What is normal behavior for RCS?

SoapDoctor

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Jun 11, 2012
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I got some RCS last weekend. One died in shipping and one died shortly after it went in the tank. The rest have been doing fine running around doing their thing. 3 of them molted last night/today at some point.

Yes, I didn't quarantine any of this stuff, my failure on that. There's another thread in the disease section about the fish dying off over the beginning of this week for no apparent reason. The remaining 6 have been doing great. Now two of the fish in the tank now have 1 or 2 little white spots that appears to be ich.

After doing a bunch of research, this was the only place I saw yay or nay on salt/heat treatment and RCS. So I started to raise the temperature, about 1 degree over two hours, and started to introduce salt, 6 teaspoons over 3 hours to a 10 gallon.

That's when the shrimp started freaking out. One was going haywire swimming around and up to the top of the water almost frantically. Occasionally one or two would join in for a second then go back to eating. While I prepped water for an emergency water change they eventually all more or less calmed down sitting around in random places. I didn't do a water change since I would like the ich to be treated ASAP but I reduced the temp back to where it was and am not adding any more salt.

Since I've had them, the shrimp, they don't swim that much or as erratic unless one of the fish nips at them. I have no clue what normal behavior is though. Is this normal behavior or an adverse reaction to the salt or heat?

I sure don't want to kill the shrimp because there is a sick fish. At this point I guess I'll hope for some responses and see who survives the night.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I swear this hobby is ridiculous.
 
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Ok, So this is the second time I've seen one do it tonight. I assume RCS don't play dead do they?

One, possibly the same one twice, would be sitting normal. All of a sudden they flick up into the water flip around and then sink down landing on their back. Dead as far as I can tell. Then maybe 15 seconds later it's off swimming or eating like nothing happened.

It's in my sons room and he is now in bed so I guess it's up to the water gods on who lives and dies or what freak job games shrimp play.
 
It is perfectly normal. There are no water gods just the one true God and not a sparrow falls without him taking notice so your shrimp are all good. :)

Well that's good to hear. I'll leave it in the water gods hands though because explaining to my son why God killed his shrimp would be a bit tough. Of course I've told him the one thing besides eat and poop that a fish does is die and occasionally he has a fish that's really good at all three. I guess the shrimp could follow suit. Then it's God helping those that help themselves.

Anyway, thanks. Puts my mind at ease for the next 8-10 hours until we check the tank int he morning.
 
10 gallon tank? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels? Any copper in the water? RCS don't tolerate poor water quality.
 
Do you fill using water from a faucet inside the house? Or outside? Is it a faucet that's used frequently?

When I first got my RCS, I used water from a faucet outside, and it was used infrequently. When I started using an inside faucet that was used frequently to source the water for changes, my RCS stopped dying, so I figure that I had an issue with the water outside sitting in the pipes longer, so it leached enough copper into the water to be RCS fatal.
 
I use the shower to fill up my buckets. It's used daily. None of them have had an issue since last night. No clue if one died or not since I never see all of them at any given time.
 
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