rcs help

[smokin]

hey i had probly 70 or so rcs. today i came home and about 15 or so were dead. the dead ones are kinda whiteish. some look like theyre gonna die theyre swimming into the gravel and are kind awhite also. any1 know what might be the cause. im going to test the water right now.

[smokin]

i got 0-0-0 with a ph of 7.8.i doing a 50% water change right now.

[smokin]

:help:

[Hooked Newbie]

Are you using strip tests or a reagent? 0-0-0 would be uncycled unless VERY heavily planted. Are they molting perhaps? How long have you had them? How long has the tank been up?

[smokin]

no test strips. i am using the api master kit. i do have a lot of plants. the tank has been setup for for at least 3 months. ive had 20 shrimps when i setup the tank. and i got another 50 shrimps two weeks ago or so. i dont think theyre molting, thought that at first but i seen like acouple shrimps that were in pieces. i keep a pair of bn's with them and a bunch of baby briggs.

[smokin]

i just checked i have a dozen more dead shrimp.:confused:

[Hooked Newbie]

Do a large water change.

[smokin]

did over 50 about a 70% 4 hours ago hours ago. would it maybe be cold water. but they were dying before i did the water change.

[Octavarium]

Not using any chemicals are you? Any fertilizer that would contain metals like copper, highly toxic to shrimp.

[smokin]

nope only thing ive beening putting in is kens spirulina, and the vegetable with calcium. sticks

[smokin]

ok theres nothing i can do now there all dead:(

[Hooked Newbie]

Bummer... Sorry for the loss. :(

[smokin]

:help: i moved some java moss out of my shrimp tank into my baby cray tank. now i think there dying also. they do get feed the same food. kens vegetable with calcium sticks. :swear: i dont know what to do. some of the crays look ok but others are on there backs . some cant walk right. its all a mess. help

[smokin]

i moved them earlier. i can see some a missing legs and claws. will salt help. i have aquarium salt. or anything else.

[bettabrat]

Holy crap! Ok so I assume you haven't changed feeding schedule. Feed any fresh veggies lately and forget to rinse? Cold water could cause stress but it couldn't account for the original dead ones. Were the plecos harassing the shrimp at all? (doubt this as well but thought I would check)

You mention java moss, is this your moss? If not, is it a new purchase. If so, did you have any issues before adding the moss?

Before the 70% WC when was your last WC? Any parasites, planaria, etc? If they were larger shrimp could have been old age, but I doubt a # that high. I don't know what to say I am speachless...you lost all your RCS and your crays are showing symptoms?

Your water company make any changes recently?? Something important you should know about...

As for salt I guess it can't hurt, might damage your plants. Salt may help keep them from getting any infections.

[smokin]

i just got my new food from kensfishi lost over 70 rcs. .i moved the java moss from the shrimp tank to the baby cray tank. now there showing the same symptoms . but i moved them to a diff. tank. theyre still alive. most are missing lews and claws. theyre layin on there backs, waliking funny, kinda look like theyre drunk. i live in the country and use well water. before the water softener.i have no idea what might have been the problem. may the moss. but how.? my plecos are calm . and most of my shrimps were young. so many were saddled i couldnt wait and then i found them dead. im gonna wait awhile before i try shrimps again.

[jenpen737]

I use that same food and have not had any problems. I am very sorry to hear about your loss though!

[smokin]

i keep ranshorn, mts, and briggs, and bn plecos. in in the tanks that the problems occured. there all fine. and eat the same food.

[bettabrat]

Ugh that is aweful :( I use ken's food as well and no problems so far. I'd hate to think it was the food. Unless they ate too much and popped! I can say I lost 3 shrimp in a 3 day period but I figured it was stress from being shipped or something. Sheesh I hope your crays pull through this sorry you had a bad experience with the dwarfs.

[smokin]

thanks every1. i think i know what happened. any1 know anything about flea and tick drops you put on dogs.? we put it on our dog last weekk. cause we found a tick already. i was probly petting the dog before being in the tanks.

[msjinkzd]

oh my, thatis soo sad. A good lesson about being cautious with chemicals though :(

[smokin]

yea its a bummer. this is my first big mistake hopefully i dont have anymore.

[snoopy65]

I am so sorry for the loss of all of your shrimp. They are the most sensitive. How are the crays doing? I know it is tough. Your situation has me washing my hands more! I have 3 dogs myself.

[smokin]

thanks i love my dog. i lost 5 or so crays as of now. they seem to be dying mid-molt. there shells are half way off and they die. some seem to be doing ok but i hope the rest survive over night.

[smokin]

any1 know of anything i can do to make it eaiser for them to molt. they seem to start to molt then die.

[bettabrat]

What is the temp in your tanks? If I recall the marbles don't have a heater in their tank do they? Temp could be a big factor...

My DH had to assist one of our crays during a molt, don't ask me how I still shake my head on that one but it can be done.

[smokin]

they didnt but ive put heaters in there and raised the temp. and add alittle bit of salt. i was looking at one this morning trying to help the poor little guy. but it looks almost impossible. i didnt want to smash them thres only .75" at the most. i guess i should have tryed harder/

[bettabrat]

Ugh yeah that is small. I'd say heat, salt can't hurt I always add it to my tanks after a WC or when introducing new fish.

Anyway I asked, my DH said he found the softer spot of his shell close to the underside and gave it a lil 'pinch'...I remember being horrified. But a few moments later out wriggles this little cray he flipped over onto his back stretched his legs and off he went to hide under his rock. I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you feel comfortable doing so but I've seen it done and my cray was about 1" when this happened. His head part was coming off but he couldn't get the tail part to break away.

Anyway you want your tanks to be around 74-76 F, I keep all my tanks in that range and have had no issues with anyone molting since. The original shed issue was caused by a faulty heater, tank was 66F! Poor guy had to have been freezing.

Keep us updated I hope they pull through this. I just read the insert about the dog chemicals, thats suck-o man. At least you know it wasn't the food, water chemisty or anything to that nature. Just an accident.

[smokin]

hes a good guy :thm:sure gotta be careful. the cray looked like it had twice as many legs and some were transparent. i was trying to pull on the clear ones but i didnt get any results. id didnt wanna smash him. shoulda tryed harder though i think he died. yea i didnt think it could possibly be the food. every1 else uses kens food. im thinking about getting some of the cpo's after i make sure i got all my problems fixed. i think i lost six baby crays so far. and a whole colony of shrimp. all my snails are fine. and my bn plecos.

[bettabrat]

Inverts are really sensitive it's like the canary in the cave...at least you didn't lose all your aquatic buddies. Too bad about the RCS tho :(

[smokin]

hey hows your marmorkrebs doing?

[SunshinePuppies]

Did you know that some flea drops and sprays have killed dogs?

[bettabrat]

OK time for some off topic rambling...


hey hows your marmorkrebs doing?
I owe you some pictures :evil_lol:

They are just awesome! When I got them 1 molted seriously like right after they went in the tank and the other ate the molted ones shell...I think that is why 1 is quite a bit smaller than the other. Anyway the one who molted first molted a few days later for a second time...weird? I've been feeding Ken's invert sticks w/calcium just so I know they are getting enough (just in case they decide to share one anothers exoskeleton again :headshake2:) They also get shrimp pellets, and algae wafers, earthworm sticks and color enhancing bits (they hate the color bits) So at the moment one is rather large 1.5-2" and the other is tiny compaired to it....probably the same size as when I got it. *shrug*

They get along fine, I even put 2 male RCS, 1 guppy fry and a ramshorn in with them to see how they'd fair. Well I must say these are the most peaceful crays I've ever had! They could careless about the shrimp, or the snail and the guppy stays near the top. They have not torn up plants yet but do like to climb them. One has made a large pc of lava rock his home and the other an old pvc pipe. They don't dig much other then to burrow under the large rock. I'm unsure if they don't care for the sand I have in with them or what. Only time I see any "issues" is at feeding time, one likes to hoard all the food. Silly crays. I adore them they were a nice purchase indeed :thm: I have to say thank you again.

End off topic rambling :evil_lol:

So yeah with all that said it's aweful to hear about your crays. Keep up with the WC's, keep the heat up and keep an eye on them. Hopefully with a couple heavy WC's all that nasty chemical will fade away. Thankfully legs grow back for the ones who got beat up in the process.

[robott]

i'm so sorry.

[smokin]

thanks guys. and yea there awsome. too bad ones bully the other.ive noticed the eat some ramshorn. i kept afew in with mine. so they can eat the babies. but some tthey break the shells tilll they get to the snail. post some pic up sometime. hopefully you get babies really soon