Darkchylde72 Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 Hey, Can anyone tell me what can cause molting problems? I have been feeding stuff that is supposed to help and I have mineral stones and some crushed coral in tank. Never seemed to have a problem before, but I've lost several shrimp over the last week and it looks like molting issues. Not home, so don't have my water parameters handy. Well established tank with several berried mamas and several others with saddles. Have cherry and red Rili shrimp. Edwardnah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 May be that your gh is too high. GreenPepper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DETAquarium Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 Most times when your shrimp are having difficulties molting it all boils down to water parameters. GH/KH/TDS are very important. Diet and supplements come next. May I ask why you have crushed coral, wouldn't that raise your PH ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkchylde72 Posted April 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 I don't have much crushed coral, maybe 1/8 of a cup. When I first got started I just had ghost shrimp and a couple of Apple snails. I did minor research and saw they both needed calcium. pH is usually around 7.4 to 7.6 which from what I understand is okay for cherries/rilis. I'll check the parameters when I get home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkchylde72 Posted April 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 KH - 2 (to 3, partial drop went in the first time, so 3 if counted as a full drop) GH - 6 pH - 7.4 Temp - 72°F Ammo, N2, N3 all 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkchylde72 Posted April 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Correction, pH is 6.9. Used a calibrated pH meter instead of test kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkchylde72 Posted April 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Also TDS is 290 with a meter. The temp was 77, but I unplugged the heater last night. So it is sitting at around 72° for a few hours now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necrectic Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 I'm having the same molting issue. I've got 3 casualties at a rate of about one every 10-15 days. My parameters are as follows: Ph= 6.8 Ammo= 0 NO2= 0 NO3= 0 Kh= 2 Gh= 6 TDS= 183 Temperature= 70 fahrenheit Food= Shrimp King (Mineral, Protein, Color, Complete, Pea & Leaf Loops) & Mosura Graze Active Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 I'm having the same molting issue. I've got 3 casualties at a rate of about one every 10-15 days. My parameters are as follows: Ph= 6.8 Ammo= 0 NO2= 0 NO3= 0 Kh= 2 Gh= 6 TDS= 183 Temperature= 70 fahrenheit Food= Shrimp King (Mineral, Protein, Color, Complete, Pea & Leaf Loops) & Mosura Graze Active What kind of shrimp are you keeping? Tigers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necrectic Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 Hi Rye! Yup, Royal Blues, OEBT's and their culls. I forgot to report another thing. They all showed the "white band of death" between the carapace and tail, struggling to get out and then dropping on their side exhausted before dying. Another curious thing is that it happens one or two days after I dosed Seachem Flourish Excel. Necrectic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 Excel would not have any effect, I have used excel in many sensitive type Caridina tanks with no issues even over full strength. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiumanfu Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 Also TDS is 290 with a meter. The temp was 77, but I unplugged the heater last night. So it is sitting at around 72° for a few hours now. A TDS of 290 with GH6 and KH2 doesn't seem to add up to me. Either there is a lot more stuff in your water or the test wasn't done right. Are you using RO? Did you measure the RO or tap before remineralizing? Hi Rye! Yup, Royal Blues, OEBT's and their culls. I forgot to report another thing. They all showed the "white band of death" between the carapace and tail, struggling to get out and then dropping on their side exhausted before dying. Another curious thing is that it happens one or two days after I dosed Seachem Flourish Excel. I have a theory that the "white band of death" is caused by too much high protein food. The shrimp grows too fast before the carapace is ready to open. What is your feeding regime and how many shrimp do you have in the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necrectic Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 Hi Chiumanfu: I just have a 15 gallon tank with about 30 shrimps. They have Mosura Grace Active all the time (because of the fungi that grows on it) and I feed them Shrimp King twice a week, just about a pinch each time and remove it 3 hours later. I have tons of biofilm and I provide Bacter AE twice a week a little less than half the recommended dose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiumanfu Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 Doesn't seem like you have too much protein. My theory might be bunk. You can try reduced feedings for a month to see if it changes anything. Maybe don't have snowflake in there all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necrectic Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 Thanks Chiu for the advise I'll give it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linda.m.amundsen.1 Posted May 28, 2015 Report Share Posted May 28, 2015 "White band of death"? Please explain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiumanfu Posted May 29, 2015 Report Share Posted May 29, 2015 "White band of death"? Please explainA section of clear shell forms between the carapace and abdomen looking like a white band. It is debatable whether the white band actually indicates an issue but some people believe it indicates a pending molt problem. I have had shrimp develop the white band and molt fine so I can't say for sure.You can see a minor white band forming here. This shrimp molted fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonedaquarium Posted May 29, 2015 Report Share Posted May 29, 2015 peeps, mentioned kh in respect to shrimp keeping... what should the ideal kh be to keep neos... i monitor my GH but hardly my kh.... i know kh has value in terms of ph control.... so say if my tank kh reading is low say 2 or 3 but my tank ph is 8.... how do i lower the ph if i need to increase my kh? reason i ask about kh, is i would want to know if there is any significance of kh in respect to molting problems.... i know GH for a fact... and learned the hard way about adding remineralizers to the tank... only to mess up my water paraters with too much salts in the water... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrand Posted May 29, 2015 Report Share Posted May 29, 2015 In regards to the white band of death here is a pic of a shrimp that died this week. My 1st loss ever. Seemed like a molting issue to my untrained eye and has the white band. I think my gh is a bit low in this particular tank as it is 4. Im going to try to raise it a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necrectic Posted May 29, 2015 Report Share Posted May 29, 2015 This is one of my deceased shrimps. I found it struggling to get the shell off but died trying. At least on my own experience, when I see one of my shrimps showing a band this thick it means life or death. Necrectic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiumanfu Posted May 29, 2015 Report Share Posted May 29, 2015 That is a VERY thick band. Mine have never got to that point. By any chance do you know if that particular guy was a hog around the feeding dish. Im still trying to correlate a link between the band and over eating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Necrectic Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 They eat mostly biofilm, I see them feeding on it all the time, they wander around the tank, get into the dish for few minutes but go back to the biofilm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimptek Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 Hello. In my experience the white band of death occurs when water perimeters change to fast.e.g doing a water changes to quick. I do my water changes over the course of hours and never see this problem anymore. Infact i am doing a 70 liter water change right now in a 140 liter tank thats been dripped back into the tank over the course of 4hrs. The reason for such a large water change is to remove any bad elements in the water and also to induce the shrimp into breeding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiumanfu Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 I drip my water changes as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linda.m.amundsen.1 Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 This is one of my deceased shrimps. I found it struggling to get the shell off but died trying. At least on my own experience, when I see one of my shrimps showing a band this thick it means life or death.The color on this shrimp looks purple. Is it really that color? What do you call it? Necrectic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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