2 Shrimp just up and died ??

I've had two peppermint shrimps in my tank for a good 2 or 3 months now. They both just up and died within 2 days of each other. I lost all of my fish to Ick a few weeks ago, but have a blue damsel in there now that is doing fine along with a number of corals.

I tested PH, Salt level, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite and phosphate...all are fine.

Any ideas?

 

Had any large temp swings lately? :-/


Sorry about loss.

 

sorry for the loss - aree you sure they havent just shed their skin??

 

Not alot to go on... But test your Copper. Either is disease or diet related (In which case you probably won't know unless you've observed them NOT eating, or had signs of stress that you didn't post) or its Copper which is very toxic to shrimp and other invertebrates. I would also check your iodine level as they need this to molt properly, and will die if they can't molt.

Another thing that comes to mind is O2 level. How long has the damsel been in there... Personally I think they'll survive anything, just to tick us off...

I also get skeptical when people don't post their levels and just say that they're fine.

Other questions. How long has this system been up and running? When did you add the shrimp? What do you think caused the Ich.

 

ick is stress. like pheonix said, did they shed? if not they starved to death

 

Jason, good stuff...thanks. I'll check the levels again and post the specifics. I'm still fairly new to all of this and can't remember the details I do check them to insure they are within safe ranges.

I'll check copper too. I haven't been adding Iodine, so probably need to do that. I have seen them molt a few times though, so not sure if that's it.

O2 should be good, I have a skimmer that puts bubbles in and have both my filter output and a 2 power heads that stir the top of the water. Maybe that isn't enough?

No other signs of stress that I can think of. No temperature fluctuations or anything else that I can think of. I did top the water off about 2 days before. I used tap water that I normally use, dechlorinated and tested to correct levels at room temperature.

Thanks for the help and suggestions, just trying to learn the best I can to avoid killing anybody else.

 

What should I be feeding them? I've given them pellet food along with algae tablets. I've seen them eating various things like algae and some waste on the bottom.

Man, I hope I didn't starve them...

 

As stated below, could be molting, not enough food or a fish could have eaten it. I have an engineer goby that loves shrimps. He has eaten my paired Harlyquin shrimps a my peppermint shrimps too.

 

Did you treat your tank with medication for the ick breakout? As stated above, iodine is very important. We have a cleaner, peppermint(only comes out at night, LOL), and coral banded. They all shed about once a month....

 

Yes, used Ich Attack. That was about 3-4 weeks ago though. Have done a 15% or so water change since then as described on the medicine bottle.

Ich Attack said it as reef and invert safe. They seem to have survived that just fine. Put the damsel in there about a week or so ago to test and make sure the ick was gone.

Wanted to try some clowns again, but a little nervous due to the shrimp up and dieing. Damsel is doing great though.