Shrimp Issues... Whats wrong?

[Cinderwolf]

So few days go, I set p a planted 2 gl QT tank and I got 5 ghost shrimp. Its heavy plated cause i figured the shrimp would like that while they QT.

I don't have a lid for the tank so I used saran wrap with holes in it as a lid..

Fast forward to the day afterwards. I Came down to check on the shrimp and I found one stuck to the saran wrap ... dead.

I figured, okay it must have just climbed up and got stuck in the water condensation or whtever...

So I take him out and when I get done that I coem back and another one is on top! But this one jumped back into the water..

So i owered the water level a bunch and changed the lid from saran wrap to plastic craft mesh...

But the shrimp keep getting stuck to the sides of the tank above the water..

Why are they doing this.. I have to keep pushing thme back into the water.. I dont get why they keep tryign to jump to their deaths...

[LittleBettaFish]

Can you check your parameters? I know shrimp like to climb but if they are trying to jump out of the water it may be something is irritating them. Shrimp are quite sensitive to water quality so double-checking just to be safe might be a good first step.

[Cinderwolf]

Originally Posted by LittleBettaFish

Can you check your parameters? I know shrimp like to climb but if they are trying to jump out of the water it may be something is irritating them. Shrimp are quite sensitive to water quality so double-checking just to be safe might be a good first step.

I have a test kit for ammonia and nitrated and that.. cant test hardness..

But it baffles me because i set up the tank with clean fresh water literally the day i got it.. so I dunno why the parametre would be bad..

I will do a water chnge any how

[LittleBettaFish]

If it was clean water it may be something that you haven't got a test for (such as copper) that is causing the issues. Did you acclimatise your shrimp at all? Most of the people I see on other forums seem to drip acclimatise their shrimp in so as to avoid shock.

I'm a bit of a shrimp killer myself so that's about the extent of my contribution. Hope you find out what is causing them to behave so erratically.

[Cinderwolf]

Ya I acclimated the jsut the same as I do my betta, over about an hour they swima roudn fine and act ine but i keep fiding them stuck to the sides is jsut wierd... Whe I push thme back in they flip out and swim away like I woke them up...

[Cinderwolf]

Also the piping in my house is PVC so i dunno why there woudl be copper in the water.. hmmm

[LadyVictorian]

One of my shrimp did that and then died and hour later. Water was fine, I tested it, tank was large, filter wasn't too strong, I had a bubbler going for oxygen, temp was fine, it was a total mystery to me. The next day the other shrimp died. I think some ghost shrimp are just in bad health because they are used as feeders and are poorly cared for. I thought something was wrong with my tank but the snail I got the same day is doing just fine and without issues so....yeah I think it was a fact of having ill shrimp from the start.

[Cinderwolf]

Yea I jut found another dead one not stuck to the top or anything, just in a plant, dead : /... I guess I just hope for the best with the last 3 shrimp..

Do you think it woudl be beneficial to cut QT short and jsut add thme to the cycled 5 gal? I was waiting til my planting tweezers got here but if they woudl air better in the cycled tank with the fish then i woudl be okay will moving thme n there early..

[Cinderwolf]

tested my water and everything was 0, ph was 6.6

And go me for dropping one fo the test vials and havign to sweep up a bunch fo tiny shards of glass : P

[LadyVictorian]

Is their qt tank well filtered and getting enough oxygen into the water? If not and the 5 gallon has better lvl's I would move them, otherwise they sounds a bit like mine. Everything was ideal for them in the tank but they still died leaving me to think the stress of moving killed them or simply that I got bad stock. Next time I try for shrimp I am grabbing them the DAY the come into the store so they haven't sat in those tanks long and hopefully will be in better conditions. Are your shrimp eating? Mine never ate anything when I got them even though food was offered.