My fire shrimp just died ? Mystery ? ? what happened

mayo

Member
I got this great blood red fire shrimp 3 days ago. Acclimated him perfectly. . .super slo drip and put him in tank. He hid out for a day and half then he crawled all over the rocks like he owned the place. He was usually inverted.
Anyways,
I was watching my tank tonight. . .like I always do. . .lights were on. . .and my shrimp was walkin on the rocks like normal. . .and the next time I glanced at him he was frozen stiff. his little mouth was working super fast, and he was just blowing with the current. Totally looked lifeless. I immediately tested my water and by the time I was finished he was totally motionless including mouth thingy. and the crabs were allrdy on him.
I pulled him out. . .but what the heck could have happened ?
my water was perfect. . .
1.023 salinity
slightly under 8.2 pH
ammonia 0.0
Nitrate less than 10 (the lightest shade)
Nitrite less than 0.2 (the lightest shade)
what do you think killed him. . .and should I be worried for other specimens? Everything else looks great.
 
I

ivanfj

Guest
Nitrite at the lightest shade is not good enough IMO. If nitrite is 0, it should be clear, no color.
 

mayo

Member
it was basically clear.
could a large "top off" have been the cause of his death ?
I did add a slightly larger amount of freshwater today. it was reverse osmosis filtered and good water.
 

nm reef

Active Member
I wonder how long your system has been established and how long since it completed its cycle?I'd also be curious about the brand of test kits you are using. If your 29 is relatively new it may not be stable and the water change could have caused fluctuations in water chemistry the the shrimp suffered from. In addition if the tests you performed on your water are inaccurate you may have problems that you are not aware of.Basically I'm just curious about the system and method of testing...not making any real conclusions...:confused:
 

bang guy

Moderator

Originally posted by Mayo
I did add a slightly larger amount of freshwater today. it was reverse osmosis filtered and good water.

It would probably take over a gallon of fresh water to do that kind of damage to a Shrimp.
Have you ever used copper? Overdosed Iodine?
 

mayo

Member
nope. . .
the tank is fairly new. . . a month and a half.
cycled in 3 weeks
i guess what makes me curious . . . obviously something went wrong. . .but why was the little shrimp the only thing that died ?
are they super sensitive ?
 
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