It’s possible there is something sneaking in like copper in water pipes if you moved recently or perhaps a mineral inclusion in a rock you just added. You’d think that common test kits would have a copper test, but whatever. Might want to check that!
Really though, the odd behavior sounds like struggling during molts. This is extra likely imo as shrimp often molt shortly after arriving in a new environment, and if they were perhaps nutrient deficient, they would struggle. Are you certain you’re providing enough bio available calcium for them to have healthy shells? And, for that matter, were they from a breeder you trust to make sure they were well fed?
Try ordering a gh/kh testing kit. You might not have had enough calcium in your tank for them to molt properly, especially if you’re using distilled or ro water
You’d have to start answering these questions before I’d offer a suggestion:
* How long has the tank been cycled?
* Where did you get the rocks? Did you test them for leaching (if from the wild)?
* How often do you change the water? And the amount? Do you use dechlorinator?
* Do you add additives to the water like plant fertalizers or bacteria-boosters?
* How much do you feed? How often?
* How long was your drip acclimation? How much water did you start and end with before putting them in the tank?
* Did you do any aqua-scaping since you got the shrimp, or soon before you got them?
Also, you should invest in a TDS meter and some more thorough water tests… People recommend the API test kit, which is great, but I use generic 16-in-1 test strips, sold on amazon for drinking water because they give me more information faster, like the amounts of copper, gh, kh, and chloramines.
If you attempt to answer the questions above, it will make it easier for us to rule out, pretty much, everything but toxins…
Hikari Crab Cuisine is a good calcium supplement feed for your shrimp. They’ll eat it so you know for sure they are getting their calcium intakes.
What temperature is the tank on most times? Did they exhibit restlessness and swimming around randomly before their passing? Rili shrimps are somewhat known to be slightly more sensitive than the typical Neocaradina breeds. It is possible that having a small tank causes the temperature to fluctuate too often. That could also be the cause.
I’ve left a my shrimp tanks unattended for weeks and have never had any issues with them. Hell they’ve even reproduced in the time I’ve been absent, how is it that you people run so many tests and do so much ch extra things and can’t keep them alive?
Mark’s Shrimp Tanks is an excellent YouTube channel for beginner shrimp keepers. That man knows shrimp, and is my go-to for troubleshooting any shrimp issues.
What’s in the geode? There are minerals that can leach from inclusions, but as someone else mentioned, if it was a water issue, they would have all dropped at the same time. Any ring of death that you noticed? Someone else also mentioned BacterAE. I drop some ShrimpFit in my tanks. I’m a glassgarten fan in general, and they make a soft mineral supplement food. My population went from 6 cherry and 6 blues to I have too many shrimp and nowhere to put them. Shrimp would be fun, they said. They are so easy, they said. Now I walk past the tank and see 15 berried bitches at any given time. Sigh…
Do you use a water softener at your home and in your tank? Water softeners extract all calcium from the water by design. When i test the kh and gh of my water the kh is through the roof and the gh is literally 0. This requires addition of some kind of GH+ product. Or they will all die over and over again.
Highest likelihood, there is a toxins in the water. Others are taking copper but others are possible. Buying the 2.5 gallon filtered water jugs in the grocery store and using these in your water changes should fix it in time. Unless you have a rock or other thing into emitting toxins. IMO
I noticed mine start acting weird when the pH changes. The pH climbs when there is too much protein in the tank and it needs a filter and water change. Since it seems to happen slowly and not all at once, try keeping a daily log of temp, pH, ammonia, and hardness levels for a week or two and see what the trend is after a water change.
I use my Zero Water branded water pitcher for water changes. The filter takes out a LOT of crap in water like metals, etc. Not everything, but a lot. If you can’t go and buy filtered water by the jug and need to use for tap for water changes, recommend using something similar. Brita is trash compared to Zero water filter-wise. Hope that helps!
If you have any cats or dogs that get topical flea treatment, that kills shrimp like this! Or if you have used any algae remover products those are usually unsafe for shrimp too. Otherwise maybe a gh/kh issue.
Last time you did a water change, how much % did you change? If more than 30% it could be from too large of water change giving them shock from not being able to acclimate to a larger change in parameters.
So you’ll need to buy a heater, I believe shrimp prefer 75-80 degrees F water? It could also be the food, they can’t eat copper or copper nitrate found in some food for shrimp/fish. And the pH seems a little low, my shrimp prefer 7.5-8.0 but they are blue velvets.
this also happened to me also two landed funny one on side and back but got right up. but two weeks later those same two died. but the rest of my shrimp are fine got 20 and now 18 going strong. just those two, it’s because they’re not use to the water parameter and can’t adjust leading to can’t molting or deform molt. how long has the tank been cycling and what’s the gh and kh at?
I had trouble with shrimp at first too. Everything had been checked and rechecked and all perimeters were great. It was determined that the water was the problem. I got an RODI system installed and now the only “problem” I have is too many fry. Of course I add minerals to the RODI water. Good luck!
If your parameters are correct for the water. Maybe something is toxic within the tank, causing them to die off. Something on the rock, plants etc.. I’m not a keeper of shrimp but I know with reptiles/amphibians/invertebrates you need to be extra vigilant with introducing plants to enclosures because of possible pesticides.
gh and kh most likely, grab a test kit for it, my tap water was so unworkable for the gh and kh that i HAD to use distilled water and remineralize with salty shrimp gh/kh+ and after that i dont think i had a single death, mine would just randomly drop dead and have horrific times molting prior till using distilled water and salty shrimp
Some rocks make the water parameters inconsistent. I had a few rocks that I picked up from my trip to Mammoth and over a few months, shrimp would just die out of nowhere. Once I took the rocks out, the tank stabilized.
This is just my experience and information I got from someone who’s been in the shrimp game for a while. Hopefully you figure it out!
Equivalent_Ad9512 
It’s possible there is something sneaking in like copper in water pipes if you moved recently or perhaps a mineral inclusion in a rock you just added. You’d think that common test kits would have a copper test, but whatever. Might want to check that!
Really though, the odd behavior sounds like struggling during molts. This is extra likely imo as shrimp often molt shortly after arriving in a new environment, and if they were perhaps nutrient deficient, they would struggle. Are you certain you’re providing enough bio available calcium for them to have healthy shells? And, for that matter, were they from a breeder you trust to make sure they were well fed?
Try ordering a gh/kh testing kit. You might not have had enough calcium in your tank for them to molt properly, especially if you’re using distilled or ro water
You’d have to start answering these questions before I’d offer a suggestion:
* How long has the tank been cycled?
* Where did you get the rocks? Did you test them for leaching (if from the wild)?
* How often do you change the water? And the amount? Do you use dechlorinator?
* Do you add additives to the water like plant fertalizers or bacteria-boosters?
* How much do you feed? How often?
* How long was your drip acclimation? How much water did you start and end with before putting them in the tank?
* Did you do any aqua-scaping since you got the shrimp, or soon before you got them?
Also, you should invest in a TDS meter and some more thorough water tests… People recommend the API test kit, which is great, but I use generic 16-in-1 test strips, sold on amazon for drinking water because they give me more information faster, like the amounts of copper, gh, kh, and chloramines.
If you attempt to answer the questions above, it will make it easier for us to rule out, pretty much, everything but toxins…
How long did you have your tank set up before you added shrimp?
Air fresheners of any kind incense perfumes and body sprays will have a chance to kill them specially if there’s no lid
What’s your tds and kh/Gh like? Unlikely to be the culprit but may be good to know:)
Hikari Crab Cuisine is a good calcium supplement feed for your shrimp. They’ll eat it so you know for sure they are getting their calcium intakes.
What temperature is the tank on most times? Did they exhibit restlessness and swimming around randomly before their passing? Rili shrimps are somewhat known to be slightly more sensitive than the typical Neocaradina breeds. It is possible that having a small tank causes the temperature to fluctuate too often. That could also be the cause.
how different is water hardness between u and the seller? if its large then it might explain the trouble.
So do they have a source of calcium in the tank? Their food should have calcium in it too.
Have you tested your phosphate levels lately? Fish are unbothered by them but inverts will struggle in anything above 1ppm.
I’ve left a my shrimp tanks unattended for weeks and have never had any issues with them. Hell they’ve even reproduced in the time I’ve been absent, how is it that you people run so many tests and do so much ch extra things and can’t keep them alive?
First of all. Which vendor did you buy these from?
Second. Phosphates. Phosphates are the untalked about killer of shrimp.
I’ve seen other posts like this. Was is at the same time or slowly. It could be pesticide related.
Do you have a cat or dog? Did you treat it with flea and tick? If you did it can kill everything in your tank.
Did you use any insect spray near or around the tank ?
Mark’s Shrimp Tanks is an excellent YouTube channel for beginner shrimp keepers. That man knows shrimp, and is my go-to for troubleshooting any shrimp issues.
I had 20-30 of my crystals reds die the other day, About half my population.
I traced it back and I think I may have scooped out water with a cup that might have had traces of dishwashing soap on it, either that or on my hands.
I think the tiniest contamination can be fatal with shrimp unfortunately.
You might have a parasite eating them too
What’s in the geode? There are minerals that can leach from inclusions, but as someone else mentioned, if it was a water issue, they would have all dropped at the same time. Any ring of death that you noticed? Someone else also mentioned BacterAE. I drop some ShrimpFit in my tanks. I’m a glassgarten fan in general, and they make a soft mineral supplement food. My population went from 6 cherry and 6 blues to I have too many shrimp and nowhere to put them. Shrimp would be fun, they said. They are so easy, they said. Now I walk past the tank and see 15 berried bitches at any given time. Sigh…
Do you use a water softener at your home and in your tank? Water softeners extract all calcium from the water by design. When i test the kh and gh of my water the kh is through the roof and the gh is literally 0. This requires addition of some kind of GH+ product. Or they will all die over and over again.
Highest likelihood, there is a toxins in the water. Others are taking copper but others are possible. Buying the 2.5 gallon filtered water jugs in the grocery store and using these in your water changes should fix it in time. Unless you have a rock or other thing into emitting toxins. IMO
I noticed mine start acting weird when the pH changes. The pH climbs when there is too much protein in the tank and it needs a filter and water change. Since it seems to happen slowly and not all at once, try keeping a daily log of temp, pH, ammonia, and hardness levels for a week or two and see what the trend is after a water change.
Most shrimp if not acclimated properly will typically die within a weeks time from what I’ve heard from breeders
I use my Zero Water branded water pitcher for water changes. The filter takes out a LOT of crap in water like metals, etc. Not everything, but a lot. If you can’t go and buy filtered water by the jug and need to use for tap for water changes, recommend using something similar. Brita is trash compared to Zero water filter-wise. Hope that helps!
If you have any cats or dogs that get topical flea treatment, that kills shrimp like this! Or if you have used any algae remover products those are usually unsafe for shrimp too. Otherwise maybe a gh/kh issue.
Last time you did a water change, how much % did you change? If more than 30% it could be from too large of water change giving them shock from not being able to acclimate to a larger change in parameters.
So you’ll need to buy a heater, I believe shrimp prefer 75-80 degrees F water? It could also be the food, they can’t eat copper or copper nitrate found in some food for shrimp/fish. And the pH seems a little low, my shrimp prefer 7.5-8.0 but they are blue velvets.
this also happened to me also two landed funny one on side and back but got right up. but two weeks later those same two died. but the rest of my shrimp are fine got 20 and now 18 going strong. just those two, it’s because they’re not use to the water parameter and can’t adjust leading to can’t molting or deform molt. how long has the tank been cycling and what’s the gh and kh at?
I had trouble with shrimp at first too. Everything had been checked and rechecked and all perimeters were great. It was determined that the water was the problem. I got an RODI system installed and now the only “problem” I have is too many fry. Of course I add minerals to the RODI water. Good luck!
If your parameters are correct for the water. Maybe something is toxic within the tank, causing them to die off. Something on the rock, plants etc.. I’m not a keeper of shrimp but I know with reptiles/amphibians/invertebrates you need to be extra vigilant with introducing plants to enclosures because of possible pesticides.
Have you tested your water source for ammonia? If it tests green, too, perhaps your water just isn’t compatible with delicate shrimp.
Might be that you don’t have a heater?
No co2 test in tank?
Plants convert co2 into oxygen during photosynthesis, while the lights are off they don’t really produce o2.
They could have suffocated from lack of oxygen.
gh and kh most likely, grab a test kit for it, my tap water was so unworkable for the gh and kh that i HAD to use distilled water and remineralize with salty shrimp gh/kh+ and after that i dont think i had a single death, mine would just randomly drop dead and have horrific times molting prior till using distilled water and salty shrimp
Some rocks make the water parameters inconsistent. I had a few rocks that I picked up from my trip to Mammoth and over a few months, shrimp would just die out of nowhere. Once I took the rocks out, the tank stabilized.
This is just my experience and information I got from someone who’s been in the shrimp game for a while. Hopefully you figure it out!
They saw your duckweed and made like the folks under the Reichs Chancellory.