Dying Shrimp

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kevhodge

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Feb 9, 2005
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leicester UK
I have just upgraded to a larger tank after 16 months of keeping fish, all the fish servived the ordeal of moving into their nice new home. Today i planted the tank with a collection of plants bought on the internet, about 4 hours later, 2 of my 3 shrimps are dying! could this be due to the lead weights supplied to weight the plants? any ideas will be welcome.
 

Mako

EET MOR KATFISH
Nov 19, 2001
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I doubt it's the lead. Lead is a slow killer, and I seriously (very seriously) doubt you have anywhere near enough lead in there to even look like it might possibly be a danger, maybe sorta.

Did you do a water change when you got the plants, maybe forget the dechorinator? Otherwise, ya got me? :huh:
 

ksalter

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Mar 3, 2005
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Mobile, AL
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Did they happen to have just molted? I read somewhere that after they molt there is an increased chance of death, and that adding some iodide to the water helps.

Of course, I had 2 shrimp myself that mysteriously dissapeared, but I suspect foul play :-(
 

Veneer

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Dec 20, 2004
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ksalter said:
I read somewhere that after they molt there is an increased chance of death, and that adding some iodide to the water helps.
There is absolutely no empirical backing for the notion - chiefly disseminated by marketers of supplemental products (and reinforced through casual association on the part of aquarists) - that aqueous "iodide" (rather, certain "iodine" compounds) is even bio-available to freshwater shrimp. In truth, even if it were, shrimp requirements would likely be, based on suggested values for comparable aquacultured species, truly miniscule (and therby likely satisfied through consumption of foodstuffs). [Shrimp do require iodine to grow, but only in terms of a dietary requirement. Penaeus chinensis, for instance, grows optimally when its diet contains 0.003% iodine.]

Increased risk of predation is largely responsible for post-molt (while the shrimp is still reconstituting chitin) mortality; however, calcium deprivation may also be a factor.

What are your water parameters? Ghost shrimp often arrive in store tanks highly stressed and may therefore succumb for seemingly no reason (in truth, for what would otherwise be inconsequential environmental factors).
 

ksalter

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Mar 3, 2005
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Veneer said:
There is absolutely no empirical backing for the notion - chiefly disseminated by marketers of supplemental products (and reinforced through casual association on the part of aquarists) - that aqueous "iodide" (rather, certain "iodine" compounds) is even bio-available to freshwater shrimp. In truth, even if it were, shrimp requirements would likely be, based on suggested values for comparable aquacultured species, truly miniscule (and therby likely satisfied through consumption of foodstuffs). [Shrimp do require iodine to grow, but only in terms of a dietary requirement. Penaeus chinensis, for instance, grows optimally when its diet contains 0.003% iodine.]

Increased risk of predation is largely responsible for post-molt (while the shrimp is still reconstituting chitin) mortality; however, calcium deprivation may also be a factor.

What are your water parameters? Ghost shrimp often arrive in store tanks highly stressed and may therefore succumb for seemingly no reason (in truth, for what would otherwise be inconsequential environmental factors).

Interesting! I learn something everytime I visit here. My water is fine AFAIK, the shrimp lived for about a month. They molted a couple of times and were getting fairly big (for shrimp). Those shrimp have been the only fatalities I have had since I set up my tank (45g with numerous fishies and plants).
 

kevhodge

AC Members
Feb 9, 2005
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leicester UK
They were Amano shrimp but they are no more! The rest of the fish are happy with the water and new plants. I will try with a couple more shrimp as i found them fasinating, seeing a shrimp appear from nowhere, grab a flake from the surface and going to safe place to eat is one of the many joys i have from fishkeeping.

Tank:-

27.5 uk gals,
Neons-8
cardinals-7
black widow tetras-5
clown loaches-1 med, 1 sml
harlquin rasboras-6
horseface loaches-3
corys-3
dawarf gouarmi- pair
kulai loaches-3
ansesturus-1
dawarf dragon goby-2
bumblebee goby-5
and one beautiful red betta
 

Blinky

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Jun 22, 2004
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Sorry you lost your Amanos, I hope you can pinpoint the cause so you can own the next ones for much longer. In a recent post, RTR mentioned that they can live 1-2 years.
 

mooman

Scratch my belly Human!
Mar 8, 2005
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Columbus, OH
I used to love my ghost shrimp. Really efficiant scavangers those guys. Enter the Apisto panduros. Over the course of about a month they systematically hunted each shrimp. When a shrimp had to molt, that was thier time. I hadn't seen the deed untill last night.

A ghost shrimp spiraling across the tank caught my eye. On closer inspection I noticed he was missing an eye and a good size chunk of his head! Next time I saw him he looked like a slightly chewed on cocktail shrimp in front of the Apistos cave. I'll probably keep adding them if for no other reason than to give the apistos an enrichment activity.
 
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