Gettin' Frustrated - help!!

pseudoblond

pseudoblond

Drawn to Shiny Things
Mar 30, 2004
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Phoenix, Az
elfwood.lysator.liu.se
ok, so my water has been stable almost since the beginning. Nitrates 0 Ammonia 0 Ph 8.2 Salinity 1.025...tested last night to confirm.
So I bought a skunk cleaner shrimp and a brittle star. Drip acclimated for 2 hours, separately. The shrimp was dead within 12 hours. Star is doing absolutely great - he's been in there for a little over a week.
Took shrimp back with water sample - LFS tested and said water fine, must be shrimp. Got replacement shrimp last night. Guess what? Dead this morning.

What am I missing? I know it must be that I'm acclimating too fast, but I slow dripped for over 2 hours!!!

Everything else in tank is absolutely happy but the shrimp. I have 1 peppermint shrimp thats in there, and he's doing fine also. So whats up with the cleaner shrimp? Its 99.9% not a predator, or my other shrimp would be toast. HELP!!!!!:eek:
 
During the 2 hour drip the water may have gotten too cold for the shrimp. Did you drip while the bag was submerged in the display? I really don't have a clue. BTW I never acclimate for that long. I live so far from the LFS that I only acclimate about 30-45 minutes before releasing into the display. I have never had a death yet from stress and have only had one death otherwise and that was 2 months after acclimation and it was due to a fight and infection from the fight.

I personally think that people go WAAAAY overboard acclimating. I wonder if it kills the fish, etc. when they swim through a cold current in the ocean that is 5 degrees cooler than the surrounding water? Of course not. What about fish that spend their time hidden in the depths until feeding time such as shrimps, etc? It is cooler down deeper and they make a quick trip to the sunwarmed surface waters in a lot less than two hours. The ph is also different at different depths because of oxygen saturation etc.

Anyway, I will get flamed for my opinion so don't listen to me. I can't help it that I try to think logically about this. I also can't help it if my logic is faulty. But, hey, it has worked fine for me.
 
Doubtful that temp has anything to do with it, because the constant drip keeps the temp fairly regulated...i tested this when I dripped my first fish (overly paranoid)...I drip 2 hours for shrimp because everything I've read on shrimp talks about how they are sensitive to sudden changes in everything, so I've taken pains to avoid sudden changes.
I know I'm missing something, come on experts!!!!
What would kill 2 shrimp but not another shrimp, snails, crabs or a brittle star? )
 
DarthFred6996 said:
During the 2 hour drip the water may have gotten too cold for the shrimp. Did you drip while the bag was submerged in the display? I really don't have a clue. BTW I never acclimate for that long. I live so far from the LFS that I only acclimate about 30-45 minutes before releasing into the display. I have never had a death yet from stress and have only had one death otherwise and that was 2 months after acclimation and it was due to a fight and infection from the fight.

I personally think that people go WAAAAY overboard acclimating. I wonder if it kills the fish, etc. when they swim through a cold current in the ocean that is 5 degrees cooler than the surrounding water? Of course not. What about fish that spend their time hidden in the depths until feeding time such as shrimps, etc? It is cooler down deeper and they make a quick trip to the sunwarmed surface waters in a lot less than two hours. The ph is also different at different depths because of oxygen saturation etc.

Anyway, I will get flamed for my opinion so don't listen to me. I can't help it that I try to think logically about this. I also can't help it if my logic is faulty. But, hey, it has worked fine for me.
Click to expand...

You will not get flamed here for offering your opinions.

Niko
 
personally, i would try getting shrimp from another source. Was the replacements from the same tank? or different? It could be the shrimp themselves that are not right, before you buy them, and the stress of the move from shop to your house, could be enough to push them over the edge, in a manner of speach...

Just a thought

Niko
 
I second the temperature shock as likely cause of death. Drip acclimating into an external bucket requires a separate heat source. Without one, the temperature WILL drop fairly quickly. Over the course of 2 hours of constant drip the temperature will end up lower than tank temperature.

Acclimating temperature is the most important step in introducing fish/inverts to a new system. Not to say that PH, dissolved oxygen and others aren't important, just not as much as temperature. Many LFS only temperature acclimate new arrivals in the interest of saving time, effort and money.

Next time float the bag in your tank for 2 hours. During this time periodically add and remove water from the bag with a turkey baster to acclimate the shrimp while maintaining temperature. Don't let any shipping water get in your tank.
 
Shrimp were from 2 different locations of same store....

Also, again, its highly unlikely that temp plays a part in this. Room temperature in my house is 78 degrees right now - same as my tank. I float the bag to temp acclimate then drip - even unheated/cooled, water stays 78. If it was winter or something, I could see temp dropping. But my FW tank stays 78 and I have no heater in there, my sw tank isnt near any heat sources or a/c vents....I'll try floating and removing/adding water.

Any other theories? What else can I check for? Would they stress out that fast? Am I shrimp cursed???
 
Just because the room temperature in your house is the same as your tank temperature does not mean that water that was dripped into a bucket will stay at the same temperature. The chemical process of evaporation removes energy from the water when the hydrogen and oxygen molecules separate. Evaporation works wonders at cooling water. That's why people use tiny clip on or computer fans in the summer to help keep their whole tank cool.
 
I have dying shrimp experiece, as well. They are skunk cleaner shrimp and i drip acclimate them by floating the bag and occasionally adding small amounts of tank water for several hours. Over time I remove some of the bag water and dipose of it until I am at 100% tank water in the bag. This is how I drip acclimate everything. So far, I have had good success except for the shrimp, and I've got a theory on that. It may sound crazy, but I am beginning to wonder if shrimp kill each other. Everytime I have 2 shrimp in my tank...even 2 cleaner shirmp, one dies. As long as I have only one, all is well...I suspect my original shrimp does not want any competition...Could this be?
 
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