Angry with shrimp!!! HELP

[supermarvin76]

I have a 50gal tank with a yellow tang, fire fish and tomato clown, basic wet / dry. About 1 1/2 weeks ago I bought a skunk cleaner shrimp from my LFS. Acclimated him 2 hours with the drip method. They had this shrimp about 3 weeks. The next morning he's dead!!

Bought a blood shrimp they have had for about 4 days, acclimated him for 3 1/2 hours w/ the drip method. He is dead with in 3 hours of going in the tank. That is of shrimp. I should have gone for a nice shrimp meal somewhere for that price. Needless to say I am quite angry. Please help!!

Ammn.=Maybe .3 to .4
Nitrite=0; (darn colors are so close together hard to read)
Nitrate=about 7;
PH about 8.4
temp 80;
SG 1.022

[quarryshark]

Ammn.=Maybe .3 to .4

This is probably the reason why. How long has the tank been set up?
Inverts are even more sensitive to ammonia than fish.

[supermarvin76]

tank has been set up for about 2 months.

[lando]

I agree. Ammonia is mostl likely the culpret. How did you cycle the tank? Can you verify the ammonia with another test kit?

[midiman]

Would .3 ammonia really be enough to KILL a shrimp? If that were the case, wouldn't it be virtually impossible to add new LR or even a couple of new fish to a tank without endangering the inverts?

[i have crabs]

i would think adding shrimp to a system with amonia would be worse than them being in the system when the ammonia rose to that level

ive lost 1 fire and 2 cleaner shrimp both times within 2-3 days so i started using the drip method for around 2 hours then floating them for 20 mins and ive had no more deathes since

[midiman]

i would think adding shrimp to a system with amonia would be worse than them being in the system when the ammonia rose to that level

That's probably a good point. After reading these posts, I ran to check my water, because I just added two peppermint shrimp today. Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10-15 (hard to match the color, so I'll say 15)

I'll probably do a water change tomorrow. I have a plug of chaeto in my sump and I'm getting some more to help with the nitrates, so my fingers are crossed for my first-ever shrimp!!

[midiman]

Why do you float them AFTER using the drip method? Equalizing temp first is supposed to help protect against pH differences, from what I understand. The drip method is then used to acclimate to new salinity and the pH difference not related to temperature.

[quarryshark]

Equalizing temp first is supposed to help protect against pH differences, from what I understand. The drip method is then used to acclimate to new salinity and the pH difference not related to temperature.

I float the bag in the tank for about a half hour to get a temp match then I drip acclimate in a bucket with a heater and a PH monitor.
When the temp, PH and SG match...I then add then to the system.
Inverts I drip very slow and have never lost one to an acclimation issue.

[WhiteCloud]

I too float them After the drip method. I have not found a heater to go in my dripping bucket that fits yet...and with 2 to 3 hours of dripping the water gets colder in the bucket than the tank. So I float to temp acclimate before putting them in the tank. If it is a "mail order" shipment...I float before and after. Just to get the bags up to temp before the dripping beginnings. Haven't lost an invert or fish this way yet.

WC

[midiman]

I have my drip container floating in my sump's refugium compartment the whole time that water is dripping into it. That solves the temperature issue for me. I use one of those plastic gerbil containers. I can even use it for "jumpers" while acclimating, because it has a lid, and drip tube fits between the slots in the top.