Shrimp molting on calcium dose

[JammyBirch]

I added 2 doses of calcium to the tank and both times my skunk shrimp molted...should I be concerned? I use B Ionic 2 part, it's easy, highly recommended and contains the correct balance of trace elements like iodine.

What do you guys think?

 

[cloak]

How much time had passed in between doses? It might just be a coincidence.

 

[JammyBirch]

2 weeks, ya I should have mentioned that.

What's bugging me is the first molt was nasty looking all tan and stuff. This last one is white and clean looking, it even has the red stripes on it and the shrimp is totally wimping out, hiding.

 

[kurt_n]

When you say "2 doses", how many ml did you add all at once?

I'd expect a shrimp to molt every 4 weeks or so, so 2 weeks is a bit odd.

 

[JammyBirch]

30ml of alk and 30ml of calcium.

It's not a lot, I have a small system. After a water change my calcium is around 360-380, 30ml dose raises it to ~400-415.

I think I need to monitor the calcium uptake and add a smaller dose every couple of days although most do it like I do. Wondering if I'm shocking the little guy.

Oh ya he's a tiny shrimp too, maybe only an inch and a half long, do they molt more when they're little?

 

[kurt_n]

That's a fair amount of alk all at once for a 25+10g system. The alk dose will boost your pH for a short period of time. And if that boost is too high, it could shock the system a bit. I'm guessing you're getting a good 0.2 rise in pH after you add that, if not more. You might want to split that up to a daily dose in the morning.

As far as calcium goes, normal rule of thumb is not to increase your calcium by more than 20ppm per day.

With that said though, I don't think that's what's bugging your plate. If it was a pH issue, I'd expect it to be all shriveled and not expanding at all.

 

[JammyBirch]

Ya I agree I prolly won't do a daily dose but cut it to once or twice a week the ph jump is around a .1 increase didn't think that was significant, but may be.

He's great today eating like a horse, I think I caught him setting up shop and cleaning on a clown.