HELP

L

lovelyepona

All my crabs and shrimp died, what could have caused it? I have had the cleaner shrimp through all my tank crashes, everything. I went to feed ther tank yesterday and noticed that i had hermit crab carcasses and my cleaner shrimp was toast. What could have caused it.
 
Insecticide is what that sounds like to me...

It takes a VERY small amount of insecticide, near a tank, or if someone applied some somewhere else, and then put their hand in the tank, to wipe out the arthropods, since they're very closely related to bugs, the insecticides work on them in the same way...

(It's also possible that they're all fine, and just had a mass molting, but I find that highly unlikely, unfortunately...)
 
what are your parameters, did you have a temp spike?, anything change, feeding habits, water changes, new livestock? what all did you have, and do you have now? tank details?
 
Water quality got too bad for the inverts. They are especially sensitive to high Nitrate and of course ammonia or Nitrite could kill them too.

Post your water parameters and I am sure we can help more.
 
I agree with Brian, it sounds like some insecticide got near your tank. Have done interceptor treatments lately? That's another that could cause it.
 
Oh yeah, and my standard prescription for a foreign substance in the water (Which is what I suspect) is lots of carbon and poly-filters...
 
All my parameters are fine, the tank temp is pretty stable, varies about a degree or two. Nothing has changed.
I have a 30g tank with a 10 g sump/refugium.
Could frontline plus I put on my dogs and cats do it?
 
Well, the damage has apparently already been done, it's probably not going to hurt your other inhabitants (Beyond the possibility of a small cycle caused by the decaying shrimp/crabs/pods (Yeah, it probably also wiped out any "pods" you had too...)

From my very meager understanding, Frontline works by disrupting the exoskeleton of critters with exoskeletons, so any of those are probably gone...

(Sorry to have to say that)

Having said that, I'd still put as much carbon in there as I could, and do a few big water changes (Big = 50% plus, maybe even near 100% if you can do that)

I'd also wait for several water changes and several times of swapping out carbon before introducing any other shrimp or crabs...

And needless to say, be very careful around Frontline and a reef tank... Wash your hands thoroughly after handling the stuff, and (The thing people often forget) after petting an animal that's been treated with Frontline...

Sorry this happened to you... :cry:
 
ye, just make sure anytime you do something where you have to touch the water or thier food, to wash your hands thoroughly...thats a big thing, even stuff like lotions or perfumes could be bad...start with a larger than normal water change (double your normal), then give it a couple days and do another. Carbon is debateable how long it is good for, but in times where there may be a problem, do a sock or filter bag full (if thats how you do it) today and then after you do your next water change.
 
Thank you. I appreciate the fast replies and the advice. Glad I have some water mixing right now.
Is there anyway I can test to see if it is out of the system? I was going to buy some more hermits and a few other inverts from the group buy, can I still do that or would it not be wise?
 
I'd wait.. if it was frontline or similar, one of the things that they claim is that it has a long life, so it continues to kill for a long time.
 
IIRC frontline is also good for like 90 days.

So it stays in your pets coat.

Meaning if you leave any towels laying around, scrapers, food bottles, etc, make sure you keep them away from anywhere pet hair could get.

Also make sure any kids know not to put hands in the water after petting the dog.
 
Again ThankYou.
LOL kids have been threatened with loss of hands for sticking em in the tank. Luckily I have all my fish stuff in a big ol tupperware container thing.

Well guess I'll be crabless for a while then. Frontline is good for 30 days, on dogs and cats. I'm glad i have a new skimmer coming to help me remove some of the yucks in the tank.


Well I just found two hermits still alive and picking. Gonna go retest and make sure I read the test right.
 
How old was the shrimp or I guess how long have you had it? They do die after a couple of years or so, sometimes around a year. I have had a couple very healthy ones after that amount of time, one day just die. The crab could just be coincidence. Also have you seen the shrimp molt lately? If they can not molt, they will die over time. That would kill the crab also. Usually dosing some iodine/iodate will help inverts molt.
 
I have had my shrimp for a year and a half. She just shed recently. I guess I need to see what their life span is. Could have been a coincidence.
 
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