Bret Brinkmann
Well-Known Member
A while ago I noticed one of my snapping shrimp laying on its side near my power head. It looked dead. No movement. I went to remove it from the tank but it jumped away when my hand got near. The next morning it was there again looking dead. Only this time there was a second one only half the size a few inches away just standing there like it was watching. Both of them were out in the open. Again I reached for the dead looking one and again it jumped away along with the one that was standing there. Later that afternoon they were in the same spots. The one larger one looked dead in front of the power head and the smaller one just standing near by out in the open. I left them alone and thought something may be wrong with my water. The alkalinity was 13 dKH and the SG was 1.028 if I remember correctly. Everything else was normal. I did a few water changes over the next two days and the alkalinity dropped to 11 dKH and SG to 1.026. Late the second day they were both back to hiding like normal. What was going on here? Did I figure right that my alkalinity and SG were to high and put the bigger one into shock or something? And why was the second smaller one hanging around? Was it possibly a worried mate?
Starting about a week before the shrimp incident, I noticed my brittle star's arms weren't extended out past the edges of their hiding places like normal but more sort of curled up. They stopped getting excited about feeding time too. Some even started coming out in the open with the lights on. Which is highly unusual. The first time they came out was day two of the shrimp incident. Also a reason I checked water parameters at that time. I also moved the powerheads up to the top because one get it's arm chopped. After the water parameters were returned to normal their behavior never switched back to normal. I think my orange one died as I haven't seen it in a long time and it used to explore every night. Several other long arm ones started wondering at night, something they never used to do, and climbed the glass straight to my Koralines.
I think I only have one left. What could be causing them to act this way and is it related to the shrimp's problem? I have since added screens to my Koralines to prevent dismemberment from occurring again.
Starting about a week before the shrimp incident, I noticed my brittle star's arms weren't extended out past the edges of their hiding places like normal but more sort of curled up. They stopped getting excited about feeding time too. Some even started coming out in the open with the lights on. Which is highly unusual. The first time they came out was day two of the shrimp incident. Also a reason I checked water parameters at that time. I also moved the powerheads up to the top because one get it's arm chopped. After the water parameters were returned to normal their behavior never switched back to normal. I think my orange one died as I haven't seen it in a long time and it used to explore every night. Several other long arm ones started wondering at night, something they never used to do, and climbed the glass straight to my Koralines.
I think I only have one left. What could be causing them to act this way and is it related to the shrimp's problem? I have since added screens to my Koralines to prevent dismemberment from occurring again.
