[GSAS-Member] Cooked-Looking Freshwater Shrimp

["Susan Welenofsky" <welenofsky@comcast.net>]

I was wondering what causes freshwater shrimp to die and color-change as if
they cooked besides boiling water? I've put Amano shrimp into a ten-gallon
African Cichlid nursery tank buffered with Seachem Malawi Buffer and Malawi
salts. The fish were fine, but the shrimp almost immediately died and
changed color. 

 

I sent a shipment of shrimp to Austin, TX. They arrived four days later
looking cooked. I had a heat pack taped on either end on the inside of the
Styrofoam box, then organic packing peanuts, then the shrimp in a breather
bag in the middle.

 

Another shipment was sent to Yelm and arrived at two days later at 58
degrees. The shrimp were all alive and normal looking. The guppy I also
mailed was fine as well. The woman added the shrimp to her quarantine
aquarium, where they immediately tried to crawl out of the tank, died, and
changed color. They have well water and I got the impression that the tank
was newly set up. She did not tell me if she had copper pipes or a water
softening machine. 

 

Is it ammonia? Is it some mineral in African cichlid salt or buffer? Do
household copper pipes kill freshwater shrimp or fish? 

 

Also, I had a friend in Ellensburg who was on a well system in a mobile home
park. One day while adding new water to the aquarium, the fish immediately
started dying. She did a bigger water change, more deaths. She finally
stopped the genocide when she added water conditioner. We don't know why the
water was suddenly bad for the fish. I recommended that she get her water
checked, but she hasn't done it as far as I know.

 

Kevin at A Place for Pets told me that almost all the shrimp look cooked
when the die. I never see any dead ones in my tanks so I really don't know.
The scavengers get to them before I do.

 

Susan

 

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