My Blue Bolts

[durro68]

This is what my dead Blue Bolt looks like ....

I got 4 of these (live ones) 2 weeks ago (arrived Tuesday 17th) very well packed and looking great!

They settled in well and after the first few days I thought everything would be sweet!!

On the 27th one died and overnight another passed to a better place!

I have not done anything different .... no water changes ..... no food changes .... One of the others moulted overnight as well!

pH 6

kH 1

gH 6

Temp 21-22

TDS no idea as yet

EC unknown

Amm 0

Nitrate 0

Nitrite 0

No sure if I should panic .... I could take them home to a tank set up with tank water with Saltyshrimp minerals or just leave them be??????

[Dean]

that is terrible mate, water parameters look ok but would be good to know TDS. also what water are you using if not the saltyshrimp mineral?

and you said take them home to another tank? where is this tank and is it possible that something like fly spray or ??? was used

strange that they both died so close together.

how long have the tanks been setup?

[durro68]

also what water are you using if not the saltyshrimp mineral?

well it is saltyshrimp as well but at half strength as I was not starting with RO or rain water .... where at home I am.

and you said take them home to another tank? where is this tank and is it possible that something like fly spray or ??? was used

most of my tanks are at my work ..... there are no problems with the crystals or riffles or cherries that are also at work and people know not to spray ....

how long have the tanks been setup?

thy are in one of 9 small tanks about 50 litres that I added to my system about 2 weeks before I added any shrimp to them. But they where added to an established 1200 litre system (so 1650 litres total) that has been running for ages and nice and stable.

[Dean]

well you have me stumped mate :sorrow:

there must be something that has not been picked up on!

Just out of curiosity nothing to do with the problem at hand but how are you measuring the minerals without EC/TDS meter?

[Sprae]

Just out of curiosity nothing to do with the problem at hand but how are you measuring the minerals without EC/TDS meter?

That's weird if no changes were done. Not even top ups?

I'm thinking it might pH/EC/TDS shock when deaths are so close. Your other parameters are identical to mine, but I have a TDS ranging from 145-165ppm.

[Gbang]

hey mate so sorry to hear about what's happenned. i don't know if this helps but when shrimps moult so fast it's usually moulting to adapt to new parameters. so i'm leaning towards sprae's suggestion. no chance there was a huge fluctuation of something? do you mind showing us the setup? are there other shrimps or fish? did they moult too?

i once heard that the main causes of death in shrimp is during the moulting process. where nutrition and sufficient minerals are absolutely essential.

[durro68]

OK everyone ... thanks for the input!

So to clear things up the problem (again) appears to be me .... who would have thought!

So while all other parameters seem ideal - the EC is 545 (EC meter arrived today) and therefor I guess my TDS is WAY to high!!! (TDS meter should be here tomorrow)

To make matters worse I put them in a quarantine for the first week (they were all fine in there - and then moved them again to the main system ....

It's a case of being overconfident with having kept CRS/CBS with great success and assuming if the basic parameters are good then so are the others .... live and learn .... just feel bad to have killed 2 beautiful shrimp!

The 2 remaining BB are doing well (knock on wood) despite me being there keeper .....

@ Sprae - no not even top ups .... I only need to top up about every 2 months

[Gbang]

oh no!!!! unfortunately we all make mistakes mate and it's always the sensitive ones that cop the short end of the stick :( you're not the only one i have lost a lot of fish and shrimp over the years from mistakes. chin up. breed ur blue bolt male with some cbs and snow white females if you got any and keep a tank purely for taiwan genes! just pop the cbs females in the tank with the bolts not the other way round so the bolts don't get stressed again. i know i didn't need to say that but you'd be surprised ;)

[Dean]

again im sorry for your loss mate, but at-least now you know the cause and by fixing the EC/TDS problem SLOWLY you should/will notice a big improvement with all the shrimp in that system and they breed and remain happier in the lower range.

any Quarantine of shrimp should be 3-4wks min so they have time to acclimatize.

from here you can only get better at keeping them :)