Both my shrimp died suddenly.

[BitFix]

I've had a pair of peppermint shrimp for about 3 months, they have lived in my sump for a month or so and have been doing great. Yesterday I was testing my water and both the shrimp were fine, after a few hours I went to check on them and one of them was dead, it had died in a matter of hours, I thought maybe it had a bad molt and died, I fed his corpse to some coral and went to sleep. Today I went to check up on the other shrimp and it also had died.

Everything else in the tank is just fine, all the coral, crabs, snail and fish are totally fine and the shrimp didn't act any different before they died. What could have caused it?


Not sure if this helps, but here's a picture:

 

[F i s h y]

I would start with water quality. Did you top off? Could there have been a sudden salinity swing? What about contamination from something you used to test the tank? Some mysteries are hard to solve.

 

[BitFix]

I would start with water quality. Did you top off? Could there have been a sudden salinity swing? What about contamination from something you used to test the tank? Some mysteries are hard to solve.

Salinity is in the normal range 1.025. I really doubt any contamination, but it's possible.

What is confusing me the most is that nothing else is affected.

 

[Merck]

Sorry for your shrimp, i think it was a molt problem.

 

[andrewey]

Did you test your water? Shrimp tend to be a bit more sensitive then snails/crabs, so that's where I would start (ammonia, nitrite). Any changes in the last 48 hours (adding new water, dosing, etc.)?

 

[BitFix]

Did you test your water? Shrimp tend to be a bit more sensitive then snails/crabs, so that's where I would start (ammonia, nitrite). Any changes in the last 48 hours (adding new water, dosing, etc.)?

Parameters are as expected. No ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or phosphates (having some issues with GHA, but it's mostly under control), ph is 8, calcium is 450, magnesium 1350, alkalinity is 6 (it's quite low, I'm working on raising it, but it has had no spikes, so it's probably not that).

 

[andrewey]

Any changes in the last 48-72 hours before the shrimp died? Water change, dosing?

 

[BitFix]

Any changes in the last 48-72 hours before the shrimp died? Water change, dosing?

Absolutely none

 

[andrewey]

Hmmm.

Any other shrimp in the tank?

If the answer is no, at this point I'd be guessing wildly between either unlikely or hard to prove reasons such as ph spikes overnight, temperature spikes, stray voltage, metal contamination from an exposed pump/magnet, etc.