Dead Shrimp

[tonyg]

Greetings,
So my peppermint shrimp died today, I'm not sure of the cause. I haven't had him for too long, but this guy was the biggest peppermint shrimp I've yet seen in person, so he may have been old. I plan on running tests tonight, is there anything in particular I should look for as far as water quality is concerned? I have a tiger shrimp that I would hate to lose. Not to mention my goby would be devastated!

My main question though....How important is it to remove his body from the tank? He is in a place that will be very hard to get to without moving multiple rocks, and i'm really afraid of doing damage. My cuc is all over it. What do you guys suggest?

Thanks for advice!

 

[Bifferwine]

Are you sure it didn't just molt? Molts often look like the real thing. If it's actually dead, then it could have been anything -- swings in pH, temperature or salinity; high ammonia, nitrites or nitrates... Or, it just died for no particular reason and there's isn't actually anything wrong with your tank. Sometimes we just don't know why.

Don't worry about removing the body. It will get eaten by your other animals.

 

[tonyg]

Thanks! Not molt for sure. I did test just a couple of days ago before a water change and everything was good, but i will do it again to be sure.

I was mainly worried about the corpse, like I said he is kinda big and fell into a rather isolated part of the tank. If it dosent seem like the crabs and snails are taking care of it by tomorrow morning should I worry?

Thanks again.

 

[tonyg]

So, I just did tests. Looks like my ph is low. The lights went out right before I tested, and I'm getting a 7.8. It was a bit low the last time I tested, but It was in the morning before the lights came on so I didn't worry too much.

7.8 low enough to kill a shrimp? All of the other tests are good.

I am going to post in the chemistry part to discuss correcting this issue.

 

[FishyReef]

7.8 is fine for pH. How are you certain it didn't molt?

Also, I saw on your other post that you had a little ammonia in the tank, which could be the problem.

As for the body, if you are really worried about it and its easy to get to, then there is certainly no harm in removing it. But I honestly wouldn't worry about it, even if its still there in a few days.

 

[tonyg]

7.8 is fine for pH. How are you certain it didn't molt?

Also, I saw on your other post that you had a little ammonia in the tank, which could be the problem.

As for the body, if you are really worried about it and its easy to get to, then there is certainly no harm in removing it. But I honestly wouldn't worry about it, even if its still there in a few days.

Earlier in the day he seemed sluggish and almost appeared to be having trouble moving about the rocks. Then i saw my clownfish both harassing him, which i never saw before. He seemed like he was struggling to get away from them. He made his way to the side of a rock in the corner and stayed there. Shortly there after I fed everyone, he usually goes nuts at feeding time, but he just sat in the same spot. I saw some food drift over him and he made no effort to get any. I left for a few hours and when I came back he had fallen off the rock into a hard to reach corner. A few snails and hermits looked to be having shrimp for dinner. Later on the crabs must have pushed him out of the corner and decided they were full. So I was able to scoop him up with the net.

I just dont know about the ammonia, I have seen levels raise to above. 25 when i was overfeeding, or the worst was when I added some live rock and it went even higher. The reading I posted is pretty typical, I've had the same results for months. I hesitate to say zero because the color does not exactly match the 0ppm color on the card, however its no where near the .25 color. I am going to see if I can find a better test this weekend when I go shopping for flatworm exit, but I would be really surprised if ammonia is a problem.

 

[Amba]

Ammonia tests are notorious for being incorrect. I would double test and compare your results. If you do have ammonia, that would attribute to the death most likely.