cleaner shrimp not for me?

[pufferman]

Hey all,

Just had the worst loss yet. I got two cleaner shrimp, floated the bags for 30mins, and drip acclimated them for an hour. I put them in the tank and they died within 10 mins. What's wrong, my water is perfect. I dont get it. I have tried cleaner shrimp 4 times with this exact same thing happening. I feel that i cant keep them. I am just so depressed that i they die everytime i want to get them a new home.

They are supposed to be more apt to die because of sudden changes than fish.

I use shot glasses for about an hour.

I make sure both the PH and the SG is the same in both before I add it.

[Hara]

SG: 1.019
Temp: 85 degrees F

This is in your signature, if it is factual, your parameters are not perfect.
The sg is pretty low and probably nowhere near what the stores was.
The temp is also pretty warm. My guess is these 2 factors with only one
hour acclimation is what did the damage.

[pufferman]

i m so sorry, i just tested my SG and it was 1.017, OMG, this is certainly the reason for the shrimp deaths. So sorry. I guess i was just cheating myself.

This is my plan to get my SG back up to 1.025. I m going to let the water evaporate naturally and i will top off with regular saltwater. This will allow the SG to raise gradually without any sudden changes. Please let me know if this will work. Thank You very much for the help.

Yep it should work. Maybe try putting a little extra salt in with the topoff.

Originally Posted by zacdl

Maybe try putting a little extra salt in with the topoff.

Never add new salt to a tank. It must be predissolved and allowed to stabalize chemically for at least 12 hrs (preferabley 24), even if small additions.

Allowing the tank to evap thereby increasing salinity is the least stressful on the inhabitants, especially the fish. Salinity increases must be done very slowly, 0.001/day or less. In a 30 gal tank you will increase approximately 0.001 for every 0.5 gal lost to evap. Simpley top off with water of the same salinity as the tank each time so as not to increase the salinity too fast. Let the natural evap do the work for you.

Cheers
Steve

Maybe I should rephrase that.

Add a little more salt in the TOPOFF water.

[Edmonton Eskimo]

I did the exact same thing when I added my cleaners about a year ago. My salinity was way different than the lfs and I had two cleaners die. As soon as got my salinity up and tried a new cleaner no problems at all. I was pissed at my lfs as they didn't tell me this was a concern even after I asked more than enough questions about acclimation. Needless to say they gave me a free one after the first two died(at 40 bucks a pop I would have lost my mind if they didn't give me one!)