Molting and water changes question

[Dable]

Hey guys sorry if I have repeated someone else's question about this topic but my question is

Should you still perform water changes if you have noticed your shrimp have molted the day before or of the due water change?? I am due for a water change today but noticed this morning there are couple old shells floating around, do I delay the water change? As I know it's a stressful time for shrimp and they are very exposed ?? Or do I just stick to the schedual and perform the water change ?

Also with buried shrimp should I reduce water changes say to once a fortnight instead of weekly so I don't cause them to much stress while carrying the eggs ?

[BlueBolts]

Great question.....:-) The best approach is not to make WC a stressful episode. WC @ 5-15%, with similar WP to your tanK's WP, would be ideal.

I generally have my WC RO water @ 50% of the tanks TDS, plus I'm constantly adding calcium (CaS04) to boost up my GH. Each tanks's characteristics are different, so best to water test as often as you can to know your tanks demands.

WC are important, espacially if it makes you test your WP...etc. Check your TDS, GH, and nitrates constantly. :-)

[Dable]

Thanks bluebolt :-) what would u do though if u seen old exoskeleton in there the day u want to water change ?? Do u hold off a day or 2?? Or would a small change not harm them ? Providing u match up the wp with what's in the tank?? And also how often would u do wc in a cycled healthy tank

[BlueBolts]

Nothing stands in my way with WC. :-), whether it's recent moults, berried shrimps, shrimplets etc.... But I restrict WC to 5-15%, and match 50-100% of TDS, during any "sensitive periods". Other times, I do WC with 0 TDS, as I'm often having to lower my tanks TDS.