Trouble with red cherry shrimp

[jarrodaden]

Ever since this

http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforums/showthread.php?37308-Thanks-to-the-management-at-my-office-building

happened, my two surviving red cherry shrimp have been very still and inactive. I have added aeration to the tank on the off chance that building management will do this to me again but otherwise have not changed any part of my routine.

Has aeration "upset" the shrimp in some way or might it be something else?

[mnemenoi]

I doubt the aeration is the culprit. My questions would be how long has the tank been set up? Cherry shrimp appreciate a fairly "aged" system. I found that setting up a planted tank and letting it go for an entire 2-3 months is heaven for them. Possibly a spike in Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate due to the recent fluctuation? What substrate are you using for this tank? Aquasoil could be the culprit, it spikes for quite some time and drops the Ph ridiculously. Cherries seem to prefer a bit harder water (7.0 to 7.8) and I have found they literally thrive in our local treated tap. Other shrimp love soft water, so if this is the case it will just take choosing some different shrimp. Do they clean at your office at night? Chemicals and insecticides would likely have some dire consequences on your little shrimps. Has anything in the tank ever been treated with copper in another previous tank? Even small residual amounts can eventually leach out into the water and cause them stress. They could have recently molted, though both doing this at the same time seems odd. Are they adult shrimp or youngsters? I have heard adults can be problematic when their conditions change, while younger ones are a bit more adaptive. Not sure if any of these might be it, but tried to pick my brain for what I'd look into. If you need some more shrimp just let me know I always have a few to spare.

[jarrodaden]

I doubt the aeration is the culprit. My questions would be how long has the tank been set up? Cherry shrimp appreciate a fairly "aged" system. I found that setting up a planted tank and letting it go for an entire 2-3 months is heaven for them. Possibly a spike in Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate due to the recent fluctuation? What substrate are you using for this tank? Aquasoil could be the culprit, it spikes for quite some time and drops the Ph ridiculously. Cherries seem to prefer a bit harder water (7.0 to 7.8) and I have found they literally thrive in our local treated tap. Other shrimp love soft water, so if this is the case it will just take choosing some different shrimp. Do they clean at your office at night? Chemicals and insecticides would likely have some dire consequences on your little shrimps. Has anything in the tank ever been treated with copper in another previous tank? Even small residual amounts can eventually leach out into the water and cause them stress. They could have recently molted, though both doing this at the same time seems odd. Are they adult shrimp or youngsters? I have heard adults can be problematic when their conditions change, while younger ones are a bit more adaptive. Not sure if any of these might be it, but tried to pick my brain for what I'd look into. If you need some more shrimp just let me know I always have a few to spare.

Lots of good questions here. Let me try to address each.

age of tank - old - about one year
ammonia spike - possible. I have an eclipse tank with the bio wheel in the top. sometimes the bio wheel will randomly stop spinning.
substrate - pea sized gravel. no soil.
cleaning crew - yes, but I have a top on my tank
molting - i think both have molted within the last week or so

As of this morning, both shrimp are very well hidden and didn't come out when I dropped algae bits (like they used to in the past).

[mnemenoi]

If both have molted recently I believe you have likely found your culprit. Until they "harden up" a bit they usually seek a good hiding spot and will stay there until they again feel comfortable. I think that coupled with a drastic reduction in population is what is attributing to their shy behavior. My suggestion would be to add perhaps a dozen more and see if that alleviates their behavior. Mine seem very skittish until their are a large number of them and then they are everywhere. I'm not certain to their brain power, but I'd guess they assume a predator is about and are hiding from this perceived threat. When I added Ruby tetra's to my tank they all went into hiding for a month. Now, months later, they ignore them completely. You could also try adding a few Amano shrimp into the tank, they seem a bit less defensive and appear to ease the smaller shrimp out of hiding. Their larger size seems to give them a bit less fear initially.

[Paleoguy]

I goofed along the same lines. I had a tank full in a aged tank with a very low fish population. I had pulled the glass hood for acid claeaning and left it off for a week. The water levels were down so I added a few gallons of water with Aquasol. Now I haven't seen many shrimp where before the young ones and old females were everywhere. I hope they come back.

[jarrodaden]

As a follow up, what are you feeding? I am specifically interested in "red color enhancer" which I think exists but I can't find it.

[imagirlgeek]

ammonia spike - possible. I have an eclipse tank with the bio wheel in the top. sometimes the bio wheel will randomly stop spinning.

This really doesn't have anything to do with the shrimp, but just wanted to mention that the bio wheel doesn't have to spin all the time...as long as water flows over it, it's still working. Spinning is better because of the additional surface area, but as long as water is flowing over it, it is doing work.