My opae ula are dying.

[snowfie]

I've had a tank of about 20 opae ula for about 2 years. They never reproduced but they otherwise seemed healthy enough. I had them in a 3 gallon cylindrical tank with no real bells or whistles and I decided I would upgrade them to a larger, better tank. I got a 6.5 gal tank with lava rock and aquarium gravel instead of the crushed coral from the old tank. I used distilled water and aquarium salt. Specific gravity at 0.012. I got testing strips and everything looked fine. I put my shrimp in the tank and within a couple hours they start swimming in these crazy circles like they don't know where they're going and then they died within a few hours.

Crap.

So I got an ammonia testing kit (about the only thing the strips didn't test for) and it was a little high so I got some chemicals to improve that and now it tests fine, I received and installed a sponge filter with a bubbler and added starter stuff to establish the bio-filter in the tank. I spent $70 on a new batch of opae ula and the same thing is happening. I'm inconsolable! I have no idea what is wrong! The shrimp are dying and I can't find a single darn thing wrong.

What should I do? A complete water change, obviously, should I abandon the gravel in favor of crushed coral? I got some new ornaments (they are some kind of lava rock but beige instead of dark red or black) but they're made for aquariums so know how that would cause a problem. All I ever wanted was a tank of happy shrimp and I've ended up killing two batches of them. And it's not like I"m a complete novice at this I"ve had these shrimp for 2 years with absolutely no problems.

Can anyone offer any suggestions about what is going wrong and how I can fix it?

[KenCotigirl]

I am truely sorry to hear about your shrimp loss.Try not to be too discouraged. When I first started I contemplated calling myself 'Ken the Shrimp Killer'.

I would throw out the gravel and lava rock you purchased. I do not trust the stuff especially products for fresh water aquaria. The crushed coral seems safe to me if it is for salt water tanks.

The shrimp basics are the same for H. rubra. The tank needs to be aged even when moving to larger volumes. Please be careful when adding anything to your tank. Sand/crushed coral is not needed but I use some because it looks better. I used sand obtained from my LFS for use in salt water. About 1/4 to 1/3 inch deep. I no longer use lava rock. When I did, I soaked it and rinsed it for several weeks before placing it in my tanks. My concerns may be unfounded but not knowing the source of the lava rock, the lava rock may leach unwanted minerals or shrimp toxins into the water. Did not seem worth the effort or the chance. I use for decoration scrap base rock and coral from the LFS. A couple $ a pound. The sand, rock and coral are not "live". "live" rock and sand is for full salt not brackish. I also use a sponge filter with a fine bubbler. I use 6500k and 10000k fluorescent lights 12-16 hours a day 2-5watts per gallon. I believe more light is better.

Your sg is 1.012 not 0.012? I use Prime from Seachem to remove chlorine and chloramine. It can be used in an emergency to detoxify nitrites. Be careful mixing dechlorinators as they may react with each other.

PM me and I can share where I purchased H. rubra and maybe at a better cost.

Ken P

[snowfie]

Thank you for the encouragement. I remembered that the old tank still had some water left so I was able to save a few shrimp that were still "kicking". They're convalescing. I took out all the old ornaments and gravel and empied and cleaned the tank. Now I have crushed coral, all the ornaments from the old tank and I did keep the lava rock from the old tank as well. Out with the new, in with the old. I'll use the survivors to test the conditions of the new tank before buying anymore shrimp. I was really impressed with the service from the guy I got my shrimp from so I don't mind buying from him again, I just don't want to spend the money just to have them all die. But I'll go slow, make sure the survivors like the new tank before I buy and keep the old tank watered just in case I need an emergency evacuation. I can do this.

Thanks again,

P.S. and yes, SG at 1.012.

[ian]

The cause could be that you are using the wrong type of salt.

You should be using Marine Salt, not aquarium salt. At least, that was what I have been told by an expert when I too had the same issues.

[yoster]

I would recommend Instant Ocean Bio-Spira. I had a very similar experience where my shrimp almost died on a transfer to a new tank. I added this into the new tank to help it cycle faster.

[Mustafa]

This point is VERY important! NEVER use "aquarium salt" or any kind of salt used for pools, cooking, etc. Always use marine salt specifically made for reef aquaria. The "aquarium salt" is most likely the cause of death for your shrimp. These shrimp are pretty tough and don't die easily...even at slightly elevated ammonia conditions they mostly hide until things are better, but if they drop dead left and right there is a serious issue obviously. Using "aquarium salt" (I put it in quotes as it's pretty much *almost* pure sodium chloride...the same type you can buy in 40lb bags for your pool) qualifies as a serious issue.

The cause could be that you are using the wrong type of salt.

You should be using Marine Salt, not aquarium salt. At least, that was what I have been told by an expert when I too had the same issues.

[theKittyLady]

Mine are dying too! I got the salt from this website and carefully measured it and used distilled water. It's very depressing. They have algae balls to eat and proper gravel, which I also got from petshrimp. I don't know what is going on but there are several dead at the bottom.

[Bluemonk]

Per yoster try the product Instant Ocean bio spira. I picked up a bottle for 16.99 at the local fish store. Even with a very new tank the water stabilized and kept my three survivors from dying. But yea I had a die-off of my batch too.

UPDATE: I found a molt and a fourth shrimp that must have been hiding hardening it’s shell. Four (4) survivors yay

[Mustafa]

Mine are dying too! I got the salt from this website and carefully measured it and used distilled water. It's very depressing. They have algae balls to eat and proper gravel, which I also got from petshrimp. I don't know what is going on but there are several dead at the bottom.

Do me a favor and start a new thread describing, preferably with pictures, how exactly you set up your tank. Include as much detail as possible, such as what decoration you put in there and what water you used. These shrimp don't just die for no reason, so I'm sure we can diagnose the problem once we have more information.