fading fire shrimp

[shop03801]

Having a hard time trying to find an answer to "Why is my fire shrimp slowly losing color?" This was going on for about 4 months. All levels in the tank are normal. 1 blue angel, 1 fire fish, 1 dottyback, 1 clown fish and 2 blue legged crabs. Yesterday I came home to a dead shrimp. Don't know where to turn to for answers and/or solutions. I loved having him. I would like to get another at some point but want to know what went wrong. If you have a suggestion or where to look, I would be grateful.

Thanks

 

[n2everythg]

Do you dose Iodine? I have heard they need it for their exoskeleton.
N2

 

[taillonjohn]

so what color was it when it died, pink?....
maybe just "old age"? thats a tough one, I love my fire shrimp too, and I find thats its pretty hardy. hopefully someone will have a suggestion

 

[NaclH20freak]

inverts, are very sensitive to any ph, and sp. grav changes .Protien skimmers will remove iodine from system. What, exactly, are your parameters? Have you done any recent water changes or added anything new to tank?

 

[RichardScottRice]

Can you give us some more info? What is your water chemistry? What were you feeding your fire shrimp? Were you dosing any suppliments like Iodine that they need to grow and molt?

I've had a pair of fire shrimp for almost 4 years now. They are still bright red. I make sure my water quality is good, that I dose with Iodine weekly and I feed them chopped squid or prawn. They like meety foods to knaw on

 

[rustybucket145]

Did you ever feed it? Sounds like starvation or malnourishment to me.

 

[phil519]

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

Not sure why the fire shrimp died - without a listing of tank parameters.

Check out this article for more info:

Water Parameters by R.H.Farley

Also per this article I would disagree with the prior posts of dosing iodine.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11672706#post11672706 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shop03801
All levels in the tank are normal.

Thanks

Also - people say that a lot -but unfortunately the definition of normal varies significantly...

 

[taillonjohn]

[i
Also per this article I would disagree with the prior posts of dosing iodine.

[/B]

I agree 100%. I used to dose when I was new, cause people here said to buy it and dose it. But, after reading articles like posted above, there is no need to dose iodine.

iodine is replaced with water changes. If you dose iodine, you risk overdosing,causing, or forcing, rather, your shrimp to molt more than it needs to or wants to

 

[RichardScottRice]

I'm not sure there's a hard and fast rule on Iodide, it depends on the tank, your salt mix and the occupants. Its worked for me and kept my charges alive and seeminly happy and spawning for nearly 4 years

 

[shop03801]

Thanks for the help so far. Sorry for lack of info, new to this. 30 gallon tank, about 5 lbs of live rock, temp 78 degrees, no I don't use Iodine, but I do use purple up. I had "Sparky" for 4 years and he slowly started fading about 4 months ago. When he died he was light pink almost transparent. I have a bio wheel and protein skimmer, crushed coral on the bottom. For food: mini krill,marine flakes, shrimp pellets, 2 types frozen cubes(sorry don't know names however one I specifically bought to bring out the colors. When I bought the shrimp I inquired about food and was told this was good(?). For testing, all the following are right where the numbers say: nitrate, nitrite, amonia, alkalinity, salinity and PH. If I need to include exacts for better info, let me know. I change about 30-40% every 3 weeks or so...within a couple of days. When I put in a new decoration I follow the directions of what to do before placing in tank....which I don't do often. He molted approx. every 3 weeks, sometimes a bit longer. Is there a way to tell how old they are?

Ok hope this gives more of an idea

Kim