Molting Shrimp

[syhko]

In the past 3 weeks, my 2 shrimp died during their molting process when I added them to a bigger tank. The water parameters are just fine, what could be the issue with the tank?

[Colin_T]

What sort of shrimp?
Any pictures?
How long was the new tank set up for?
Was the water the same in both tanks?
Were both tanks set up with plants and hiding places?

[syhko]

Hey Colin_T,

They are a bunch of different shrimp. I started with 7 shrimp and I am now left with possibly 4.. maybe even 3 because I could not find my anamo shrimp. The new tank has been set up for about 6 months now but we just redid it about a month ago and added them in a day later. The water was not the same but we did acclimate them to the new, filtered water. Both tanks have live plants and plenty of hiding places.

I had multiple cherry shrimp, blueberry shrimp, crystal red shrimp, and other types of shrimp. I only had one anamo shrimp who was the largest.

[Colin_T]

When crustaceans have trouble shedding their old shell, it's usually caused by poor water quality, a dirty tank, lack of food, or inbreeding (not necessarily in that order).

If the water is good, then a poor diet or inbreeding could be a cause. Cherry shrimp and most other small colourful shrimp are inbred for many generations and this weakens them significantly.

Lack of decent food can cause problems and shrimp do best when fed a varied diet and fed regularly (2-3 times a day). They have a high metabolism and eat a lot for little creatures. If they don't get sufficient food or a good quality food, they can eat heaps but suffer malnutrition, which can lead to health issues.

A dirty substrate can kill shrimp because they spend most of their time around the substrate. Any shrimp aquarium should be gravel cleaned regularly (once a week is good).

Poor water can probably be rules out if you tested it and it was fine, and if you do regular water changes.

You might want to test the tap water for copper and other heavy metals, because low doses of copper can kill invertebrates like shrimp and snails.

If you buy plants for the aquarium, make sure they haven't been treated with anything that kills sails because those chemicals can hang onto plant leaves and kill shrimp too.

[Autumnsky]

Other issue about shrimp is the hardness of the water. A diet properly containing minerals and healthy foods with help form a good shell. When there is too hard water, not enough acidity then the hardness of the shell can be too hard and the shrimp might not be able to shimmy out of the shell and be stuck in it and die, with an incomplete molt.

Did yours die partially molted?

Also after re-doing a tank, many times, if filter pad or substrate is changed then there can be a mini cycle?

What parameters did you test for when you said the water was fine? And do you know your TDS total dissolved solids, pH? By any chance, GH/KH?

If it is a strip test it may not be accurate. I lost nearly a whole tank of fish before even after monthly double checking the test strips with a liquid test, which was great until the time when it was wrong.