Help please!! Mass death of RCS. Flea insecticide

[keef321]

Hi,
My cat had fleas so the vet told me after treating her, to treat the house with Indorex Defence Spray, Cover fish tank and afterwards let the house air for 2 hours, and to switch off fish tank filter.

I put two sheets over the fish tank and switched off the filter for two hours, but after the two hours came back to many deaths 😟

I had accidentally left the co2 on, so this could have been a cause of deaths, but no filter was on, but it may have built up under the covers. I Checked co2 levels in water, and it was what I would expect but not excessive, and drop checker showed this.

All RCD shrimp were either frozen or dead. I carried out two 60% water changes, and took out the dead. I’m now left with many frozen shrimp and spasming shrimp. It looks like those that were pregnant released them.

The fish seem to be ok.

I’m sure others may have experienced this, so advice on what to do next would be good? Will the remaining shrimp survive or should I put them out of misery, I would rather not see them in pain.

I have put the worse ones in a bowl, but not looking good for them.

Thank you

 

[greenbliss]

Only time will tell

 

[tam]

This would be one of the occasions when adding carbon to your filter would potentially be helpful. If you haven't got room in your filter, just hang it in a bag near the outflow. I would throw in a polyfilter sheet too - again just put it in the flow if you haven't got room in the filter. Both of those should help remove remaining chemicals and any more that might be entering the tank from the room.

I would turn off co2 temporarily and add oxygen. Anytime there is a stressor, removing other potential stressors is helpful.

If they aren't dead some may recover, it's difficult to predict. If the fish are bothering them then I'd suggest moving them to a net or similar.

 

[Bradders]

All RCD shrimp were either frozen or dead.

This sounds like nervous system damage. An ingredient of Indorex is Permethrin, which affects the nervous system of invertebrates, causing paralysis and death in high doses.

I carried out two 60% water changes, and took out the dead. I’m now left with many frozen shrimp and spasming shrimp.

The best course of action is to remove the shrimp from contaminated water and perform significant water changes in your aquarium (which you have done). Of course, the house has to be free of the chemicals to prevent the cycle repeating.

This would be one of the occasions when adding carbon to your filter would potentially be helpful.

Agreed, if you have it @keef321, then add carbon.

 

[keef321]

Thank you all for your usefull replies. I have no carbon, but will get some tomorrow from the LFS.

I suppose my remaining worry is that if they RCS die off overnight, will this cause an ammonia spike in the aquarium? Then causing problems to the fish. I suppose only time will tell.

 

[Bradders]

I suppose my remaining worry is that if they RCS die off overnight, will this cause an ammonia spike in the aquarium? Then causing problems to the fish. I suppose only time will tell.

Not if you get them out quickly in the morning and make sure you have no dead ones before you go to bed.

 

[keef321]

Not if you get them out quickly in the morning and make sure you have no dead ones before you go to bed.

Yes I will certainly do that, I will net any out tonight, and then do another water change in the morning, and suck out any more dead. Feel much more calmer now I have a plan, so thanks for that.

 

[hypnogogia]

Sorry to hear this. You’ve already had good advice on this. I remember when we had our house treated because the dogs had flees I covered the tank with cling film….just in case you need to retreat.

 

[keef321]

Sorry to hear this. You’ve already had good advice on this. I remember when we had our house treated because the dogs had flees I covered the tank with cling film….just in case you need to retreat.

Yes, I think that is the best thing to do going forward, good idea for if I need to retreat, hopefully not 🤞