# Shrimp acting spastic and has tail raised up



## stormx22 (Mar 14, 2016)

Hi everyone,
My red cherry shrimps have been acting weird for the past 30min. I had the shrimps for 3 months and only had 1 death. They were pretty active earlier today. No water changes today or the past week. I had dropped a small pellet food and left to do errands. When I came back, the shrimps were spasming out and had their tail raiseed up in almost a U shape. I am currently testing the water right now. Will post the results when I'm done. But just curious on what your thoughts are. It a shrimp/snail only tank with lots of plants and no fertilizers. Maybe an api fertilizer tablet in soil. Oh and it a 5 gallon jar.


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Did you do anything else before leaving? Specifically, anything in your home?


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## stormx22 (Mar 14, 2016)

@Zoidburg 

None, the jar is in my room, and I don't spray anything around. I also washed the dishes after I dropped the food to avoid contamination.
I just dropped the pellet food, slid up my water baffle to muffle the noise and left. Although when I came back my spray bar came off and was was flowing fast water into the jar. I quickly put it back on, and then noticed the behavior.

Here the results (didn't have many tubes for testing so only did the one that were important to me)

PH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
TDS: 450 (Average Range)


Let me know if you want any other tests done, I have the test kit. 

Thanks!


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Odd behavior like that could mean a toxin in the air. At least for me, it was something put in the microwave that wasn't supposed to be in there (roommate) and neighbors spraying for bugs.

Are they still behaving this way after fixing the spray bar?


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## stormx22 (Mar 14, 2016)

they were acting like that after the spray bar was fixed. I did a water change in hope this was the problem. This morning they all looked fine with no losses (as far as I can tell) so I brushed it off as a one chance thing. I clipped some plants that were overgrowing and now am faced with the same problems. I think they are trying to molt but are not ready yet. They curl their tail in and out and look as if the being constricted. I placed a new filter with carbon and ammo carb to clear the water. I have no water to do a water change, will have to wait till tomorrow to grab distilled water. Currently running a new small filter with new media and air bubble stone to increase oxygen in water. I turned off the original filter because there too much water flowing and they can barely swim right now.


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## tamsin (Jan 12, 2011)

Just double checking, I take it you are remineralising your distilled water?


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## stormx22 (Mar 14, 2016)

@tasmin I use a combination of Regular Water to Distilled water. Basically for Big Water changes (more than 20%) I use regular water. and for top off, I use distilled. That way I can keep the TDS low but keep ph the same in the jar. 

Is there any way to prevent cherry shrimp from molting or slow it down, I think they are molting too fast. I know a majority of the shrimp molted last week, and i think they were trying to molt last night. 
Or maybe improve it so the rate of survival is higher?

This is my strategy for next week, 

Do a 10% distilled water change until TDS measure 200 - 300, being careful of ph swing
Feed garlic To help boost immunity and less proteins (currently feeding small bead of Shirakura Shrimp Food twice a week)
Put in a heater to increase temp to 78
Minimal lighting to decrease stress


Any other suggestion would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

stormx22 said:


> @tasmin I use a combination of Regular Water to Distilled water. Basically for Big Water changes (more than 20%) I use regular water. and for top off, I use distilled. That way I can keep the TDS low but keep ph the same in the jar.
> 
> Is there any way to prevent cherry shrimp from molting or slow it down, I think they are molting too fast. I know a majority of the shrimp molted last week, and i think they were trying to molt last night.
> Or maybe improve it so the rate of survival is higher?
> ...


If you are feeding them frequently, they're eventually going to grow and will need to molt. There's no escaping that fact. They have exoskeletons and need to shed the old ones when their body gets too big.


Increasing their temperature won't help as both Neos and Bee shrimp like low 70's, it will also increase their metabolism, and they'll need to eat more.

You can keep them at room temperature, roughly 68 degrees, (they'll live longer and will molt less frequently..) as long as your house temp is stable. A small heater to handle home temperature dips below 68 would be a good idea. 

Although changing their temperature drastically is also not so good for them, so if you elect to decrease their temps, do it in small, a couple degrees every other day, stages. It might be good to time with your frequent water changes.


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## stormx22 (Mar 14, 2016)

@GrampsGrunge Thanks, I guess ill feed them less and use veggie sticks or something

I did the gh/kh test, I have 10 drops gh and 0-1 drop of kh. Do you think my kh is the problem? or should I just stick to my strategy? They have stopped twitching and are going about grazing. I'm too concern to touch anything in the tank now. I have an air stone and regular filter going. Will be doing a 10% water change every 2-3 days to bring that TDS down. Also on a side note, i noticed my nerite has some damages to it shell. Wondering if there not enough calcium in the tank.

Here my final parameter for the tank:
PH: 6.4
High PH:7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Gh:10
Kh:0-1
TDS: 400


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

Neos can do better with a little more Carbonate Hardness or KH over Crystals.

I keep BCS, and I'm in the unenviable situation of having water so soft out of our tap it's only 20 to 40 TDS, and I have to remineralize with Calcium and Magnesium Sulfate. I keep a small amount of Oyster shell in my shrimp tanks substrate because I believe that Crystals do benefit from a small amount of KH.

Here's a link to an article about Shrimp keeping and temperatures.

https://www.theshrimpfarm.com/posts/understanding-temperature-shrimp-tank/

Now the take from this is that these folks are commercial breeders, and they do recommend that if you want to breed your shrimp, that they will do better at 75 and slightly above.


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