Another skunk shrimp dead :(

[Miller_Time]

Well I have killed me second shrimp. I can't figure out what I am doing. The first one I had 3 months ago lived for about a month molted like normal but then just died one day. I never dosed iodine but my water parameters looked good.

0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
15 Nitrate

So I got a nice healthy look shrimp last week dripped him for 1 hr and put him in. He was happy as can be, all over my tank and eating like crazy. I do dose a little bit of iodine now because of a coral problem I was having but only the minimum amount only once a week. I will say I never saw him molt, I was concerned about that.

Yesterday he ate like crazy! I did a 3 gallon water change but temp and everything was matched on the water. So this morning when I saw what looked like a molt I wasn't too concerned. But I looked closer and it was actually him dead on the bottom :sad2: I can't keep these guys alive and they are my favorite part of my tank but I can't keep dropping $25 on these little guys.

BTW: params:

A: O
N:0
Nitrate: 10


Does anyone have any ideas?????

Thanks guys!!

 

[Miller_Time]

No ideas?????

 

[coastie81]

what is your salinity level? also a quick temp change is not good either.

 

[Miller_Time]

My salinity is 1.023. I am in the process of slowly raising it back up, but the temp of the water I added was within in .5 degree of my main tank, so I shouldn't have seen much of a swing in temp.

 

[Reefman29]

Do you have aggressive fish, or other shrimp or crabs? Maybe more iodine, since that is what they use right after a molt

 

[Miller_Time]

No my fish are all pretty laid back, no other shrimp and one hermit that keeps to himself. I did loose another crab today, I'm starting to think I am seeing too much of a ph swing during the night. It might be time to look into some kind of kalk setup?

 

[Reefman29]

What are you doing that would cause a ph swing only at night? That seems odd, but ph swings are always bad.

 

[Miller_Time]

Not doing anything I am just noticing my ph seems to drop some at night with the lights off.

 

[Reefman29]

That sounds odd. I'm going to go on a limb here so try to stick with me. Alkalinity and Ph go together. Carbon dioxide can effect ph i think? If you have algae then at night when the lights go out the carbon isn't being absorbed which could cause the ph swing. That leads to my next question... Do you have algae?

 

[Miller_Time]

I think you're on the right track. I have a small diatom bloom right now. We moved not to long ago and with the large water change involved with the move I think have spurred the bloom. I assume low ph is also to blame for the bloom from what I have been reading about tonight. I need to buy another alkalinity test kit as well to double check that.

 

[Reefman29]

I like to toot my own horn, but I think I just nailed that. For your algae problem I would suggest a 2 hour reduction in lighting as well as a decrease in feeding. Some people have even said that switching from primary flakes to frozen has made a difference. I am currently try that.

 

[Miller_Time]

I am currently using only frozen food and I drain off all of the water before I feed them. and I only feed every 3 days.

My phosphate levels are 0.0. I will try reducing the light period a bit, but I still need to find the source of my diatoms.

 

[Reefman29]

Do you have a protein skimmer? Nutrients and light makes for a happy diatom

 

[Miller_Time]

no I have a 29 biocube, so I am using a refuge, and weekly water changes to tackle my needs.

 

[Reefman29]

Do you have chaeto algae in it? Anything that sucks up nutrients? Maybe a little larger water change.

 

[Miller_Time]

Yes I do have chaeto. And I may step up the water changes, I had been buying my salt water premixed because I didnt have the ability to mix my own. My concern is the water I am getting is has low alkalinity which would cause the low ph and from what I have been reading tonight can cause a diatom bloom.

Am I right in that thinking? Maybe I need to look into mixing my own water from now on?

 

[Reefman29]

The alkalinity is the measure of how much acid or base it would take to move the Ph. Low alkalinity could easily be added before adding the water. Mix your own, do you have a well or city? Might be a good investment to invest in an RO/DI machine.

 

[Miller_Time]

I am city water, I have a cheap source of the ro/di water. The wife isn't going to allow the investment into a ro/di unit at this time unfortunately so looks like I may have to use the ro from the fish store and maybe mix my own salt.

 

[Reefman29]

Yeah that would probably be the best. Some recommend it, but if your an ebay fan, you might check out one there. Good Luck though.