# red cherry shrimp lethargic/dying



## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

Did you find out the water parameters they were kept in at aquatic arts including TDS? Do you know the TDS of your water?


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## mbkemp (Dec 15, 2016)

What kind of what water hose outside? 


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## clownplanted (Mar 3, 2017)

That gh is WAY too low. That is not even 2dGH. You want at least 5. This will without a doubt cause issues. Too little and too much cause molting issues and death. 

General rule is for Cherries their safe zone is 6-8dGH as like I said too little and too high will cause problems which is what you are seeing first hand. Since you have such soft water you need to add some kind of gh booster. You want for Cherries to try and keep it in the range of 6-8.

Another word of advice. By you using the Fluval buffering substrate it is HIGHLY recommended not to use tap water with KH for water changes. Because everytime you add KH to the tank it will just strip the KH back down to 0. The more it has to do this the faster you will deplete the buffering ability of the substrate. Once its depleted it will no longer be able to keep the ph in the range and having a KH of 0 in the tank at that time will cause ph swings(very bad). Also by having that high PH and the buffering substrate having to bring it down about 1.5-2 points everytime from water changes is not good either. 

For the meantime look at getting the GH to the recommended numbers to keep more from dying. Then look into possibly getting a RO unit this way you can prep the water ahead of time, age it and the benefit of this would be a MUCH closer match to the parameters in the tank which will prevent water parameter shock.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Issues I'm seeing...

1.) You purchased from Aquatic Arts - these are imported, adult shrimp - they don't adapt as well as juvenile, home bred shrimp do

2.) Fluval stratum with tap water - Fluval isn't the best buffering substrate out there, and using tap water with it causes it to lose it's buffering capacities sooner and also results in pH fluctuations

3.) Neocaridina shrimp (i.e. cherries and their colors) do best with sand or gravel substrate (just not from Petco)

4.) Your water is too soft for shrimp (as already mentioned)


Amanos are much hardier shrimp that cherries are...


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## Panw (Jan 20, 2016)

First problem- most sellers send their fishes/shrimps in a breeder bag, and with breeder bag you should NOT acclimate by submerging it in the water! You might want to search for drips acclimation for shrimps 


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## Nubster (Aug 9, 2011)

Low pH. High temps. High temp = less oxygen. Lower the temps and make sure you are getting enough surface disruption from your filter. Neos might "survive" in lower pH but they don't do well in my experience. They really thrive in pH around 7.2-7.6.


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