Cleaner shrimp...

[Trogdor]

I bought another skunk cleaner yesterday because my first one died after an hour in my tank (1.5 months ago). I started my drip acclimate and after 20min I dumped 1/2 of the water. I went in after an hour to check on the water level and the shrimp was on its side. I scooped him up and placed him in my tank and he was pretty much already dead. All of my water parameters checked out fine yesterday.

Amm - 0
trites - 0
trates - 15
pH - 8.1
temp 80.5F

This is the second one that I lost from my LFS and I have no idea what is going wrong. All of my other inhabitants are doing great, corals are looking good and growing but for some reason I can't keep a shrimp long enough to survive the acclimation. Any ideas of what I am missing?

 

[Phischy]

I don't know, it sounds like everything is good on your end. Maybe do your own test on the stores water. What is their salinity, pH etc.... if the store is out of whack and even if you acclimate the shrimp it could still shock it. I am curious to know...

 

[dragon79]

try buying the shrimp from someplace else. Who knows what condition they may be in over there. Also get some advice from your LFS where you bought it. If the store is a legit place, they should give you a replacement shrimp. Only thing you could do better for your water is try to get your nitrates lower to zero if possible, and bring up your PH a little.

Also curious like phischy as to what the water quality is like in the bag the shrimp was in when you got him from the LFS. Good luck.

 

[Trogdor]

I'll see if I can get some water from the bag for a test. It is now sitting in the bottom of an empty 10g tank that I set my HOB breeder bucket on for acclimating.

 

[incysor]

I'd take a sample of your water in to a store you trust for testing as well. Even if you had the shrimp on a very fast dripline it should be able to acclimate to your water if everything is ok. Your nitrates are a little high, but not out of the ballpark by any means. Do you have other inverts in your tank already? What kind of tests are you using to test your water?
Where are you located? Did the bag from the LFS get hot or cold on the way home?

I'd second everyone elses opinions about trying a different LFS. I'd have them test the other stores water as well if you can do it.

That's about all the other questions I can think of to ask to help narrow down what's going on.

B

 

[Trogdor]

Yes I have other inverts in the tank. (2 hermits, ~10 assorted snails) I am using Aquarium Pharmasutical (sp) Master Testkit. I am located in Indiana. The weather was a bit chilly yesterday but in a heated truck they should have been fine.

 

[incysor]

Yes I have other inverts in the tank. (2 hermits, ~10 assorted snails) I am using Aquarium Pharmasutical (sp) Master Testkit. I am located in Indiana. The weather was a bit chilly yesterday but in a heated truck they should have been fine.

Ok, so no extremes in temp change. The other inverts being alive and well rule out possible copper contamination in your tank. AP tests are generally ok, although I've heard about them being less accurate if they're old. Since you don't have any control over how long they sat on a shelf before you bought it, I'd just take samples of the water from your tank, and the LFS to another LFS and get them both tested. Even if your system tests out perfect, the shrimp's original water could have been out-of-whack. A friend of mine bought a goby from an LFS here that was pretty well respected, floated the fish, but didn't do a dripline, because he bought from them all the time and they're water quality was always good. When he released the fish 40mins later it instantly had a couple seizures and died. I had bought a fish at the same time, but hadn't gotten home yet. My friend called me, and I tested the water when I got home. The salinity was about 1.018, and the ph was about 6.5. My friend called the store and they tested their water, and they got the same results, and gave my friend a credit.

Good luck. This sounds really frustrating.

B

 

[Trogdor]

I'm going to see if I can locate some water from the bag and test it. I know that I can't test the salinity since I have a floating tester but I might be able to test the ammonia, trites, trates and maybe enough for pH. Yeah it can be frustrating when you plop $30 for a shrimp and it dies before it even hits your tank. Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

[Trogdor]

aight...i just tested the water from the bag that the shrimp came in. Will nitrates sky rocket if the bag was just sitting around for about 26hrs? Everything is within reason except for the nitrates. They are completely off of the charts, yet I don't know what the effects are of leaving the water in a plastic bag for 26hrs.

 

[mikeguerrero]

Trogdor,

My suspiscion is that the high level of nitrates killed your skunk. Inveterbrates like corals cannot tolerate high levels of nitrates. Fish can handle it better but you are better off with lower levels in your tank especially if you are running a reef.

I personally had 20 trates in my nano reef before I noticed that my corals were not as expanded as before. I knew it had to be a trate problem since the tank was already mature.

Like dragon said, if they are a good LFS, they will honor a trade on the dead critter. Most LFS get a certain credit back if there livestock dies within 24 hour period of arrival.

As long as you can provide a sample of your water, you should get a credit. If not, it's time to search for another LFS. They don't want to lose your business, they make good money from us.

Mike

 

[Trogdor]

Trogdor,

My suspiscion is that the high level of nitrates killed your skunk. Inveterbrates like corals cannot tolerate high levels of nitrates. Fish can handle it better but you are better off with lower levels in your tank especially if you are running a reef.

Are you talking about high levels in my tank or the bag of water? I was always under the impression that trates under 20 was acceptable. All of my coral are doing great. They are expanding, growing and spreading as expected.

 

[dragon79]

Trogdor,

My suspiscion is that the high level of nitrates killed your skunk. Inveterbrates like corals cannot tolerate high levels of nitrates. Fish can handle it better but you are better off with lower levels in your tank especially if you are running a reef.

Are you talking about high levels in my tank or the bag of water? I was always under the impression that trates under 20 was acceptable. All of my coral are doing great. They are expanding, growing and spreading as expected.

I'd say give them a sample of your water to the LFS. They'll test and it and see that your levels are where there suppose to be. They should give you credit towards another one. You can also have them test their water as they may not be aware of your finding of the high nitrate.

 

[incysor]

I would guess that the water sitting in the bag for that long renders a test more or less useless. I'd go back to the LFS with a sample of your water for them to test, and describe the situation, and ask for a credit, or another animal, as long as your water tests fine. If they give you any hassle, I'd stop shopping at that store.

B

 

[mikeguerrero]

Trogdor,

I was referring to the unusual amount of nitrate in the bag that came from the LFS. But like Incysor said, sitting that long in the bag renders it useless.

I would go back and get a sample from the tank the shrimp came from.

Good luck,

Mike

 

[Trogdor]

Well I just got back from the LFS and had them test my water. Everything was good. I spoke with the owner and he said that they had those shrimp for about 3 weeks and that they don't even acclimate the shrimp into their tanks. I spoke with him for about 15 minutes trying to narrow down what could be the cause and the only thing that we can come up with could be the acclimation bucket or the air line that I am using. I am going to wash out the acclimation bucket with vinegar tonight and maybe pickup a new air tube. Even the owner was baffled as to why it died before I got through the acclimation.

 

[ExiledInfidel666]

try just putting it in then, seriously, thats what I did and mines been alive oh 4 months now and has doubled in size, all i do is temp acclimation, if I got like a acro or a starfish or something really prone to that id drip but yea, I bet you itl work, um why are your nitrates 15?, do you not a have a fuge?

 

[incysor]

try just putting it in then, seriously, thats what I did and mines been alive oh 4 months now and has doubled in size, all i do is temp acclimation, if I got like a acro or a starfish or something really prone to that id drip but yea, I bet you itl work, um why are your nitrates 15?, do you not a have a fuge?

Just doing temp acclimation is a bad idea. It's an even worse idea to suggest it to others. There's too much that can go wrong doing this. You might get away with it for awhile if your LFS is a really good store and keep thier salinity up, and closely monitor the rest of their parameters, but even great stores can slip, just like the rest of us, and have something out of whack. Drip acclimation gives the animals/critters more time to adjust to ALL the level differences, including a bunch of trace elements that most people don't test for. Is your shimp/fish/coral gonna crater if your iron is a lot lower than the LFS? Probably not, but it's an additional stress, that in conjunction with a fast ph/salinity/calcium/etc.. change could be what kills you new $20-$30-whatever purchase.

B

 

[invertaman]

Yes I have other inverts in the tank. (2 hermits, ~10 assorted snails) I am using Aquarium Pharmasutical (sp) Master Testkit. I am located in Indiana. The weather was a bit chilly yesterday but in a heated truck they should have been fine.

finally i found someone who lives in indiana. :smile: :lol: