Are my shrimp diseased?

[Kat]

I recently bought some inverts from a LFS; 6 nerite snails, 3 blue diamond shrimp and two flower shrimp.  I moved all of them to quarentine into a 10g tank already stocked with neo culls.  

 

Since I added the blue diamond shrimp,  I haven't seen one.  I also lost  at least two other adult pretty blue neocaridina shrimp, and found the bodies.  The deceased shrimps didn't appear to be sick, I was actually admiring them the same days that they were found dead later.  The shrimplets that are in the tank seem to be doing ok though and I haven't lost the flower shrimp or any of the nerites. 

 

So HOW LONG SHOULD I WAIT BEFORE ADDING THESE INVERTS TO MY COMMUNITY TANKS?  It's the nerites and flower shrimp I want to move.  I absolutely DON'T want to make my fish sick, and I don't know anything about shrimp diseases and transfer to fish. 

 

The deceased shrimp did not have yellow heads or a cloudy body.  Unless cloudiness is something you can't see in darker coloured shrimp?  They were blue diamond crosses.......

 

I'm just wondering if should TREAT THE TANK OR just do a lot of WATER CHANGES and let things recover on their own? 

 

Additional info: To complicate matters, I didn't have anywhere to put some fish fry,  so there are some baby baby fish in the tank too.  I have no idea how the fish are doing,  they are too small!

 

Also the tank is ok for parameters and conditions.  Actually the params are a bit on the low side (pH=7.2, kh=2, gh=4, temp=78°f, TDS is just over 100)  but I think it's ok?   0ppm ammonia, nitrite and nitrate due to plants and frequent water changes. 

[Kat]

Well,  I lost the whole spawn of fish fry.  All but 3.  I definetely brought something nasty home from the chain fish store.  I lost another adult neo, another blue type,  the adult wild shrimp seem ok and so do the shrimplets.  Without knowing what the issue is, I'm going to have to just wait it out and keep equipment separate and disinfect.  I guess for now the nerites and wood shrimp will have to stay in quarentine for longer. 

[ohmiko]

I would keep lights off to reduce stress. Check for any shrimp that seem weak/ not moving from one area and kinda lingering. Check for any little white things on their heads 

[Soothing Shrimp]

How did you acclimate them?

 

This also may be a case of introducing new bacteria into a system that could not handle it. Rare, but it happens.

[Kat]

Thanks.  I acclimate them slowly, not drip, but a turkey baster shot every 10 mins or so.  Some of the deceased shrimp were born in my 5g BBBR tank, the parameters shouldn't be that far off.  They were in the 10g for about at least a month before they started dying after adding the shrimp from the LFS. I now had a huge die-off in my 5g (the tank the blue diamonds from the LFS first went into).  I also see some weird white skeletal condition happening in my other 5g (5g BBRR).  I'm going to make a new thread about the other 5g, because I'm not sure if the two ailments are related.  

 

I don't see any white on the shrimp in the 10g and 5g.  Just dead shrimp, dropping dead quickly.  They don't appear lethargic in those tanks, they just die.  I don't think there are very many shrimp left in my 5g.

[Soothing Shrimp]

Do a large water charge via airline.  Chances are bad juju is in the water params.

[Kat]

Tx.  I do 40% WCs once a week with a small siphon already.  With a bare-bottom,  I can suck up almost all of the crap on the bottom.  I'm going to increase it to twice or three times a week for a while.  And I'm not adding new shrimp without quarentining again, well I'm certainly not moving them all around!  I'm also going to be prudent where I purchase shrimp.  This is the first time I've ever dealt with sick shrimp.  I've always read they were sensitive, but didn't believe it until now.

 

Introducing new bacteria into a system that can't handle it: I didn't add water from the LFS into my tanks.  I just net the shrimp out of the container and dump the mixed water.  Not saying that couldn't still happen, just I try to avoid bringing any disease/bacteria into my tanks. 

[Soothing Shrimp]

I hear ya.  Good job dumping the water.  Several things can cause bacteria outbreaks.  Dirty water, a rise in temperature, and even shrimp from a different source can carry bacteria from their last tank in their system.

 

The bacteria from adding shrimp is rare, but occasionally it does happen.

[Kat]

Ok tx.  Something terribly contagious and fatal entered my system,  that's for sure.  Oddly enough, you say rise in temp? 

 

For some reason, the 10g was 82°f when I returned from vacation.  I thought the fish sitter accidently hit the heater adjustment.  So the temp DID rise in one of the tanks.  The other tank where I see most of the white inner bodies, it crashed competely.  I feel so bad for my shrimp

 

The pH is 7.0 -7.2.  Should I add some coral or cuttlebone?

[Soothing Shrimp]

Many things we do after a challenge is change too many things too fast.

 

You already did a water change. Ph is fine. I'd suggest just treating it normally for a week and see if things slowly come back to normal.

[Kat]

Ok, I agree.  No changes too quickly, especially with sensitive inverts.  Thank you. 

[Kat]

Update: I'm adding a smidgeon of Seachem Equilibrium at each 3 x weekly WC to replenish and increase minerals for shrimp because my water is too soft I think at a gh of 4 and most of the time zero kh.  I also added cuttlebone and this happened.  I think they were starving for calcium.  Poor shrimp.  I don't think that the only problem,  but the shrimp with white inner tracks are still alive.  I see a dark poo line on some of them  And lots of at least rili shrimplets all over.  Some low-quality blue velvets.