Cleaner Shrimp dying?

[Lee04]

Hi Everyone,

Today I have noticed some problems with my scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp. Shrimp was bought last night and drip acclimated for thirty minutes. It was doing great last night - walking around and lively. Today however, it is staying on its side.

Info and Parameters:

Nano saltwater aqueon evolve 8 gallon
Age over 4 weeks
Live rock
No corals, frags, fish, etc. only the shrimp and some Aiptasia

Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
pH 8.2
Temp 81-82°F
Salinity 30 ppt
SG 1.022
calcium TBD

I turned down the temp a degree or two and will see if that makes a difference since it seems to be on the high side. Other than that I can't figure out whats wrong...SG of transport water was 1.023.

Thank you for your help!

 

[coralbandit]

If it is not molting then it is not well.
What is your water source?(Tap,distilled,ro,ro/di)?
No nitrAtes or anything would make me question the quality of the live rock.
Did you add any source of ammonia (shrimp(dead) or liquid ammonia?) to tank in the 4 weeks?

 

[Lee04]

I didn't think of moulting, but I've seen shrimp molts occur in freshwater varieties rather quickly. Its been lying there all day.
Water source was distilled bottled water with salt mixed by me.
I added flaked food as ammonia during the 4 weeks.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Are you certain the cycle finished?

I don't know much about apastasia but can't it sting things? Maybe he got stung.

Or there's always a chance he was sick at the store.


Caleb

 

[Reefing Madness]

Sometimes they just don't accliamte to our tanks. Sucks, but thats just the way it is sometimes. For no apparent reason, they don't make it, after everything possible was done to get them acclimated perfectly.
Your CAL need to be found out.
Your SG needs to be higher
Your temp should come down to 76-79
Whats the TDS of the water your using?

 

[Lee04]

Thank you for your thoughts!

Cycle seemed to be finished but I waited a bit more time to be safe.
To my knowledge, aiptasia can sting mildly but is said to exist fine with shrimp. That could be an answer though.

I'll bring the SG to 1.024. Temp dialed down to 79°F over the past few hours. TDS reads as an error when I go to test for it; makes me uneasy since that could mean its off the scale. Will update tomorrow about the calcium level.

Current condition: still on side, somewhat twitchy. Color is starting to lighten.

 

[Sniperhank]

Don't worry about TDS of the water in your tank...it WILL be off the scale. This tests for total distilled solids, this includes salt. TDS is an effective tool when it comes to the water before we add salt.
When it comes to the shrimp, it most likely won't improve sadly. I've never had any luck with these guys either. Sometimes they just don't do well if they aren't properly acclimated to the tank. Inverts are very sensitive and need to be managed delicately.

 

[Lee04]

I thought the TDS would be high, but not off the scale high...Glad to know its normal! It makes sense too considering all of the minerals and salt.
Yep, the poor guy didn't make it. I'll let the tank continue as it is for a while to let things settle further.

Thanks all!

 

[Reefing Madness]

for future reference
What is TDS? by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

[coralbandit]

You are testing the distilled water straight,not after mixing right?
Who knows what is in after mixing and the use of a meter after mixing(accurately for a good reason{baseline?!}) is beyond most of us IMO!
You can't just let the tank sit it is not cycled IMO and needs an ammonia source to cycle.

 

[ezy33]

I found that I was dripping for too long and the temperature was dropping in the container. You mite check for that.
I've had good luck using Peppermint shrimp to remove Aiptaisa.


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