Soothing Shrimp Posted January 20, 2016 Report Share Posted January 20, 2016 Been a while since we had this reminder put out there, but since this is winter.... I recently had an order of shrimp come in that looked dead. On their backs, legs up, water very very cold. From all outward appearances, they looked DOA. But, having had this happen before, I went to my old standby- and now all the shrimp "resurrected" and are doing fine. In case anyone needs the info, the steps to take are very simple. Take the bags out, and photograph the shrimp (send it to the seller) in case this doesn't work this time. Set the bags of DOA shrimp on your stand and forget about them for 24 hours. By doing this the water is able to very slowly warm up to room temperature. Examine the bags the next day and see if your shrimp rose from the dead since water is now at room temp. If so, drip acclimate as usual. So why can this happen? Shrimp have the physiology to slow down their body metabolism according to temperature. If the water is very cold, they may be comatose. Yes, they give the appearance of being dead. Cards can even appear orange, believe it or not! Why not add room temperature water into the bag immediately? Because the shock to the system may kill them! Think of coming inside from shoveling the snow. Even room temperature water run over your hands feels like extremely hot water. This is the same reason in the hospital they don't warm someone up instantly. You run the risk of cardiac arrest and death. So to everyone that may receive a bag of DOA shrimp in the winter- You may be correct! However instead of throwing out the shrimp immediately, give this technique a chance first. Even if it only works on a small percent of shipments, you may be pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Shrimple minded, Fishprinceofca, Vpier and 9 others 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dluxeshrimps Posted January 20, 2016 Report Share Posted January 20, 2016 good info, I also have had this happen. they basically freeze just not to death, as colder temps are met they slowly become less active and as Soothing Shrimp said they may be comatose. good stuff to let other know, let this technique play out first u may be surprise that they survive. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimp Life Posted January 20, 2016 Report Share Posted January 20, 2016 Good tips. I had this happen with guppies and angelfish. Very cold water, fish swimming belly up. Looked like they were just about dead. Eventually leaving them in room temp they came to for full recovery.... I guess the same goes for shrimp! Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jem_xxiii Posted January 20, 2016 Report Share Posted January 20, 2016 hmm, very interesting. Fortunate for me, I wont really every have to deal with it as it doesn't get cold enough in Orange County, but very good information Soothing to share with those of our members who live where the temps actually drop that low. (sometimes I am a little jealous of not experiencing really cold temps, then I watch the news and decided that... having a lot of sunshine ain't so bad) Soothing Shrimp and Shrimp Life 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dluxeshrimps Posted January 20, 2016 Report Share Posted January 20, 2016 hmm, very interesting. Fortunate for me, I wont really every have to deal with it as it doesn't get cold enough in Orange County, but very good information Soothing to share with those of our members who live where the temps actually drop that low. (sometimes I am a little jealous of not experiencing really cold temps, then I watch the news and decided that... having a lot of sunshine ain't so bad) Your the type of people I hate! Im messing, your not missing much believe me. after 15 mins the most outside you would hate it. stay where your at,. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted January 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2016 You can always go up to the mountains and back. Lol. I'm stuck in the cold for months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DETAquarium Posted January 21, 2016 Report Share Posted January 21, 2016 Wow! Very interesting Bryce! Thank you for sharing. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted January 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2016 We all have to help each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeMox69x Posted January 22, 2016 Report Share Posted January 22, 2016 This is the stuff people need to share. Awesome information. I never would of thought about doing this. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted January 22, 2016 Report Share Posted January 22, 2016 Yes that is a great idea. I used to get mine from the US and it took 3 days sometimes before they arrived, bags would be very cold. Ive never lost a whole bag of them, maybe one or two. What I used to do was just pop the bag (regular bag not Kordon breather) in the tank and let it float in there for a while. I did open the bag up to let air in, but not water. Mostly after 30 mins the shrimps were moving around enough to transfer them to the breeder box for quarantine (pump was unplugged so water from main tank wasn't going into the box) Soothing Shrimp, Wygglz and svetilda 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slycat929 Posted January 23, 2016 Report Share Posted January 23, 2016 I have definitely had a winter shipment where they looked DOA and on their sides, but I slowly warmed them up, and they survived with no apparent complications. This is excellent info. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarah Posted January 24, 2016 Report Share Posted January 24, 2016 Check out this video of a frozen fish coming "back to life" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/12117658/Frozen-fish-comes-back-to-life-after-being-defrosted.html Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted January 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2016 That was pretty impressive, Sarah. Thanks for sharing it! sarah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 Thanks to Soothing for posting this. I did this with my shipment of pintos this week....water was 52F in the bag....they were all lifeless just hanging in the moss and I couldn't tell if they were dead or not, so I opened the bag and poured them into a bigger container and just let it sit in the room for around an hour....temp gauge was checked every 15 mins and slowly came up to 68F, they were moving around at this temp so I put them up near the light over the tank and let them stay there overnight. Next am when I turned the light on they all jumped around, so I popped in a tiny piece of snowflake and they were all over it....tiny zebra pinto babies included. Don't give up on them just because they look dead. If they haven't turned pink, there's still hope. svetilda, Soothing Shrimp and sarah 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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