Woke up this morning a little upset:(

[jdnumis]

I bought a fire shrimp yesterday to wake up to it DOA with bristol worms all over it. I checked my parameters ph 8.3 nitrates/nitrites=0 calcium 400 My other fire shrimp is ok as well as my other fish. What may have caused this? Maybe sick from LFS?

Any takers?

Thank you

~James

 

[KathyC]

Almost a silly question - but are you sure you aren't looking at it's molt?

If not - shrimp are very vulnerable to being killed during the time they are molting as they are very 'soft' during the period immediately after they molt.

Or it could have been killed by many creatures in your tank, even something you may have in your rocks that yoi are unware of

What fish do you have? Any crabs?

 

[jdnumis]

I have about 25 hermits, red coris wrasse, decorative fire fish, 2 clowns, chromis, yellow watchman. The shrimp was pretty hearty when I took him out. So I can rule out molting. Maybe the other fire shrimp I have did something to him? Should I get another one or another kind of shrimp?

Thanks Kathy

 

[ming]

How long did you take to acclimate it to your tank?

 

[jdnumis]

I let it acclimate for 20 minutes. F'in sucks

 

[jrobbins]

that's a pretty short acclimation period for an invert. it could have been the stress of the move that did him in.

how big/new is your tank?

 

[jdnumis]

I have a 90 gal and its been running for over 2 months. All my other fish and inverts are doing fine, (knock on wood) It probably was the stress. Thanks John

 

[NYreefNoob]

red coris wrasse INVERT EATER

 

[jdnumis]

Thats what probably did it. The wrasse has been eating my bristol worms and he didn't go after the other fire though.

 

[jrobbins]

if the wrasse got your shrimp he probably would have eaten it. if you found it dead at the bottom of the tank, then i wouldn't necessarily blame the fish.

either way, that fish is going to reach close to a foot and a half pretty soon, and then it really will be the prime suspect in any mysterious deaths...

 

[Reeftanker3295]

red coris wrasse INVERT EATER

+1 says it in the description!

 

[NYreefNoob]

they dont always eat one's that are previously in the tank but any new addition's are food

 

[masterswimmer]

I have a 90 gal and its been running for over 2 months. All my other fish and inverts are doing fine, (knock on wood) It probably was the stress. Thanks John

James, in some circles 2 months is still considered part of the cycling/maturing time. In other words it is an extremely short time period when referring to the stability of a reef system.

Acclimation for inverts should exceed an hour. Some would say 1.5-2 hrs.

All that being said, I think your Coris Wrasse could have been the culprit.
I also wouldn't rule out the possibility that you MIGHT find it alive hiding in the depths of your rockwork and what you saw was the molt that Kathy described.

Russ

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

James, in some circles 2 months is still considered part of the cycling/maturing time. In other words it is an extremely short time period when referring to the stability of a reef system.

Acclimation for inverts should exceed an hour. Some would say 1.5-2 hrs.

All that being said, I think your Coris Wrasse could have been the culprit.
I also wouldn't rule out the possibility that you MIGHT find it alive hiding in the depths of your rockwork and what you saw was the molt that Kathy described.

Russ

+1 If I got something from my nextdoor neighbor I would acclimate alot more then 20 mins lol. I usually float for about 45-60 then drip for about another 45. I do that with fish, corals and inverts and I never lost ANYTHING during an acclimation or after. Some might consider it overkill but I respect everything I put in my tank and I don't want to take a chance of it dying.

 

[KathyC]

Ditto on this not being an established tank yet..but that acclimation period was definitely to abbreviated.

While I am aware that fish don't always match the 'book' description for behavior and some individuals can be excellent reef citizens when the book says otherwise, I feel the need to defend the red coris (yellow tail coris - technically a Coris gaimard

Here's my guy Peter (PITA...)

He's been in my 120 for 3+ years now and the only thing that he bothers in the tank is pods - he does so by moving, rollimg, turning over ANYTHING that isn't glued to death. He has never gone near my blood, cleaner, peppermint or harlequin shrimp (no matter whether they were small or large when introduced). He will poke hermits around but I've never seen him de-shell a snail for a meal, to the point that I haven't had to add snails to this tank for a few years.

I think the trick is to keep them well fed..mine is almost portly.

As far as size - I highly doubt he will grow to 1 1/2ft in an aquarium. Atlantis Marine World has 2 of them in the 20,000g reef there ( ever since I started visiting there) and they are MAYBE 10" long. (mine is 8"), so I wouldn't stress over that.

Then again I had a Christmas Wrasse that I need to rehome (supposedly a more laid back fish) as it beat the living snot out of every fish in the tank once it reached maturity...go figure.

My $ is on the short acclimation period.

 

[Eisman SL65]

I would think it was the acclimation. Shrimp are very delicate when transfering to a new tank. You should definitely temperature acclimate and then drip acclimate for at least an hour. I wouldn't blame the wrasse if you recovered the body. If it was the wrasse most, if not all, of the body would have been ingested. They're good when it comes to cleaning up the crime scene. Lol.

 

[rookie07]

I have been told( and my research confirms) that fire shrimp with fight with eachother, unless they are a pair, or at the minimum male/female. You did say you have other fire shrimp, correct?


Sent from my iPod touch using Reefs

 

[lfsmarineguy]

20 Mins is a very short acclimation for even a fish, but inverts have a harder time osmoregulating, especially if the difference is great. What do you and the store you bought the shrimp at keep your salt at and are you reading it with a refractometer?

Regardless of whether or not the coris eats inverts, if an animal shows signs of weakness a typically safe, for instance tangs or green chromis, species will take the opportunity for an easy meal. The acclimation was too short and while the shrimp was probably very stressed out it could have fallen prey to just about everything in the tank including the other fire shrimp who probably picked it to death with everyone else.

Healthy animals make less of a tempting target as they can defend themselves. When an animal is introduced to an environment that is a different salinity than that of it's own body, the negative or positive pressure (depending on which direction the difference is in) can be great. A shrimp coming from a salt level of 1.026 and going into a salt level of say 1.020 can feel like it is being crushed by the denser surrounding water. This goes back to high school chemistry, higher concentrations will seek lower concentrations. As the animal tries to equalize (osmoregulate) the stress can be great. This is why in fish only tanks the salt level is usually significantly lower than a reef as the parasites have trouble surviving at the lower salinity.

 

[jdnumis]

Thank you everyone