sick shrimp

[john]

Hi everyone, I'm experiencing a problem and wonder if some of you could try to help me? I noticed today that a couple of my cherry reds looked pale, sort of a milky color. The ones that looked like this, 2 out of about 20, were also acting strange, they were twitching and laying on their sides like some kind of poisoning.I immediately checked the water parameters and the results were as follows: ph - 7.2
kh - 3 deg.
gh - 6 deg.
ammonia - 0 ppm
nitrite - 0 ppm
nitrate - less than 10 ppm
All of these seem good to me so I don't think it's any of those things. I have recently started adding Kent's reef tech-I, which is an iodide additive. Maybe I added too much and hurt some shrimp? I immediately changed 50% of the water and I am waiting to see if there are any deaths.The shrimp that were acting odd have not died, and they are acting a little better. Does any one have any ideas what could be going on with the shrimp? Thanks for any help,
John

[gnome]

Hi, John.

Is this a planted tank? Did you recently add any new plants? Do you remember to add chlorine/chloramine neutralizer to change water? And you don't add any sort of prophylactic chemical like Aquari-Sol to your water, right? Oh yeah, what's the temperature?

If it's a planted tank, I'd look at the guaranteed analysis of any fertilizers you use to see if the percentage of copper is high. Also, if you've recently added any new plants...?

Months ago, I tried Plantex CSM+B in my planted tank. Due to the nature of my tap water, this addition proved to be very toxic and I lost a lot of snails. After weeks and water changes, I tried adding two Yamato shrimp to this tank, and they died within hours of their release. Other hobbyists with hard water can use this stuff without any problem - shrimp are fine, snails are fine... Particularly soft water can make fertilizers very toxic at even recommended amounts.

-Naomi

[john]

Thanks for the reply. it is a planted tank but I don't add any ferts because it's a moss only, low light setup. my tap water contains .13 ppm of copper.(I'm not sure if that's high or not?) I use Prime to treat the tap water. the only food I gave the shrimp that has copper is HBH crab and lobster bites but the guy I got the shrimp from also fed this. maybe my low kh combined with the copper sulfate in the food is the cause. I just did another water change and the shrimp seem fine except the two that were acting wierd from before. I guess with a low kh you have to be extra carefull. maybe I'll raise the kh a little. thanks for the help,
John

[Nanami]

by iodide additive do u mean something like iodine? shrimps do not handle iodine well maybe don't add anymore and see if it helps? also don't perform large water changes as it'll upset the water chemistry too much for the sick shrimps :) hope it helps...