Peppermint Shrimp

[KelliZackMOM]

I added 2 peppermint shrimp 5 days ago. One died yesterday and the other this morning. I'm lost on what went wrong. Firefish, crabs, and snails are doing good. Are these guys just more sensitive?
PH 8.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite o
Nitrate 40

 

[FishyReef]

A couple of possibilities - first, how did you acclimate them? Second, are you sure they died and didn't just molt? I saw your post yesterday about finding your shrimp lying next to its skin - its possible that it had just molted and was still recovering from molting though not exactly sure. And third, your nitrates are on the high side for inverts. Inverts are really sensitive to nitrates. I'd try to get your nitrates down to at least 20 if not lower before adding any more shrimp.

 

[KelliZackMOM]

I acclimate by floating bag then slowly adding H2O little by little like every 5 min then when bag full, I dump half of it then start process over again. After I've did that twice then I release them. One of the ways they tell you to acclimate on LiveAquaria.
I hope I didn't flush live shrimp! They looked pretty dead to me, wasn't moving at all. The one that died today was on his side when I noticed him acting weird. It's little legs on it's underside were intermittently moving real fast. It almost looked like his belly was vibrating. Then he just quit moving all together. No shell came off of him. Oh crap, now I'm wondering if he was just in the process of molting. Neither one of them moved at all when I touched them. Do they act like that when they molt? I hope I just didn't send 2 perfectly good shrimp to swim with poop for nothing.
My nitates I have been working on, but not getting them to really budge below 40. I'm doing 10% H2O change every week using distilled. The owner of the LFS I got them from said I want my nitrates between 20-40. Now, I know that is not what I'm being told here, but I had to take into consideration what they said because their tanks looked awesome with really healthy looking fish and corrals. I'm gonna shoot for 10-20 if I can get there. I'm really getting a little discouraged with my nitrates right now, but I just keep telling myself that I once was in this funk with my ammonia too and it got better.

 

[first_time_reefer]

You don't want to bag acclimate inverts. That method on live aquaria is for fish only. You need to acclimate them slowly because they are very sensitive to changes. Put them in a bucket and drip acclimate them over an hour or two.

 

[Bifferwine]

Nitrates at 40 are certainly high enough to kill inverts, especially shrimp, which are particularly sensitive to high nitrates. Nitrates at 40 will start to kill corals too, so I don't know why your LFS is telling you that you "want" nitrates between 20 and 40. 40 is very high for a reef tank and I suspect the reason that the shrimp didn't make it.

 

[Th0r4z1n3]

*snip*

The owner of the LFS I got them from said I want my nitrates between 20-40. Now, I know that is not what I'm being told here, but I had to take into consideration what they said because their tanks looked awesome with really healthy looking fish and corrals. I'm gonna shoot for 10-20 if I can get there. I'm really getting a little discouraged with my nitrates right now, but I just keep telling myself that I once was in this funk with my ammonia too and it got better.

I've noticed after getting back into the hobby, and learning a bit more about SW, that my LFS seems to be more about "selling" than being really knowledgeable about the hobby. Now that I know a bit more than I did before, I've gotten information from them that directly conflicts with stuff that I've taken the time to research, and have heard the manager of openly refer to the store as a "Fish Market"...

Looking back at my first tank, I can see mistakes that were made, and most were at the advise of the person who ran my LFS. This time I'm doing my own research, and have found that these forums are a great tool to get the information you need, or at least get pointed in the right direction. I'm not saying that your LFS is steering you wrong, but I've learned to take their advise with a grain of salt, and never rely solely on their word.

Also don't let it discourage you, it's all a learning experiance. If you're having trouble getting your nitrates and stuff in order, this may be something worth taking a look at, and is fairly simple to set up:

https://www.livingreefs.com/mega-powerful-nitrate-and-phosphate-remover-diy-t16734.html

The new "up flow" version looks like it can be a bit easier to set up, and would drasticly reduce "splash" that the original design had

https://www.livingreefs.com/lowest-...-hair-bubble-turf-and-slime-algae-t41398.html

I'm currently waiting on the rest of the stuff to get here, so I can set one of these up on my tank. SantaMonica has done a GREAT job of collecting data and making it rather simple to do. :D

Hope this helps, keep your head up.

 

[KelliZackMOM]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I'm just bummed, my emerald crab has been missing for a few days now too. He was fairly new also, about a week before the shrimp so I'm hoping he just has got used to the tank and claimed his hideout. I'm gonna mix up some more water tonight to do another water change tomorrow.
I bought a calcium test kit also and got 400 so that is good, right? I was reading somewhere that shrimp can die during their molting process if calcium is too low so I thought maybe that could of been it too. I guess I was in slight denial that maybe just maybe it wasn't my nitrates.
I've looked at the DIY nitrate and phosphate remover before, but it seemed like a lot of work and I was thinking I could just get by with water changes. I'm not much of a DIY person, but I did well with my screen lids so maybe I'll look into building one of these too.
I'm drip acclimating 3 blue legs right now. I think I'll stick with cheap snails and hermits for now until I get my nitrates down.

 

[d2mini]

Nitrates at 40 are certainly high enough to kill inverts, especially shrimp, which are particularly sensitive to high nitrates. Nitrates at 40 will start to kill corals too, so I don't know why your LFS is telling you that you "want" nitrates between 20 and 40. 40 is very high for a reef tank and I suspect the reason that the shrimp didn't make it.

Ya, exactly. Why are your nitrates so high?! You need to take care of that.
Nitrates should be near 0.

 

[FishyReef]

Seeing as your nitrates were around 80 or so before, I think you're doing a pretty decent job bringing them down. Just remember, a 50% water change will only cut them in half, so that would bring them down to 20, and so on. I'd just keep doing either a few small water changes a week or a large water change each week until you get them under control. I know you don't have a sump, but if you have an extra HOB filter, you could hang that, pull out any media or media holders, and add some chaeto to that. That's what I've done with my 10g and it works as a small refugium w/o having to worry about a sump!

 

[KelliZackMOM]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I'm just bummed, my emerald crab has been missing for a few days now too. He was fairly new also, about a week before the shrimp so I'm hoping he just has got used to the tank and claimed his hideout. I'm gonna mix up some more water tonight to do another water change tomorrow.
I bought a calcium test kit also and got 400 so that is good, right? I was reading somewhere that shrimp can die during their molting process if calcium is too low so I thought maybe that could of been it too. I guess I was in slight denial that maybe just maybe it wasn't my nitrates.
I've looked at the DIY nitrate and phosphate remover before, but it seemed like a lot of work and I was thinking I could just get by with water changes. I'm not much of a DIY person, but I did well with my screen lids so maybe I'll look into building one of these too.
I'm drip acclimating 3 blue legs right now. I think I'll stick with cheap snails and hermits for now until I get my nitrates down.

Emerald crab is alive and doing well. Man do those guys hide good! It's been almost 2 weeks since I seen him and maybe it's just my imagination, but I think he looks bigger.

 

[slwedge71]

Nitrates at 40 are certainly high enough to kill inverts, especially shrimp, which are particularly sensitive to high nitrates. Nitrates at 40 will start to kill corals too, so I don't know why your LFS is telling you that you "want" nitrates between 20 and 40. 40 is very high for a reef tank and I suspect the reason that the shrimp didn't make it.

They want her to keep coming back to get my critters!!!!! :grumble: