Shrimp curled over and died

[Shep]

Hey everyone,

so last Monday I introduced my CRS to my set up (my first ever crs). a 1.5ft 30l tank.

I introduced them via the drip method for 45 mins. my water params are fine I think

ammonia 0ppm

nitrite 0ppm

nitrate 3-4ppm

temp 23.5-25

gh: 4-5

kh:0-1

tds:110

they where happy and active.

last night I saw the nitrates where a bit higher then I assume they would like so I did a water change, maybe between 5-10%, I used just rainwater, the tank has rainwater and some dechlorinated tap water already to raise tds. (this was weeks ago I filled it. I used 3 new supplements this time, azoo mineral plus to raise tds (still used less then recommended for tank size) half dose of azoo vita plus and a dose of azoo biopro. I pretty much overdosed everything.

I heated the water to match tank temp, about 23.5.

Mixed the vitamins and minerals in so tds was 115, then slowly added the water, over about 5 to 10 mins using a small hose and a syphon.

Not long after just one of my crs acted funny, lying upside down or on its side twitching its legs, some times its tail/back arched up or down. he would also get spooked and dart up to the top of the tank by flicking his tail. he died after about 2 hours.

All other shrimp seem fine except hiding a little more then usual this morning.

I guess its gonna be hard to find out exactly what is was and I'm not to worried as long as I don't loose the remaining 7 maybe it was just a bit of shock. I know how fragile they are. It annoys me though cause I tried so hard to make the water change as small and as sly as possible.

Hopefully this doesn't happen again!

Sorry for long post

Shep

 

 

[Mr. F]

I usually drip acclimate for no less than 3 hrs, even if the water params are identical. Usually I'll push it as long as possible, like 7-8 hr.

And yeah, your params look good. It was probably the acclimation that did your shrimp in.

[Foxpuppet]

yep i second that you make sure you acclimatise for longer.

[Shep]

Thanks for that info guys, so you reckon i first introduced them to the tank fast.. That makes sense. They where all fine for about 3 days though happy as. Maybe it was the water change aswell that pushed him over the edge. Especially with the addition of those few extra vitamins and minerals.

[Mr. F]

Thanks for that info guys, so you reckon i first introduced them to the tank fast.. That makes sense. They where all fine for about 3 days though happy as. Maybe it was the water change aswell that pushed him over the edge. Especially with the addition of those few extra vitamins and minerals.

Yeah, it usually is not immediate and can take a few days for them to succumb to the damage caused by the sudden change. It's usually a molting issue. I'm not sure, but my theory is the is that the ion concentrations cause and rapid change of cellular chemistry of the cells responsible for successful molting, thus they fail upon attempting. This is based on the fact that drastic changes in pH, and/or probably in your case GH, KH, and TDS, will cause the shrimp to fail molting. Did you find the shrimp next to a molt or inside a partial molt?

Additionally, make sure you're taking the same care with water changes; dripping the water back in slowly trying not to change the params too fast. Now you don't have to do this quite as slow because the volume of the tank is obviously much larger than a drip cup so the changes are usually not as dramatic, especially in an established tank. I usually drip ~10% tank volume/hr if you're just topping off or doing a routine water change, but if the params will be very different (i.e. setting up a tank, resetting a tank, changing params for different livestock, etc.) or you're doing larger volumes (25%+) you'll want to take 2-3x longer, starting much slower.

[Shep]

Thanks heaps for that info. your spot on I reckon, cause the behaviour he was showing is what I would imagine it to look like when a shrimp discards its old shell, but is somewhat unsuccessful. as far as I know the parameters they where taken from where the same as mine, and the paramters of the water I toped the tank up with where almost the same bar maybe 5 ppm more tds and the vitamins, but as I have learnt the hard way they are REALLY sensitive creatures.

He wasn't in a partial molt when I found him.

On the upside, some of the shrimp are more active today.

thanks again guys really appreciating the help I'm getting on this forum.

Shep

 

[revolutionhope]

45 mins drip isn't that bad ? I net and dump my crs culls into quite different wp and they're fine with it..

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[revolutionhope]

hey @Shep curious to know and hopeful that the other shrimps are behaving normally since the incident?

love n peace

will

[Shep]

7 hours ago, revolutionhope said:

hey @Shep curious to know and hopeful that the other shrimps are behaving normally since the incident?

love n peace

will

Hi Will, the only other incident I had is that I saw another one on its side a day later then a few seconds later he was up walking around and he was fine. no other shrimp deaths I know about. there has been 1 successful molt as well.

thanks

Shep