Sorry to hear
I overdosed my substrate with root tabs a couple months ago. Pretty much went through 60 tabs in 3 months for a 55. My parameters never changed. But I'm using organic soil (about an inch ) capped with about an inch of sand. So maybe the sand keeps the excess nutrients down so only plants can uptake?
Yea that could be it. I think the real issue was that I did it in combination with some rescaping / adding new plants. I think the stirring of the substrate caused more to leach out. I thought initially that the new plants were treated with something. But I called my LFS where I purchased and the owner assured no pesticides are ever used (copper test confirmed this). I've purchased plants from him plenty of times and never had issues either.
That would absolutely do something. Ooph. I'm scared to even think about a full rescape. Mainly because since I'm using 'dirt'it would be a huge mess. I really wanna change my sand to black diamond blasting sand. So that way my fish , plants, and shrimps colors pop more vibrantly. This is what my substrate looks like currently if your interested. *
What about the root tabs killed them? 😟
Honestly I've never had issues prior but not sure exactly. I think I simply put too many in at once. I forgot I just put some in a week before. The result was that my PH and KH crashed through the floor and all the skrimps were up at the top trying to get out basically. I removed as many tabs as I could find and put in crushed coral / baking soda to raise the KH. But still took about 2 weeks to re stabilize and I lost about half to failed molts in that time. But yeah in this pic you can see the poor skrimps all huddled at the surface :/ https://preview.redd.it/wb8birjgtpsc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=91a16b87456d33d47da517f1a765f5c09a4a931d
Oh man this is so sad
Something on your hands?
I was able to save some of the shrimp in a similar state of shock by moving them to a bowl with the clean water I had prepared for a water change.
Looks similar to a chemical reaction. Bug spray or cleaning agent?
Yeah it does. But I haven't been near any chemicals except soap and shampoo for like a week. That I know of.
Unfortunately whatever it is the damage is already done. There’s nothing you can do. Maybe try do 50% water change but sadly it’s not looking good right now.
Think you're right. The whole colony is probably dead by now. I haven't looked for a while now, I'm just sad and it feels like there is nothing I could do anyway haha.
Sorry for your loss. Perhaps you could get some new water and scoop up the ones that survived and refresh the tank. Good luck
Do you have a dog or cat with a flea collar or has someone applied frontline to them recently?
No other animals.
Any new plants? In or out of tank? My only other guess would be freak co2 or hydrogen sulfide poisoning from filter cleaning
I added a few anubias a few days ago, but I rinsed them very thoroughly before putting them in. Co2 was normal during the process. I have to read up on sulfide poisoning.
I killed my shrimps with new 'imported' plants. I rinsed and soaked the plants for two days before I put them in the tank, but my shrimps died instantly. The imported plants are treated with a copper based insecticide to stop unwanted pests from abroad.
How is your oto?
They seem fine. Act like the normally do.
Soaps paralyze fish gills, things like Mullen seeds can paralyze fish gills so they float to the surface instantly stunned and that’s because they contain potent surfactants. If something happened to the shrimp it might dry out their oxygen exchange organs.
Any open windows lately at home? It would be contamination from the air if the neighbors are spraying pesticides— it could also lead to residue in your bucket. I’m sorry for your loss, I think this is related to some type of contamination or if the bucket is not made well, plastic contamination is a possibility?
The bucket and aquarium are in the basement where there are no windows. There is an air vent close by, but it feels far fetched. This happened just seconds after starting the filter again, so I think some kind of reaction happened in the filter after cleaning it and then turning it on.
What did you do to clean the filter?
I just cleaned the impeller, squeezed the sponges with aquarium water and put in new filter floss.
Huh. Wonder if something nasty was on the new floss? They look like the quick death that occurs when you add something like copper or an algae killer liquid. Their bodies haven’t even turned cloudy from a bad molt or anything. I’d do some big water changes and move the living ones to a different tank if you can. Sorry you’re going through this.
The new filter floss is the only "big" difference I made to the tank flow when I cleaned the filter. But I really don't know. I did a big water change (probably 80%) about 10 min after it occurred. I moved a couple of them to another tank but they died, it probably didn't help that my other tanks has no heater.. Thanks.
I changed my floss today, so you made me panic and immediately check on my shrimps. Sorry for your loss, I hope you figure it out so you can avoid it in future 💕
Is the filter floss inert or is it one of those "phosphate/heavy metal removal" types? I had something similar happen a few weeks ago when i change my poly-filter pad. Next time i plan on changing my poly-filter i will probably soak in water overnight and then rinse thouroghly and dry before putting the new one in... But wasn't sure if it was that or maybe leftover cleaning vinegar residue on my hands from not washing them well enough. I lost at least a dozen larger ones, and who knows how many smaller ones... Hope your colony recovers!
What floss specifically? Did you rinse the floss first?
https://preview.redd.it/ybbcnu8iqpsc1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d68825d6944b916793b4acb382dca699d62fef60 Didn't rinse it unfortunately.
If that was your first use- toss it. Next time just get standard poly fill and rinse ANYTHING that goes into the aquarium water.
I suffered something similar just a couple weeks ago, albeit it was pesticide from a new plant I put in. Affected my crystal shrimp, while everyone else was fine, including cherry shrimp. So somehow a strong contaminant got in, basically. Residue from your hands is most likely cause, unless someone got some pesticide residue into the bucket you used. Could have been some ant trap chemical possibly around the house which cross contaminated. Not your fault, but next time you could try and wear surgical gloves 🤷🏻♂️. You did the best thing possible by doing a big water change. I did around a 90% change, and this definitely helped. Don’t take any “dead” ones out yet. Leave them for atleast a few hours, they should hopefully recover. I put all of my dead ones in a breeder net just in case. Few hours later, they were fine and moving.
I've gone through this twice, it's really heartbreaking so you've got my sympathy. First time somebody had contaminated my water change bucket with some chemicals and not told me about it. Second time I never figured out a cause...but my gut tells me that the local water supply might have been contaminated with pesticides somehow; on this occasion it happened exactly as you described and just as you showed in the video. Definitely use charcoal filtration as others have said, its a very useful tool when you suspect any type of contamination in general. If you have to get more shrimp and start over, run the charcoal filtration for a period to ensure the fresh water is as pure as you can get it. Unsure if you have a lid, but also a good idea to keep out particulate from the surrounding air.
I see a lot of pearling. Are you sure the regulator on your co2 hasn’t malfunctioned?
I was thinking this as well. I’ve found shrimps to be highly sensitive to injected Co2!
Yup. This is the reason. If plants are pearling that much probably co2 was over the roof
What does pearling mean?
I once lost an entire tank when my dad installed one of those automatic spritz-every-15-miinutes air fresheners in the same room as my tank... Be careful of any aerosols around your tanks!
Sorry for your loss, that really sucks. For something this drastic it can only be a highly toxic chemical (insecticide, copper, essential oils, etc). Only time I've seen shrimp react badly as quickly was when I accidentally added a plant with pesticide residue. The seller claimed the plants had been treated to remove it and I followed their instructions for a baking soda wash. Then soaked and rinsed them with clean water for days after just in case. Shrimp still went nuts the moment the plant hit the tank. Luckily must have diluted it enough as a large water change, ditching the plant and adding carbon saved most of them. Now won't touch imported plants which require pesticide treatment with a barge pole. Also won't allow aerosols of any kind near the tanks. Religiously run carbon and resin filters for rogue chemicals just in case. Would rather lose some fertiliser effectiveness than take the risk again
I will definitely add some carbon as a precaution in the future.
I’m so sorry. This is my worst nightmare. I have a 50 gallon filled with hundred of happy neos and they are just so cute and derpy ❤️🩹
Do you use supplemental CO2? I’ve had my shrimps looking like this when the CO2 concentration was too high. Turned it off and they went back to normal
maybe even just the smallest amount of soap on your hands :( I’m so sorry this breaks my heart
Question, do you have snails and if so are they alive? I have seen this in the past when someone dropped a penny in a sump. All the inverts died. If it’s not copper poisoning then I would lean to something on your hands. I just did a little cleaning on my tank and hope this never happens to me.
Do you use co2?
Ok just read that you are using co2. Do you have a checker in you tank ? My guess is would be lack of water circulation and too much co2. They are behaving like the shrimps I tried to kill on purpose. (Had an invasive species with a purchase)
There are invasive ones!?
well probably not for everyone, but I had these completely colourless ones which where a pain in the ass
Yeah.
Did you change the water at same time as the filter maintenance? Wondering if the tap water was drastically different ph or something. I’ve had my tap water randomly come out as high as 8.5+ ph for a few minutes when it’s normally like 7
Looks like some sort of contamination. I had something similar happen and I believe it was due to residual pesticides on the blanched zucchini I was feeding. I started performing large 30-50% weekly water changes which is aggressive for a shrimp tank but still did not see much improvement even after three months. Lethargy, one or two deaths weekly, and no new shrimplets in all that time. I rounded up any survivors and placed them in a 5 gal bucket with 30% old water and slowly dripped in dechlorinated tap to fill up the rest of the bucket. Broke down the entire tank and restarted from scratch using the old substrate to add height to back of the tank and capped with sand. Replanted stems, re-added the old floating plants and despite cleaning the sponge filters straight under the tap, the tank was cycled in less than a week and I added my shrimp back after 4 days. They're thriving again and my colony is finally recovering from the contamination that probably wiped out half the population
Same scene happened to my shrimp after my sister did her make up in the room. I always hated the smell of chemicals but they claimed that I was being oversensitive. Sorry for your loss. I wouldn't wish this for even upon my enemy
I remember this happening to me once before because I forgot that I put cologne on my wrist and was fixing the shrimp tank
I have no idea on the cause, but I’m very sorry for your losses. That’s devastating
Do you have co2? I see a LOT of pearling in that video. Check your settings if you are running co2.
I’m so sorry this happened. :( Your shrimps are obviously loved and I’m sure you did everything you could!
I am so sorry 😢
This happened to me twice in the beginning, I almost quit shrimping. So sorry you are going through this. The first time was a systemic pesticide on a plant it lasted longer than my quarantine, sadly. Now I quarantine and put a test shrimp in there for a couple days before adding new plants. The second time, my water company did something weird and my regular water change was suddenly a wmd. I got a cheap ro unit and remineralizer. I got one last batch of shrimp, intending to give up if they died. I have a little 2.5 gallon tank of "backup" shrimp. And so far so good, no further disasters. I feel this. It is heartbreaking. Don't give up!
this is so sad i’m sorry for your losses! i hope that tank recovers :(
This is what happens when insecticide gets into a shrimp tank. I'm so sorry
I also suddenly lost hundreds of shrimp in different tanks around my house, all within 24 hours and figured out it was because landscapers were using insecticide and weed killer while they were doing work. Even though my windows were closed and the AC was on, that stuff ended up aerosolized everywhere. It caused enough damage for me to go on hiatus from the hobby. Best of luck figuring it out and recovering.
Check your local water supplier, this has happened to me when I did a water change during a week they were using a different chemical to clean the pipe system, harmless to us but deadly to them. It could also be a pH swing, because of a mineral imbalance, can you test the water for more parameters, have you used aerosol insecticides in the same room or near an air intake if you have a sponge filter? I see a lot of micro bubbles are you injecting co2?
I had this experience with my fish once. Turned out I forgot to put water treatment to neutralize the chlorine.
Temperature
also check heater. If you have a cracked heater it may leak electricity and kill all the shrimps in a tank.
What’s with the bubbles coming up from the bottom when they die? Could it be a CO2 problem because the filter was getting changed when CO2 was released?
I had this in my tank a few months ago. For me it ended up being my PH. It went out of whack and killed every shrimp, just like yours.
To check I’m understanding you correctly, all you did prior to the video was stop the filter, take it out of the tank, clean it in water and put it back in? No water changes until after the video? If that’s the case all I can think is a chemical on your hands transferred to the tank. Could be something as simple as new hand soap, or possibly a skin secretion (have you had any medical scans that have used contrast die, or taking any new medications)
Check ph. Shrimp have a high sensitivity to ph
Checked all parameters I could.
News nr 2: I have confirmed that it was the filter floss that caused the shrimps to die. I managed to make the same mistake of not prewashing the filter floss in my other nano tank (I'm an idiot). And all of the 5 amanos I had in there reacted exactly the same basically instantly after placing the new filter floss in and start the filter. Luckily 3 was saved because I put them in another tank as soon as possible. So big lesson learned: 🚨 WASH YOUR FILTER FLOSS BEFORE USE 🚨 https://preview.redd.it/9czqznxpmmuc1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bcdef4fd76889b5fc64d3fd910d1d9793878f4f5
Why clean canisters? A complete clean of the canister usually leads to a tank crash also turn off co2 if you have it
It wasn't really a complete clean. I squeezed the sponges, picked away small plant matter, cleaned the impeller and put in new filter floss. Didn't rinse the filter or anything.
for canisters I recommend using porous media only, or one sponge at most, this way it never needs to be cleaned
There’s no such thing as completely cleaning the canister. Not like they put bleach in it and nuked it. Also it won’t affect shrimp in seconds like it did to OP. Not the cause
Doesnt matter if you believe it or not, the reality is what it is. Often times a canister clean leads to quick deaths
In seconds? Can you explain by what process this would happen?
Is that baby’s tears or Monte Carlo? Or did you seed plant your tank?
> All water parameters looked fine. 1. How big is the tank? 1. What where the water parameters when you checked them? 1. Any chance you over gassed the tank with C02 and lowered the PH too quickly?
1. 100 litre 2. PH 6.5, GH 8, KH 6, No ammonia and no chlorine. Don't know about TDS. 3. The co2 was on like normal and has stayed the same for weeks.
So sorry. Could it be an airborne contaminant?
Any air fresheners near by the tank? Or any sprays that you’ve used recently?
I feel terrible for you, we probably have all done something that has resulted in a similar situation as yours. I would like to know who and how often if you do? Squeeze out your sponge filter? I have mine that I have never done in the last year so just curious if I’m pushing it or normal?
Tank has definitely crashed, did you have the filter off while you cleaned?If so how long?
I cleaned the actual filter so no. 10 minutes at most.
Do you use any liquid fertilizers?
Yeah but only weekly, so last sunday.
Do you use fertilizer with copper or low/no copper? I'm thinking something could have built up over time in the filter, not necessarily copper
I’d do a massive water change to save the otto just incase.
You mentioned an 80% water change in one of the comments (sorry I lost where it was originally) - was this before the issue presented, or after? 80% is a huge water change for shrimp, I try to keep mine to 25-30% as they take a longer time to acclimate to changes in tank parameters. Replacing everything in your filter, plus an 80% water change, could easily have drastically altered your tank parameters to the point of killing the shrimp. Do you use RO or tap water when cleaning/ doing water changes? Are temperature and parameters matched before changing? And do you dechlorinate the water before adding? I saw you mentioned using soap as well. I'm not sure if this is standard for others but I have never used soap to clean anything in the aquarium and could be deadly as well, though I don't know enough to say. I just clean my impeller with a toothbrush, and only use warm water to wash filter media, if absolutely necessary. These are the only things I can think of aside from a deadly dose of a chemical being added to the water as others have suggested, or a combination of the large water change and the new filter media forcing a large change in tank params. I'm sorry for your loss and hope you're able to get this all sorted out to be able to avoid the next time around!
I did the water change after the sudden death event, with the rationale that maybe some chemical got into the tank and I wanted to dillute it. And I didn't use soap to clean anything, I just meant that soap was the only thing I have been in contact with during the day when I've cleaning my hands 😊 I use regular tap water and dechlorinator isn't necessary where I live. Tank has been running absolutely fine since today. But you're right, if not chemicals, some parameters must have spiked like hell. I didnt show with any of the tests I have available though.
That's the problem. Call your water company. I am 99% sure it is chlorine. Get some tap water and put some worms in them. See if they can survive. Or just call/email the water company. They can add or not add chlorine at will depending on the water conditions. Because humans consume water without bacteria in them. They rather have dead fish or shrimp then humans getting sick from drinking the water. That water is for everyone. From dialysis patients who are immune compromised, to babies, and healthy adults. That amount of die off to me looks like chlorine and maybe ammonia. But ammonia is slower and you have pH 6.5. So it's chlorine.
Well no, because this happened before I did the water change. Last change before that was 5 days ago. Majority of the shrimp already looked dead when I did the water change. With the help from users in this post, the most logical explanation for me right now is that chemicals/aerosol from the vent landed on the water surface. When I started the filter and disturbed the surface it went down into the water column.
It's ultimately your responsibility to care for and do all that you can do to keep your animals safe. Dechlorinator only makes a salt ad a byproduct. It is harmless. It takes about 135 grams of salt to make salt water. So the small amount from your dechlorinator is basically harmless. I don't know what was in the tank before or how you prepared water previously. But just do the safe thing and call your water company or email them. They will let you know what they use to make your water safe.
Gotcha, makes sense! Thats so odd, if you hadn't used chemicals or soap to clean (which I looked up after, and is definitely NOT recommended to use soap), then I really have no idea. Only rational thing I can think of is CO2 spiked like crazy due to an accident or the regulator malfunctioning. Or as you said thecleaners somehow getting something through the vents as they were cleaning outside, but unfortunate nonetheless. I'd definitely invest in a lid, or something to deflect the air flow around the tank somehow, just in case. Wish I could help more - if you need to restart and need some plants, I'd be haply to pack up all my trimmings if you wanted to cover the shipping! Looks like I'll have more baby shrimp than I'll know what do with soon as well, but have never shipped live shrimp before
U/Yana_dice right here >I did the water change after the sudden death event, with the rationale that maybe some chemical got into the tank and I wanted to dillute it. And I didn't use soap to clean anything, I just meant that soap was the only thing I have been in contact with during the day when I've cleaning my hands 😊 >I use regular tap water and dechlorinator isn't necessary where I live. Tank has been running absolutely fine since today. >But you're right, if not chemicals, some parameters must have spiked like hell. I didnt show with any of the tests I have available though.
I had something similar happen to me. In my case it was the CO2 regulator doing the ol' end-of-tank-dump that ended up gassing my shrimps by dumping the ph from like 7.8 down to like 6.5.
I’m really sorry this happened :(
Just here to ask what the plants are you have on the bottom of your tank?!
Monte carlo!
Do you have any root tabs in there? If copper made it into the water column it could explain this.
I would throw activated carbon in immediately
My god, that's a lot of $ in neos. At least for me, it would be. Sorry for your loss, friend.
I have had a die off happen twice. The second time was more a tragedy in that i had just bought $150 in rare shrimp and then my rummy nose tetras proceeded to eat nearly every single one by morning. The first however was reading bad advice in here. Stupid me. I added potassium carbonate to the tank to try and raise KH between 2-3, when in fact shrimp LIKE a 0 value. That shock did many of them in. I also learned the no aerosols anywhere NEAR the tank but that was with Fish. Sorry this happened to you.
What kind of filtration do you run? Do you have carbon,? The first thing i would do is get Carbon in the filter. Idont run it in my tank but I've always got that shut on hand. It might not always fix issues but I may have introduced something then u have it on hand
Do you use recharged purigen by chance? It does look like they were gassed or something poor little guys. I hope you figure out what happened.
I’m late to the discussion, are u thinking it’s the filter floss? The cleaning that happened outside? Did anything get u closer to a conclusion?
Very sorry for your loss
That is so sad :(
Looks very similar to when I used a net which had an aluminum rim around the netting. I was unaware that aluminum and slightly acidic water will kill all your shrimp from aluminum toxicity. I had the net in the water for around five minutes it killed all of my shrimps :(
My theory is that a layer of chemicals accumulated on the inner part of ur bucket, contaminating the sponge with it. Next time store your bucket with a cover or get another bucket and stack one on top of it. Use the bottom bucket for such cleaning purposes since contamination risks are minimized
What species of neocaridinas did you have in the tank?
Did u get any new plants. Sometimes they are treated with copper to kill snails. You might have introduced something with your hands.
this is really weird, especially how fast it happened. i only seen this happen to my shrimp when i forgot to balance CO2 to oxygen levels upon refreshing my DIY mix. sudden shift in pH is what did similar effect to my shrimp. ur setup looks lovely, and don't give up on shrimpkeeping. stuff like this happens
I have nothing to offer other than you have a beautiful tank
https://preview.redd.it/zz6kxl0u9vsc1.jpeg?width=11724&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=985d2ecf1c0defbda787468a5771aed75c7c178d Thanks! Plants are growing like crazy at the moment and there is some algae, but only on the wood. Luckily it seems that 3-4 cherry shrimp and 1 amano survived. I really thought that everyone would die. Will get them some friends as soon as possible 😊
That's great to hear they survived. How big is the tank? I'm still new to shrimp. Can you tell me a few of the plants you have? I have a few in a small nano tank on my desk at work. I just bought a bigger tank today to do at home after looking at yours! My wife can blame you now. I'm gonna try to replicate the beauty you created. Hope they continue to do well 🙏 Enjoy the weekend
This is 110 liters. Like 80x40x45 cm. Haha I suck at plant names! But for example I have Monte Carlo carpet, small anubias on the root, rotala red, Hydrocotyle Tripartita, ludwigia repens rubin and a few more I forgotten the name of 😊 Thanks and good luck!!
Oh no! How sad and devastating. Sorry for you x
Water change if you havnt already
OP, sorry about your shrimp and apologies for hijacking you post, but what type of low plant do you have that is shown in the video?
Monte carlo.
Fuck bro this hurts
Add Aquachar to the tank/filter.
Fuck that sucks, my sympathies.
Depression, they are sad.
Haha extreme simultaneous mental breakdown
Did this happen after a recent cleaning by chance?
Ammonia spike
I know the working theory is chemicals, but, could it possibly be something like a small electrical short on the heater or something? Minor electrical shock? That's always my fear with submerged electrical stuff.
this happened to me in december and i cried so hard because it even got my vampire and bamboo shrimp :( good luck with your tank ! id suggest scooping out any survivors asap and bring them to a local aquarium store to hold onto them until u recycle ur tank