# Shrimp Carcasses - Molting or Deceased?



## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

On January 8th I added 15 baby, red cherry shrimp to our planted 60 gallon tank. On January 9th I added 5 amano shrimp. I rarely spotted them during the day but I could always find some at night if I shined a light in the tank. Yesterday after a 50% water change I added another 23 RCS from a local breeder. The new batch is much less skittish and are roaming the tank freely. There is also 1 male guppy and 6 sterbai cory, none of which are bothering any of the shrimp.

This morning I noticed several shrimp shells on the substrate. Do you typically see these after molting or is this a sign of deceased shrimp? I did notice the amano shrimp swimming all over the tank when I turned off the filter yesterday and started draining the tank. They continued this behavior after the water change for about 30 minutes.

Thanks!


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## MaroMan (Jan 6, 2010)

From my experiences the shells you see is the molting, you will be able to tell is there was dead shrimp in them as they would be a pink color instead of clear shells. I believe the crazy swimming can be due to the molting, but someone more experienced with shrimp keeping should weigh in on this!


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

MaroMan said:


> From my experiences the shells you see is the molting, you will be able to tell is there was dead shrimp in them as they would be a pink color instead of clear shells. I believe the crazy swimming can be due to the molting, but someone more experienced with shrimp keeping should weigh in on this!


Thanks @MaroMan, appreciate it. This is my first attempt at keeping shrimp.


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## fishman922 (Oct 26, 2016)

I see the clear shrimp shells all the time. It is from molting, nothing to worry about and really it is a very good sign! In a few months you will have some shrimplets around. 

FYI:
All the shrimp I have owned turn pink when they die. (Ghost and Neocaridina)


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

It all depends
Molts will be clear and can look broken (shrimp popped out of old shell).
Dead shrimp will be white/milky or pink.

Water changes can trigger molts (activity levels can spike after).

Some worries with your particular situation is that larger water changes (most keep it 20% or under for shrimp) can cause too large of fluctuation of water parameters for the shrimp, possibly causing deaths. Another thing is the new RCS, being new they are more prone to death (especially adult shrimp) from stress until they settle in.

So it all depends on the color of the shrimp in question, whether they are dead or just a molt.


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

Thanks @WaterLife and @fishman922. They shells are clear and look broken. I'm aware that large water changes can lead to bigger fluctuations and can be harmful for the shrimp. That is part of the reason I went with local shrimp and a hardy variety. I think I should be fine as I only use tap water and regulate the temperature before a change (run in a large, brute trashcan for several hours with prime and a pump before the change). The RCS I added were mostly juveniles as far as I could tell (~1/2").


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## Zoidburg (Mar 8, 2016)

Just because you got the shrimp locally doesn't mean that the parameters the shrimp came from will be the same as yours. (found this one out the hard way!)


Amano shrimp are hardier than cherries.


If you cause too much stress, the cherries may die and the amanos could jump ship.




Do you know what your GH, KH and TDS are?

Do you know the GH, KH and TDS of the water the shrimp came from?


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## fishman922 (Oct 26, 2016)

Amen to the local water different thing. My poor shrimp had to acclimate from 0GH a PH of 6.5 and a Very low KH (not sure what it was. been a little while) to my 150ppm GH, 100ppm KH, 8.0PH water. I somehow didn't loose any shrimp in that process. They didn't come out and look happy and active for upwards of 2 weeks though.

If they are clear and broken then I would bet they are molts. Juvies are going to molt more often than adults. I do 10% water changes a couple times a week when I need to do any water changing at all. Otherwise I just top off (38Gallon tank with guppies, endlers, and shrimp...). This is my typical routine.

Due to a slight tank disaster (See the Invertebrate ID thread. scuds are evil) They had to be moved to a 10 gallon with the fry I have. Due to the Bio load on that bare bottom tank I do 25% water changes every couple days to keep the nitrates down (Has some moss and ferns in it on driftwood, helps a little). The seem to be fine with that but I keep my tank water as close to my tap as possible so in the event of emergencies I can move stuff without it dying. I should note that I also filled the 10 gallon tank 75% of the way from my main tank before putting the shrimp in, effectively a 25% water change for them.

That is just my experience so far in terms of water changes/stress to the shrimp. So yes they can handle some stuff, but I think I am pushing the limit of what they can take, and no I am not happy about it.


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

Thanks @Zoidburg and @fishman922. Last time I measured I got the following parameters (I'm unsure of the TDS).

PH ~ 8.0
KH ~ 7.85 dKh
GH ~ 16.9 dKh

The first batch of shrimp I got are from the LFS on the exact same tap water source as myself so it should be close to a match (there obviously could be some differences due to plants, rocks, wood, etc.). The second batch came from a local breeder using approximately 75% tap and 25% RO water, so this was not a match. In both cases I did a slow drip acclimation and they all seemed fine. Our tank is a planted community tank with the shrimp being a hopeful bonus addition as opposed to a shrimp tank with some plants and fish. That is why I've gone with low grade, inexpensive RCS.


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

A couple of notes that I didn't see covered. 

First, I'd keep an eye out for any molting issues such as missing or broken limbs, leftover pieces of shell that didn't come off, etc. Your water might be just a tad on the hard side, but it's difficult to say how much of that is calcium.

Second, when you see the males (they are smaller and have leaner bellies) swimming like crazy after water changes, it usually means a female that was berried (carrying eggs) has molted and is ready to be fertilized. 

I would look at your females and see if any of them have eggs at the bottom of their belly. If they do, you've got a few weeks to keep the water well oxygenated, clean, and prepare for babies. I'd put a prefilter over your intake and add some leaf litter for them to hide under  

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk


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## sdwindansea (Oct 28, 2016)

Thanks for the advice @natemcnutty. It was definitely the amanos that molted. I pulled out the exoskeletons today and they were broken and clear. As far as keeping the water oxygenated, is good surface agitation enough? I am not running C02. I do already have a sponge over the filter intake. I guess I will have to look into purchasing some leaves. Is there a particular kind that is best?


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## fishman922 (Oct 26, 2016)

sdwindansea said:


> Thanks for the advice @*natemcnutty*. It was definitely the amanos that molted. I pulled out the exoskeletons today and they were broken and clear. As far as keeping the water oxygenated, is good surface agitation enough? I am not running C02. I do already have a sponge over the filter intake. I guess I will have to look into purchasing some leaves. Is there a particular kind that is best?


For future reference it is my understanding that the exoskeletons should be left in the tank to be reabsorbed by the shrimp (Not sure about this but they do disappear after a day in my tank).

If it's a well planted tank I would guess that you are probably fine so long as there is surface agitation. You could use an air stone but I think that would probably be overkill and might limit the c02 to the plants (This is a debated point, but is a possibility).


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

@fishman922 is correct. You can leave the molted shells in there for them to eat. It is a good source of calcium for them 

As for running an air stone, it won't lower CO2 unless you are adding CO2. Basically, your carbonate hardness (KH) and pH determine how much CO2 the water has, and with good air exchange, it will stay at that. 

When we inject CO2, that lowers the pH (CO2 is an acid), and that's how we determine how much CO2 we've injected. So reducing CO2 with an airstone would have to remove acidity from the water and raise the pH (otherwise, not possible unless you've added CO2) 

Edit: forgot to mention, I use Indian Almond Leaves, but there are many that people use (most hardwood leaves are great).


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