# Strange tiger shrimp death



## SlyDer (Jul 11, 2007)

I came home from work yesterday to a strange sight. My only tiger that has berried thus far was a very pretty sky blue lying on her side very obviously dying. Next to her was a fresh molt.
Im using bottled ro water and the test kit says the water is fine no ammonia nitrite, nitrate less than 5, ph around 7, low gh.

Has anyone evr seen something like this? It seemed very strange.
Anyhow, I decided to artificially hatch the eggs, there in a one gallon container i use for bagging shrimp, in ro water up against the tank for warmth covered loosely. The shrimp had been carrying them for about a week so i figure 3 weeks untill failure or success is known.


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

Are there any fish in your tank? After a fresh molt a shrimp can be pretty vulnerable to any attacks.

I've also noticed that very rarely a shrimp will not successfully molt and that will cause death. What might have happened was that the shrimp may have expended too much energy trying to molt, and after it finally did, just didn't have enough left in the tank. I've never witnessed any shrimp molt WHILE berried though.. I'd think that it would be impossible because when they molt they molt the outer layer of their swimmerets as well, which are in direct contact with the embryos.

Finally (for now), if the molt next to her was there by coincidence, did you do any water changes before you left for work? I've heard some theories that bottled water has ozone in it, and that the ozone will kill some aquatic critters. Not sure if that's a fantasy writer's black magic explanation though.


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## SlyDer (Jul 11, 2007)

i think the molt may have been coincidence. They are in shrimp only tank. They strange part, to me anyways is how the shrimp changed colors to a baby blue. I wish i had thought to take a picture. This is my first tiger casualty so i dont know if thats common.
Ive decided that it was due to the heater coming unplugged. It went a few days before i noticed. Thats the only guess i have but im still fascinated by the sudden color change


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## southerndesert (Oct 14, 2007)

I too lost some of my Tigers and Blue Tigers and a few days before their death they changed color to an opaque blue which is a sure sign of a slowly dieing shrimp. I lost 3 others over a week and was baffled because my water seemed fine...All tests were fine...Shrimp were obviously dead.

I was at a loss for a solution and in raising shrimp that is very stressful to "have no answer" when you lose animals. I added a HOB with some Purigen and so far no more deaths??? I am indeed thankful there have been no more deaths, but knowing what was the problem would really help.

Is indeed Purigen helped then there was something in the water I wasn't able to test for and that is upsetting and could easily happen again.... 

Sometimes with shrimp they just die for no known reason, but dirty water is often the culpret, stopping it is the trick I guess. So I suppose where I am going with this is;

There was most definitely a water problem and Dwarf Shrimp need very clean water to be healthy and breed and I wish I could help nail it down better. For now do a few extra water changes and also as a side note Tigers like a PH in the 6.4 to 6.8 range...


Also...


It the surface of your water agitated enough for good gas exchange? That is another problem I was confronted with a while back. Had a HOB didn't break the surface enough and caused a scum (bio-film) lost a couple shrimp as a result.

I am no expert, but these problems have confronted me.... It was always water issues as you have already guessed.

Good luck, Bill


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