Fire Shrimp keep dying

[rjwilson37]

I have been through three fire shrimp since I've had my tank. I have a cleaner shrimp that I have had since the first month. I have had my pepperment shrimp now for about 3 months, I had two but one did not make it, who knows what happened to him.

My Fire Shrimp always seem to hide behind the rock in the back and only come out to eat. Eventually they just end up dead after a month or two. I find them kinda mangled by the time I see them, or cut in half. There is an occasional knock in my tank, I never see what knocks. Everything is pretty secure, it kinda sounds like when I had Oscars when doing fresh water and they would run into the heater and it would knock against the side of the tank. I am thinking maybe I have a mantis back there, but just have never seen him. I do not know the sound a mantis makes when he bangs his hammer claws, so I am unsure at this time.

[speccialj922]

it is sounding to me like a mantis COULD be in your tank. i would spend a good amount of time the next few nights looking at your tank. keep open to others' ideas of what it may be. the fact that your pepermints and cleaners are ok is a good sign. how are your params? as im sure you already know, shrimp dont like them nitrates :)

[rjwilson37]

Ammonia Zero, Nitrites Zero, Nitrates 5-10ppm, PH 8.2, Calcium 400-420, and Alkalinity somewhere between 180-300 on the dip stick which says ideal.

[bertoni]

The parameters sound fine for fire shrimp. Maybe try a mantis trap?

[speccialj922]

what do your sticks measure alkalinity in??? (i know this is off topic, but those numbers dont familiar to me)

[rjwilson37]

The Quick Dip states (KH) ppm and it is somewhere just above 180, which it shows the color chart between 180-300 as ideal.

[shearwater]

I would like to jump in -- I have had the SAME problem. The fire shrimp I've had for over a month seems dead today. Just came out to feed last night. I say "seems" because it COULD be a molt, it's way back in the rock, but I doubt that the serpent star and hermits would be as interested in a molt as this.

Please post anything that you conclude! I am pretty sure that we don't have a mantis, and the water params on my tank are pretty good (see sig below). Thanks.

[sfsuphysics]

Originally posted by speccialj922
what do your sticks measure alkalinity in??? (i know this is off topic, but those numbers dont familiar to me)

KH, its a measurement, another familiar measurement is dKH which you divide that number by 10, so 18-30 (which is high FYI) , divide that number by 2.8 to get the familiar meq/L.

I'm in the same boat (with the high alk) the fact that calcium is above 400 as well is a good thing though. But yah maybe he's trying to molt, have you tried that B-Ionic stuff?

[*j-cat*]

Are you sure its not one of your snails knocking its shell against one of the corners in your tank? I dont think the mantis would leave a foodsource laying cut in half out in the open.

[rjwilson37]

Yea, it is not a mantis, I found out what the knocking sound was. It is my hood expanding and contracting and such it kinda makes a creek that sounds like knock.

[Talonn]

This may be something to check...

What is your iodine level in your tank?

From what I understand if there is not sufficient iodine levels in your tank shrimp and other molting items can die as they can not get out of their exterior shell and suffocate or die of exhaustion. Usually there is enough iodine in your tank if you do regular water changes but that may be something to check.

You might do a search on iodine and its benefits.

Chris

[bertoni]

I've kept fire shrimp for a long time, and I never dose iodine. There's no evidence supplementing it helps the animal.

It's hard to say why they're dying. Maybe lack of food, although that doesn't sound right. Maybe it's time to look carefully at your water parameters, if you want to give up on the predator idea for the moment. It does seem strange that the cleaner and peppermint survive, but not the fire shrimp.

[rjwilson37]

The peppermint died, I found him a day ago lying dead up front. I dose Iodine once a week, I have a few xenia's and my Cleaner Shrimp comes out and eats and is out all the time. I have him since the first month of my tank. I guess I will have to wait for the changeover to the 55 gallon and try again after a month or two when it get's going.

[miller]

i too have lost fire shrimp to unexpainable reasons 2 of them now. usually they are up in the rocks but the day before they die they are running around the bottom all day and the next they are gone never to be seen again and i know i dont have a mantis because the tanks been torn down and moved and no mantis

[thedude]

Overdosing iodine can also cause problems. If you are dosing iodine, then you should be testing the levels.

Perhaps the shrimp died from too high of an iodine level.

[rjwilson37]

There is not a test kit for iodine levels, I was just told I should put about half a capful in once a week. I do it about every week and a half or so. My skunk cleaner shrimp is molting/looking good and enjoying the tank.

[thedude]

Salifert makes an Iodine test kit. It's on my shelf. There are tests for just about anything you put in your tank.

[Eryl Flynn]

I assume your salinity is good? Inverts are touchy about salinity being low.

How are your corals doing? I assume you have some since your sig says it is a reef tank.

[rjwilson37]

I was told there was not a test kit.. I am going to have to get one of those. Here is a picture of my tank, I have alot of corals and run my salinity at 1.024-1.025 with temp at 79-81 mostly running all the time at 80-81.

http://neocool37.tripod.com/rc/20040321aquarium.JPG

[bertoni]

Personally, I would never dose iodine. I've never seen any real evidence that it helps. If you check Dr Shimek's forum, you can see his view on it: it's toxic.

In any case, IME it's possible to grow shrimp and corals quite nicely without it. You could check Eric Borneman's book for his views, too.

[canigetin]

I see that you say the fire shrimp are pretty much mangled by the time you see them. Since I have similar issues with peppermint shrimp, I offer this thought. My peppermints were doing fine before the addition of two skunk cleaners. 3 days after adding them, guess who I saw chowing down on my peppermint's tail? Yup, they murdered him/them! And it was still alive while it was being eaten. I didn't want to believe that the cleaners were evil, so I bought 2 more peppermints. As you can probably guess...they too are resting in peace...or should I say pieces! So, try this...if you have another tank without cleaners, see how long the fire shrimp lives in there. I did this with my peppermints...and even though I rarely see them, they are alive and well. Far surpassing the week record they had in the reef! Just a thought.

[bertoni]

Good point. I have kept peppermints and fire shrimp and cleaners in the same tank, but they do compete. I do wonder about what's ripping up the shrimp in this case, but it's possible that they were already dead before the ripping started.

[canigetin]

Quite possible. But it's strange that none of the three that I put in there made it past a week before I see them mangled and looking as if they were cooked! No other species has died...or been injured in any way. Maybe my two cleaners are DEMONS!!! LOL

[rjwilson37]

Thanks Everyone for your responses.

Maybe with the bigger tank, I will try again and see how it goes. Maybe there is just not enough room in the smaller tanks competing for the little space that remains.