can paint fumes hurt my shrimps

[chongkt]

planning to repaint interior of my house. I have a 30 gal mix community tank of about 80 shrimps.  please advise what can I do to prevent hurting my small friends. 

regards. 

[jayc]

There is a possibility that it can.

Someone posted here saying they painted their room and their shrimps died a few days later.

It's difficult to prove either way.

But you can take precautions. Cover the tank. Stop air pumps temporarily. 

[Zoidburg]

Get Low VOC or No VOC paints to start. (this coming from bird keeping)

Second, what jayc said... stop filtration and cover the tank. Seal it. You'd probably want to keep it that way for at least 2-3 days while the house airs out... so make sure that you paint when it's warm and can air out the house. Considering where you live, that shouldn't be an issue!!! Oh, and if possible, put the tank in the room furthest away from the one being painted. (I understand this isn't exactly easy with a larger tank...)

 

I can't guarantee you wont have any casualties, but that is what I'd do if I couldn't move the tanks out of the house.

[chongkt]

tqvm for the advice. btw. this is my plan. correct me if I'm wrong. I'll move the tank few feet away from the wall. completely seal the tank with a big plastic  bag. along with canisters filter, mini aquarium fan ( hot weather here ) and aquarium lights. and keep them running inside. question: will there sufficient oxygen for 2 to 3 days. mine is a planted tank.  comments and advise are welcome. regds. 

[beanbag]

There was recently a thread on Reddit where somebody's shrimp tank was wiped out from their downstairs neighbor doing painting.

[Zoidburg]

The reddit person's neighbor may have used high VOC paint which is more deadly. (primer typically has high VOC) Unfortunately without more details, it's hard to say. I've had shrimp die because roommate put a food grade bag into the microwave. It was not microwaveable safe. Three weeks later, neighbors bug bombed their place. Both incidents resulted in a massive die off....

 

chongkt another option maybe is to get an oxydator that creates oxygen *in* the tank, rather than pulling oxygen from the surrounding area.