Survival of Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei , in low-salinity and mixed-ion environments

This study was conducted to (1) evaluate the effectiveness of two different salt mixtures, MI-2 (NaCl, MgSO4, MgCl2, KCl, CaCl2, and NaHCO3) and MI (NaCl, MgCl2, KCl, and CaCl2) as compared to artificial sea salt (SS) to provide a sufficient environment for the survival of Litopenaeus vannamei and (2) determine if additions of the MI-2 salt mixture to low concentrations of sea salt would result in comparable survival as that seen in pure SS environments.; Tests conducted at 5 g/L of total dissolved solids showed that the pure SS treatment had a significantly higher survival rate than the MI-2 and MI combinations. The survival for the MI-2 and MI treatments were not significantly different from each other. Tests conducted at 15 g/L did not show significant differences between the SS and MI-2. In the tests comparing survival of shrimp in pure SS treatments and treatments of SS with MI-2 additions there was no significant difference in survival among the different treatments.; The results indicate that additions of the MI-2 mixture to small amounts of SS can create an environment where the shrimp are able to survive as well as they do in the pure SS treatments. MI-2 additions possibly could be used to lower production costs by replacing a portion of the SS which is significantly more expensive than the MI-2 salts. At higher salinities additions of SS may not even be necessary.