Popcorn of Death

[btong]

Varanus, my good buddy, thank you for the thorough response.

Another of my little guys started heading downhill even after the water change. I'm starting to get seriously worried. Question: you guys have mentioned buying RO or distilled water from the pet stores; is there something wrong with RO or distilled water from a drug store? I had always assumed that purified waster was purified water, regardless of the source. I've been getting mine from CVS. That is the only thing I can think that has varied from any of the suggested items I've heard of; I use the same salt, I use half the recommended amount of salt, I keep the temperature constant, and I haven't left anything to rot. Dunno. Gonna go to the office tomorrow to check on them. Some of them are reddish (the reddest I've seen ours), and some are quite clear.

[JennyPenny]

I've been skimming through this thread. You have lost two shrimp in a day, and another is going downhill, is that right?
RO water from the store is perfectly fine. I can't remember if this was mentioned, but are you using aquarium salt, table salt, or marine salt? It MUST be marine salt, any other will cause death.
What substrate are you using? And what kind of decorations? Where did you get the decorations? I'm asking because I bought coral skeletons from a fish store and I was a month into cycling before I noticed a piece of decomposing organic material on the bottom. If I hadn't shifted things I don't think I ever would have found what was causing my ammonia problem. And if your substrate was not well rinsed, or from a bin, maybe it has something nasty in there too. I read that you checked your substrate, so that probably isn't it, but I thought it worth a mention.
I think you should purchase some SeaChem Prime, which will help neutralize the ammonia and nitrite in your water and should provide relief to your shrimp if that is the source of their distress. This sounds very horrible, and I'm sorry.

[JennyPenny]

Ah, I see that you are using marine salt, so you can ignore that part.
I wouldn't worry about the temperature fluctuations, as these guys don't seem to be bothered by that. Are you using a heater, filter, or air stone? What temperature is the tank, and can you provide a picture?

[Varanus]

One other thing to consider (especially given they are in a public office of sorts from your description) is that perhaps they are getting exposed to some kind of cleaner or other chemical that is toxic to them. Shrimp are very sensitive to such things if any gets in the water, especially when in a small tank.

Still, its possible/likely that this is just fallout from the earlier ammonia spike. As Jenny Penny noted, Seachem Prime should provide relief if so.

[JennyPenny]

Varanus, I was just coming on to post the same thing.
I'm in a shrimp fb group and last night someone posted the most awful video of his shrimp popcorning around, twitching, and trying to climb out of the tank. In a short time, over 10 shrimp were dead. One of the suggestions was that they were being electrocuted by the heater or the light. Another was chemical, like air freshener or cleaners that had contaminated the tank. The man ended up netting them all out into a bowl of water until he could figure out the problem.

[btong]

@JennyPenny & Varanus
I had read your thread on the rotting piece of coral (I have one as well), so I checked mine for soft spots or slime or anything, and didn't find anything. I'll grab some Seachem Prime today and a bucket to put them in until i can figure out whats going on int he tank. I'll post the type of substrate I'm using in a bit, It's black sand and it came dry in a sealed plastic bag, so it shouldn't have anything in it. I rinsed it well, and rinsed some of it again when doing the water change.
Yeah, this is pretty awful.

[btong]

So I am now alone in my office watching MacGyver and hoping to do some MacGyvering of my own on these shrimp. Lost another two. But the others are more red than yesterday.

Is redness a good indicator of the alivability of the shrimp? That's a technical term, in that I technically just made it up.

Here's the tank and the substrate (I hope):

[Varanus]

That's the same kind of sand I and others here have used, so it does seem unlikely that the sand is the problem. What did you rinse it with? If it was tap water it is possible something toxic to the shrimp got passed onto the sand via the water.

As for red equaling health, not as far as I know. Some shrimp are naturally pale all the time, and while the redder ones do temporarily turn pale when stressed out by things like being moved around or disturbed, being red in and of itself may not indicate good health (though it certainly doesn't indicate bad health either).

[JennyPenny]

Your substrate looks fine. Your temp looks kind of high though. What is it? I can't read the thermometer, but isn't the green zone usually the range for tropical fish? Also, put your hand in the tank to make sure your heater isn't shorting out and electrocuting them.
How are the shrimp behaving today?
Some of my shrimp retain their color regardless of stress, others turn pale immediately upon exposure to stress. But in general, I think color is usually a good indicator. But maybe not in your case, since you have had quite a few deaths in such a short time.

[btong]

I've had my hand in the tank multiple times and haven't felt any shocks (always rinse my hands thoroughly with tap water then again less thoroughly with purified). Temp is consistently 75 degrees. Too high? From what I understood this was around the ideal range.

I rinsed everything with distilled only.

I have removed the coral into its own (new) water and I will test the ammonia levels later to see if they are spiking.

Quick note: the shrimp that can be seen in the submerged measuring cup was the second to do the death jig. I sequestered it because it wasn't dead yet, but I didn't want to leave it in the tank to decay over the weekend (I had put it in the trash but then felt too guilty to let it die there). It was still alive today (unlike the one at the bottom of the tank), and seemed better after the night (it was still laying on its side when I first posted, so I thought it had passed as well, but when poked it got up and swam around; it occasionally landed and stayed on its side, but more often landed on its feet and seemed alright)so I added it back. I can't tell it from the others anymore. Hopefully it'll still be around on Monday.

[btong]

I did lose another snail though, I think. It's in with the coral. Which I now realize is stupid, because if it's dead then I won't know what's giving off all the ammonia. Switching containers now.

Shrimp are all active and upright and seem fine. Not sprinting around the aquarium as much as before. Not sure if that's good or bad or meaningless. They seem relaxed (i.e. meandering about and pausing for a while before moving again).

Anyone have any experience with the snails reproducing via parthenogenesis? Cuz my population is hitting the bottom. Got 2 left.

[Varanus]

Anyone have any experience with the snails reproducing via parthenogenesis? Cuz my population is hitting the bottom. Got 2 left.

The snails dying more than the shrimp is the oddest thing about your situation to me, but yes, assuming they are malaysian trumpet snails then they can reproduce even if there is only one of them. Assuming that one is a female that is, since according to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-rimme ... Life_cycle there are males and females despite the females being parthenogenic.

If they are another species then you may be out of luck, snails reproduce in wildly different ways depending on species. Some are parthenogenic, needing no male, some are hermaphrodites where both individuals get pregnant from mating, and still other species are conventionally male or female.

[btong]

Are the brackish water snails sold here the trumpet snails? I had assumed they were.

Right?? I don't get it, they're supposed to be the brutes and the shrimp the delicate snowflakes. The world is upside down, people.

[Varanus]

Are the brackish water snails sold here the trumpet snails? I had assumed they were.

According to the site what you get from Mustafa is one or a mix of two species. They're pretty similar in appearance (looking at photos online I am now not so sure I actually got the malaysian trumpet snail, none of mine have red markings, so perhaps I got the other kind). Both are hardy and parthenogenic.

[btong]

Gotcha. Yeah mine are black and have white tips. Didn't know there were some with red. Those sound pretty.