shirmp and hermit >>> are dead
 

this is too bad i found my cleaner shirmp and hermit crabs are dead. i dont know why. but i regularly water change evry 2 weeks, salanity are ok, calcium and amonia are ok too. any advice? appreciate it :cry:

thanks


Pls help me to save my crabs and save my money too..... i really appreciate it

nitrite,nitrate,phosphate? also how old is the tank, whats the temp? is the tank used if so was it ever dosed with copper?

Sure they are not molts?

nitrate and phosphate are good!!! my (30g) tank is 1yr old, temp is 78'F. 5 hermits are dead and i found out too they are getting out of the shell.....

do you have a bunch of extra shells in there?

every time i think one of my crabs or shrimp has bit the dust, I find it soon after. Molts can look surprisingly like dead bodies.

yes i have a lots of shell...

i'm pretty sure they are not molts...

i thought that with my sally lightfoot then 2 days later there he goes climbin out of the rock work

it happen again 3weeks ago i purchase 3 hermit crab after a few weeks all crabs are gone... :cry:

any idea to save my crabs!!

keep em out of your tank.

:)

just kidding

test for copper - they are VERY sensative to cooper.

What else is in your tank? Is it okay?

thanks man.... btw test kit u mean?

i have 1 star fish, 3 snails, 2 nemo's and mushrooms (elepant ear) and torch coral...

yeah i think salifert has a Cooper test kit. Your LFS may test the water for you for a small price considering you dont really test for copper regularly.

did you buy your tank brand new or did you get it used? traces of copper could have leached into the silicone.

whats your salinity and PH?

salinity 1.021 , ph 8.0

Ur salinity should be around 1.024 or 1.025. This could be the issue but ur salinity is technically on the low side of acceptable limits.

Did u ever medicate ur tank when u had fresh water fish?

yes i did medicate my tank... u mean my salanity is lower??... that's why now it make sense for me... thank you...

your salitinity should be higher but that wouldnt kill your hermits, so i would still test for copper

thanks cathyg_99 appreciate it...

my only other thinking is there just killing each other... i have two left out of oh... 30 even with extra shells they still killed each other but i dont know why your shrimp would have died...


is it a cleaner or a peppermint? if its a peppermint it could just be a molt, i get a little body and cant find him for months so i assume hes dead and he pops out

its cleaner shirmp.

this is my tank enjoy...

How are you checking your salinity?

If you are not using a refractometer, you should be. If you are using a refractometer, when is the last time you calibrated it?

I lost an urchin because my refractometer hadn't been calibrated recently and I thought my SG was 1.026. When I calibrated the refractometer, the SG was 1.023.

- Brad

Although salinity should generally be kept around 1.025 - 1.026, I don't think that should be the reason your inverts are croaking. Most LFS systems are kept at a lower salinity than our tanks at home. This is why acclimation is fairly important. These critters can handle a pretty good range of salinity, provided the change is gradual. A very quick change could be a problem though, this could be caused by a massive water change where the makeup water is significantly different than the system water.

You say the tank has been medicated. With what? That might be something that could cause problems. I believe most hobbyists use a quarantine or hospital tank to medicate their livestock if that's feasible.

i'm using hydrometer evryday my salanity is 1.020...

1.020 if measured accurately is definitely low, you'll want to bump that up slowly a few points & ensure your measuring equipment is reasonably accurate.

My guess would be that the tank was medicated at one point.... Acclimation could be the problem but I've lways just temperature floated, then released my snails and crabs with no issues...... Hydrometers are almost always "out"..... You must keep them clean or salt build up may sque your readings.... Clean it thoroughly, then take it to your LFS and have them check it against a refactometer.....

thanks mike :biggrin:

mantis? what fish do you have? have you really checked ur nitrates? with that any dead inverts something will spike.

You don't have one hermit crab that seems to always survive do you? I had a nasty hermit that would kill every other hermit or snail it could get at. I always found my hermits to be almost indestructable and to see your fish and snail doing fine in the pics I would suspect predatation if raising the salinity doesn't do the trick.

Like Mike asked what did you medicate your tank with? Could be the issue.

Also like mentioned your salinity needs to come up, your corals can suffer. I usually tell people to just do top ups with pre-made salt water, brings it up nice and slow :biggrin:

Most people forget that if you're measuring specific gravity you have to account for the temperature of the water too. I find this gets left out very often. I personally prefer the calibrated refractometer method now, I don't think I could go back. With hermit crabs I wouldn't be surprised if they were killing each other as well, they're pretty expendable.

thnks guys for the info and help appreciate it...:biggrin: