Your water changes are to big, a safe general rule is 10% water changes max. Some people get away with bigger ones idk how.
Also are you slowly adding the water back? Shrimp need gradual changes with everything. Even if you did a 10% change but the 10% you added back was 4 degree difference in temp and you just poured it all in at once it could force a molt and kill your shrimp
I lost my entire colony one by one over the span of about 6 mo. I believe it was a combination of Asian leeches eating all my babies and the adults got bacterial infections after I significantly disturbed the substrate unintentionally.
I would find one every few days. It was soul
Crushing. I tore the whole thing down to get those damn leeches finally. It’s been cycled for a while now and my nerite snail (who barely survived the bacterial infection as well) is doing very well in there. I’m hoping to start another colony in a few weeks when I can get out to my LSS.
Good luck to you. I hope you find the cause and correct it soon. ❤️
You’re doing water changes too fast. I’ve got my crystal reds in an 18 litre while I wait for my 120l to cycle and I can do a 50% water change without difficulty.
I remove half the water, then slowly add the new water in over a 10-24 hour period. I put it in a bottle next to the aquarium and every once in a while when I walk by I add a little bit more in.
Hey I had the same issue with my crystal red tank and the problem ended up being that the parameters were shifting too much during a water change. I change 10% weekly now and drip it in using a siphon with a knot tied in it and I try to drip it over 3-4 hours (sometimes slower, I just let it go all day)
Last issue I had was that depending on the soil you used, you have you may have a GH deficiency or high KH. KH is good for neos but not caridina. What’s your GH? Too high and their shells are too hard, too low and the shells are too soft to break out of iirc
edit: I just saw your hardness isn’t too high so I think it’s most likely stress due to the water changes, I’d just change your water slower/smaller water changes. No need to do big ones with shrimp honestly they have a tiny bioload.
I solved the same problem you have. I have a heavily planted(non co2 non fert) 5 gallon tank with only shrimp in it and i had the same issue where they were dying for no reason. I stopped doing regular water changes and everything resolved. I only do a very small water change every month or so. They also started breeding as soon as i did that. I also only think this works is you have lots of plants and low stocking
Same thing happened to me I had to just let those ones gradually die off and now the hearty ones are reproducing and they can survive my parameters and my weekly water changes and whatever I do
Smaller weekly or slower adding would help (think drip acclimation). I would run a test on the water too. There are a million things you wouldn’t see, plus there is always the possibility your RODI filter wasn’t ran through for 30-45 minutes to clean out the preserving chemicals.
thats interesting, ive had the same problem as you and i set up my tank around the same time. i had about 15-20 shrimp and my numbers dwindled down to 6 even though my parameters were fine and were reading consistently the day i first got them?
personally for me i think it was my substrate. even though i had readings of 0 ammonia 0 nitrate for a while and was ready to put my shrimp in, the ammonia/nitrate readings suddenly came up after i started testing the water? 0.25ppm ammonia and like 5.0 – 10.0 nitrate i believe. i guess it turns out my fluval stratum wasnt done leeching ammonia out lmao. i dont know what you use, esp since you said no ammonia readings, but maybe that can still be a possibility?
Scope4427 
Your water changes are to big, a safe general rule is 10% water changes max. Some people get away with bigger ones idk how.
Also are you slowly adding the water back? Shrimp need gradual changes with everything. Even if you did a 10% change but the 10% you added back was 4 degree difference in temp and you just poured it all in at once it could force a molt and kill your shrimp
I lost my entire colony one by one over the span of about 6 mo. I believe it was a combination of Asian leeches eating all my babies and the adults got bacterial infections after I significantly disturbed the substrate unintentionally.
I would find one every few days. It was soul
Crushing. I tore the whole thing down to get those damn leeches finally. It’s been cycled for a while now and my nerite snail (who barely survived the bacterial infection as well) is doing very well in there. I’m hoping to start another colony in a few weeks when I can get out to my LSS.
Good luck to you. I hope you find the cause and correct it soon. ❤️
You’re doing water changes too fast. I’ve got my crystal reds in an 18 litre while I wait for my 120l to cycle and I can do a 50% water change without difficulty.
I remove half the water, then slowly add the new water in over a 10-24 hour period. I put it in a bottle next to the aquarium and every once in a while when I walk by I add a little bit more in.
Hey I had the same issue with my crystal red tank and the problem ended up being that the parameters were shifting too much during a water change. I change 10% weekly now and drip it in using a siphon with a knot tied in it and I try to drip it over 3-4 hours (sometimes slower, I just let it go all day)
Last issue I had was that depending on the soil you used, you have you may have a GH deficiency or high KH. KH is good for neos but not caridina. What’s your GH? Too high and their shells are too hard, too low and the shells are too soft to break out of iirc
edit: I just saw your hardness isn’t too high so I think it’s most likely stress due to the water changes, I’d just change your water slower/smaller water changes. No need to do big ones with shrimp honestly they have a tiny bioload.
Same with mine
I solved the same problem you have. I have a heavily planted(non co2 non fert) 5 gallon tank with only shrimp in it and i had the same issue where they were dying for no reason. I stopped doing regular water changes and everything resolved. I only do a very small water change every month or so. They also started breeding as soon as i did that. I also only think this works is you have lots of plants and low stocking
HERE I AM, THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE !!!
https://giphy.com/gifs/uk-highlander-phillipgallantmedia-yg1idegNHJOQvKDRhV
New tank? Are you using rodi water or tap?
What’s the micronutrient fertilizer?
You said it’s RO, but is it DI’d?
Same thing happened to me I had to just let those ones gradually die off and now the hearty ones are reproducing and they can survive my parameters and my weekly water changes and whatever I do
1. Check for copper if you can
2. Check for any fuzzy white stuff or other bacteria
3. Don’t beat yourself up over it
Smaller weekly or slower adding would help (think drip acclimation). I would run a test on the water too. There are a million things you wouldn’t see, plus there is always the possibility your RODI filter wasn’t ran through for 30-45 minutes to clean out the preserving chemicals.
And check your fertilizer for copper traces!
Have you checked your KH and GH?
Honestly check your PH, I found shrimp are super sensitive to this. They might thrive in 6.8 but die at 7.5
thats interesting, ive had the same problem as you and i set up my tank around the same time. i had about 15-20 shrimp and my numbers dwindled down to 6 even though my parameters were fine and were reading consistently the day i first got them?
personally for me i think it was my substrate. even though i had readings of 0 ammonia 0 nitrate for a while and was ready to put my shrimp in, the ammonia/nitrate readings suddenly came up after i started testing the water? 0.25ppm ammonia and like 5.0 – 10.0 nitrate i believe. i guess it turns out my fluval stratum wasnt done leeching ammonia out lmao. i dont know what you use, esp since you said no ammonia readings, but maybe that can still be a possibility?
totally not helpful but your shrimp looks super cool!
king of the rock!