# Moulting death



## crusty (Jan 10, 2013)

I lost one of my Cherry shrimp,it was moulting as far as I can tell because part of its shell was pealed back. Anyone know why this happens,does it have to do with water quality?


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

If it is just one, it could be anything. Check water quality (hardness, NH3/4, NO2, pH, TDS) temperature, see whether the others are doing normal (lot of leg movement) No predators that could have attacked it during moulting? Really hard to say without more data...


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## Mountain Maker (Jan 10, 2013)

^He's right, really can't tell without all of the circumstances.


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## crusty (Jan 10, 2013)

The water has a PH of 6.5 TDS -is 2, NO2 is -0 I do not have a test kit for hardness yet but I assume it is soft,I'm using RO water.

I only have had 4 shrimp to begin with,the other one jumped out so I'm down to 2 shrimp.I plan on picking up a few more later this evening .

This is a very small tank,2.5 gal. with filtration.I'm using Carbon,Seachem Perigen,and fuval ceramic bio media.I cycled the tank for two weeks.I also have plants,moss etc.all doing very well.

Thank you for the replies..

Forgot to mention I use Mosura old sea mud powder to replenish minerals .


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## Bacon5 (Jul 24, 2011)

It could have been sick and weak and didn't survive. Usually molting is affected by the hardness and tds of the water where the shell on the shrimp is overly built up and therefore causing the shrimp to not be able to escape the hard shell. But the puzzling thing is that your water has low tds and assuming low hardness. Maybe your ro system is not lowering the hardness like it should? Just my 2 cents


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## aluka (Feb 5, 2013)

Molting death is generally cause by hardness is too low. You are using RO water, are you using a gh BOOSTER? Cherries need a gh of 4-14 to molt correctly. With RO water without gh booster your gh is 0.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

This is already 2 months old, but for other people looking for this problem. I think if your TDS is really 2 (which is even low for RO-water) this is probably the cause. All shrimps need a little minerals in the water to harden after moulding. Try mixing it a little with tap water or add GH booster.


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## Badlands54 (Dec 31, 2012)

Yes if your TDS is turly 2 that means you GH and KH are 0 as well. Get the TDs up to about 200-250 and you should be good. maybe dose some calcium montromilte to as a calcium supp.


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