Cherry Shrimp

Hi all again

I've been looking for Sue's thread about cherry red shrimps and my own, but can't seem to find it. I've unfortunately been losing shrimp again 

I bought 6 shrimp a little while back, but unfortunately one was dead / dying as soon as I got them home (not sure what happened here, but since it was one shrimp and I can't drive it wasn't worth going back since my partner had to take me). I noticed the other day that the maximum shrimp I could count at once was 3. I was hoping that since I still have hornwurt in my tank, these little guys were just hiding really well, as at night I can't even see any of my fish as they sleep in it!

Today my power went off (and I'd planned for it). However whilst it was off I noticed a dead shrimp in the tank - I guess she must have died recently or my endlers would have eaten the body. Anyway, the body had a cracked back, as Sue has described before. I've been using my Betta G as usual, so I'm confused what's going on with my tank. Perhaps I should go back to more frequent but smaller water changes, say twice a week, and see what happens?

And now since I had the powercut I'm not sure whether to do a water change or leave the tank to settle. Urgh

I wouldn't have thought so as my tank has a lid, but then I guess the shrimp could climb up the pre-filter or heater and then end up out of water... they do hang around on them a lot!

Another problem I'm having at the minute is that my heater has got some of that black algae I had problems with before. I'm not sure how to get rid of it since I need the heater as I don't have a spare!

Ahh Thanks Sue! I couldn't find those at all!

Will have a go with the water changes again and see how things go.  How often do you dose betta g in your tank? Perhaps I'm not using it enough. .. I'll let the tank settle again before hunting down some more shrimp, the poor little guys must be lonely!

Hmm that's the same as me then.  Though I find it hard to tell how much to dose at a time since my tank is so small!

This might be complete rubbish..... but I read somewhere it's best not to use liquid ferts with the water change 'cos the water conditioner used to remove or bind the chlorine and heavy metals can do that to some of the additives in the fertiliser and it's better to add the fert the next day. Perhaps this may also be happening with the BettaG and you'd be better off adding it a day after the water change???

Like I say - I could be talking rubbish - just passing on something I read somewhere, sometime.

No wonder I couldn't find it anywhere, was looking for betta not beta ...........
It's useful to know, as I'm planning to use my smallest (30 litre) tank as a shrimp only set up, starting with 10 so it could be expensive if they all die.
I note that a lot of flake foods claim to include beta glucan. Maybe in a fish-included tank not enough flake reaches the shrimp? Lots of literature suggests that shrimp can thrive on a flake diet.

Colin, that's one advantage of having studied chemistry 

Richard - Natalia seems to know a lot about shrimps which is why I tried beta-g. I've had the odd shrimp die since last summer but not the wholesale wipeout I had before. The bacterium in question affects the moulting process and all my shrimps have died with white bands across their backs, ie they were trying to moult. Beta-g isn't a miracle cure; it is meant to help the shrimp's immune system rather than kill the bacterium.
I haven't come across food containing beta-g. When I had the baby shrimps in the quarantine tank I fed them on Hikari Shrimp Cuisine, ground up to powder. Now that they are in a tank with fish, I feed a cocktail of crushed (not powdered) shrimp cuisine and new life spectrum pellets, and crumbled NLS flake (there are pygmy cories and Sundadanio axelrodi in the same tank and they all need small food particles). Obviously they all eat some of everything but at least the shrimps do have access to shrimp-specific food.
If you are setting up a tank for shrimps you might want to research bacter ae. That is supposed to help the biofilm develop, which is good for shrimps. I came across it on another forum, being recommended by a shrimp expert on there.