Cleaner Shrimp & Crabs at lower salinity?

[iClown]

Hello everyone! Just curious because I want to attempt to do the following: Add a cleaner shrimp and red hairy hermit crab in my 1.018 salinity fish tank. Only coral I have is a toadstool is moving along nicely atm. Please don't ask why the lower salinity because I like it at 1.018. My fishes are quite happy at this salt level. So, again:

Can a cleaner shrimp and red hairy hermit crab survive in a 1.018 tank? (please try not to give advice if you haven't done it yourself. Not to be rude, but I'd like to hear from experienced people. I can read the description from LiveAquaria lol :bounce3:

 

[jraker]

you 1.025 salinity for a reef tank. if you keep it at 1.018, the coral wont like it and they will die. get your salinity up to 1.025, and you should be able to get inverts.

 

[Shawn O]

My snails and crabs did ok in 1.020 for months. Can't say much for 1.018

 

[jraker]

im more worried about any coral than inverts. corals need 1.025

 

[Calappidae]

Corals don't need 1.025, they are just better off in 1.025, as if 1.025 swings either up or down, it remains in a safe zone for salinity. Other supplements such as calcium appear to be more stable at these levels too, but don't quote me on that.

1.018 is honestly not a good idea. I'm struggling to find a proper reasoning as to why you want this low. 1.019 is pushing it, but it's suitable for LFS and suppliers to save on salt. 1.018 is probably below the safe zone for good salinity stability, not to mention the tiniest swing will push it backwards even further. I wouldn't recommend keeping anything this low permanantly, let alone inverts which need it higher for the safety of water chemistry swings.

I know you don't want us judging your salinity, but if you want us to help you, we need reasoning inorder to understand the situation so we can develop a work-around scenario.

 

[iClown]

Briefly, saw ich outbreak. Fish seemed irritated. Attempted hyposalinity, of course without coral. As I got to 1.018-1.19 ich disappeared, visually. Fish started to behave normally and are enjoying themselves. Toadstool is fine as well.

I will attempt atleast a red hairy hermit if not the cleaner shrimp. Since one user said 1.020 turned out fine and no one has tried 1.018-1.019 then I will volunteer. Results will be posted to help others. Wish me luck!

 

[Betta132]

If the ich is gone now, you can up the salinity again. Keeping it at the typical level will allow for a bit of wiggle room in case anything goes wrong, and you won't have to worry about your inverts. QTing will prevent any new ich outbreaks.

 

[Calappidae]

Ich is one of those "you think it's gone, but it's really not" type things. Hyposalinity doesn't always work, and actually stresses the fish out more causing a counter react outbreak due to lowered immune systems. Not to mention, hypo is done by lowering the water to nearly brackish water levels, 1.018 is relatively high by treatment standards.

Ich is certainly a nightmare to put up with, the best cure is prevention.

 

[iClown]

So long as my fish are active, eating, and look happy I will never go up to 1.025ish again lol

 

[Shawn O]

Ich will not die off if there are fish available for them to complete their life cycle. You'd need to lower the salinity (hypo-salinity) enough to kill the parasite. Lowering it enough to make the ich parasite less visible is not enough. Sorry to say, you're not going to get rid of ich at 1.018. If you're doing it to more closely match the water fish are often shipped in, that's one thing. If you're doing it to save money on salt, that's also another good reason. If you're doing it to prevent or cure ich, you're not going to be very successful.

Anyway, good luck, whatever your plan or motivation.