Shrimp Dying Off

[Bettafanatic]

All my shrimp seem to be dying off and I don't know why. I lost a scarlet skunk shrimp on Friday and today I lost my blood fire shrimp, and my second and last scarlet skunk seems to be dying as well. I tested all my levels and everything is normal. Salinity is 1.021, temperature is 82, pH is 8.2, dKH is a little high 15.7, and everything else is normal. Does anyone know what could be going on? I lost my nassarius snails too. Whatever's wrong seems to only be affecting the inverts because the fish are fine.

 

[Convict2161]

Your salinity is low in my opinion. You should shoot for 1.025. Personally I keep my tank at 1.026.

Shrimp are extremely sensitive to salinity changes etc.

 

[Beengirl]

Agree with con. Salinity should be 1.023-1.026. Also, keep an eye on the temp. 82 is getting a little high. Keeping it 78-80 is better.

 

[Packohotdogs]

What makes you think the skunk is dying? Is he lethargic?

Very sorry to hear that!!!

Like Con said, may want to bring up the SG a tad to 1.025 or so.

 

[Bettafanatic]

Okay I'll bring the salinity up. It's my first saltwater tank and salinity has always been very tough for me, i can never get it right. I'll try and bring it up to 1.025. It's usually higher but lately it's been very bouncy. I agree that 82 is a little too warm. My heater is terrible and can hardly maintain a stable temperature. It sometimes changes over 2 degrees in one day, but none of my animals seemed to mind so I getting a better heater wasn't my top priority. So it's the salinity that's killing them?

 

[Capncavey]

When I was making water for the first time I marked a measuring cup with the amount needed for 1 gallon and I marked my bucket at 1 gallon intervals. I make 2 gallons at a time and it is 1 cup of salt.

 

[Convict2161]

Okay I'll bring the salinity up. It's my first saltwater tank and salinity has always been very tough for me, i can never get it right. I'll try and bring it up to 1.025. It's usually higher but lately it's been very bouncy. I agree that 82 is a little too warm. My heater is terrible and can hardly maintain a stable temperature. It sometimes changes over 2 degrees in one day, but none of my animals seemed to mind so I getting a better heater wasn't my top priority. So it's the salinity that's killing them?

Salinity could be the reason. Shrimp are very sensitive to salinity changes. If your going to bring your salinity up I recommend doing it very slowly to avoid shock.

Just curious. How long have you had these shrimp again? Also do you drip acclimate them and if so for how long?

 

[Bettafanatic]

I've had the scarlet skunks since May and the blood fire for 2-3 months. When I got the scarlet skunks I didn't know about drip acclimating so I just did the usual bag floating method, but luckily they adjusted okay. I did drip acclimate the blood fire shrimp for 2 hours when I got it. I feel like salinity could be the reason. But also my nassarius snails all died as well so could the shrimp deaths and snail deaths possibly be linked?

 

[Beengirl]

Do you have rock in the tank? Did you buy it used? And if it was used, are you certain that copper was never used in The tank it was in? Just throwing that out there, trying to help you find a reason for the deaths of so many invertebrates.

 

[Bettafanatic]

I do have rock from petco, although I wish I got it from somewhere else because it's not the most visually appealing live rock. Copper was never used in my tank and my filter pad has carbon in it, which takes out copper if I'm not messing up my facts. I feel like it's the salinity killing all my inverts. For a long time it was really low, 1.015, and I couldn't raise it. Then it went to normal for a few days, then it went high up to 1.030, and then back down to 1.021. So yeah, lots of salinity changes. That was probably it.

 

[Beengirl]

Yeah, that's a lot of salinity fluctuations in a short time. Inverts can't really handle that too well.

 

[Bettafanatic]

That's definitely it. I'm really not cut out for saltwater. I have a gift for freshwater, but saltwater is tough for me. I don't think I'll get any more inverts since I'm terrible at maintaining a stable salinity. I'll just stick with my two fish and last hermit crab. I love that crab. I had five but they all died. And with all the inverts dying she's the single survivor.

Thanks for helping me figure this out everyone. Really appreciate your help.

 

[54seaweed]

Shrimp are very delicate and thrive better with salinity levels between 1.023 / 1.026
sudden changes in salinity and other water parameters will also affect a shrimp s activity and lifespan

 

[Bettafanatic]

Then I won;t get any more shrimp because I can't maintain a stable salinity.

 

[Rosesrblu1]

By some chance have you checked your copper levels? Seems like if you are losing shrimp and snails, some copper could have made its way in somehow. Inverts and copper don't mix at all. Good luck and sorry for your losses.

 

[MacDracor]

Inverts are very sensitive, but the specific gravity isn't *too* low, IMO. I have a peppermint and a pistol that have handled 1.020 all the way to 1.028 with no problem. But at 82 degrees, they get very lethargic.
78-80 degrees fahrenheit. Drop the temp by 2 and see if that helps. Sidebar: when my temp rose to 82, the shrimps, snails, hermits, and corals ALL started to either die or act strange.

 

[Daniel Fishy]

How are you reading your salinity? If you are using a hydrometer make sure you tap the bottom when you test sometime air gets trapped under it. To go from 20 to 30 then 23 seems strange.whats your water source for top offs? I doubt it's temp mine always runs high South Fl and no a/c!

 

[Bettafanatic]

I use a refractometer.

 

[Chrisc0930]

That's a whole lot of salinity changes, what's the temp in ur tank? I have had my shrimp over over a year maybe even 2 now and my salinity is at a stable 1.022. Keep in mind not to have too much heat in ur tank and ur salinity needs to be more stable than that but with the fluctuations u have been having I would assume ur fish would be experiencing stress as well. If ur hydrometer is not working go to ur LFS and have them test it. If u purchased rock inside a tank instead of out of a box and depending on where u got it, it may have been inside a tank that was treated for ich. There is a filter you can purchase that will remove all copper traces from ur tank, if there is copper in it, you water will star to turn very blue and it should eliminate the ich from there

 

[Chrisc0930]

That's a whole lot of salinity changes, what's the temp in ur tank? I have had my shrimp over over a year maybe even 2 now and my salinity is at a stable 1.022. Keep in mind not to have too much heat in ur tank and ur salinity needs to be more stable than that but with the fluctuations u have been having I would assume ur fish would be experiencing stress as well. If ur hydrometer is not working go to ur LFS and have them test it. If u purchased rock inside a tank instead of out of a box and depending on where u got it, it may have been inside a tank that was treated for ich. There is a filter you can purchase that will remove all copper traces from ur tank, if there is copper in it, you water will star to turn very blue and it should eliminate the ich from there

Err.. The copper