Why Do Inverts Die Right Away

Craig

Reefing newb
4 or 5 times now I have added snails, hermit crabs, emerald crabs, and other cleaner pack items. I acclimate them very slow in the dark with drip acclimation. I have taken several hours. I introduce them to the tank and they are dead within a day or two. I have not added much other than damsel because I don't want to kill off a lot of expensive fish. Can not detect any voltage in the water either.. I am not an expert, but have had other tanks with no issues and have somewhat of an idea I hope. ANY IDEAS?????

ph 8.2
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Phosphate 0
Calcium 400
Copper 0
Salinity 1.016 (It got a little low on me. Usually 1.022
 
Hi and welcome to LR!

Having a SG that low is no good for inverts. I would recommend getting it up to 1.025-1.026 and make sure you keep it there. Fluctuations are no good in this hobby.

Are you sure no copper has ever been added to this tank?
Where are you getting your cleanup crew?
 
salt level is too low. when you buy your inverts ask what they keep their salt at and try and match it. if the levels a really different it will kill you stuff.inverts are relly suseptible to low salt. they cannot reajust and die. it takes weeks to aclimatize to substantialey different salt levels, and dont be in a rush during the aclimation
 
+1 to the above. Low salinity would be a start, try raising that. Natural sea water averages 35 ppt, or about 1.0264. Of course, like they said above, stability is more important than the exact number, so if you find it dropping that rapidly, you may look into an auto top-off or at least make sure to top off manually daily.

And after you get that salinity back up, check your magnesium and copper levels. Any good LFS will check those for free if you don't have a test kit.
 
Hi and welcome to LR!

Having a SG that low is no good for inverts. I would recommend getting it up to 1.025-1.026 and make sure you keep it there. Fluctuations are no good in this hobby.

Are you sure no copper has ever been added to this tank?
Where are you getting your cleanup crew?

I am positive not copper has been added. I have ordered cleaners from Live Aquaria and from a local store. I have added when I know the salinity to be1.026.
 
When I receive an order of cuc, it comes in moist paper towel and very little water. When I receive them, it states to directly dump them in and away they go. 3 days they are packaged and sent out and they survive just fine w/o acclimation. I would check for a predator in your tank and make sure you have enough detritus to also support them. I agree with everyone that your salinity is way off too
 
too cold,specially if you are just dumping them in. i keep my tank at 78. i find it takes longer to aclimate inverts then fish. snails seem to be especially sensitive. i have lost a few by going to fast. they seem to be ok then die one or two days later. also how come your salt is dropping. evaperation does'nt cause that. adding fresh water does
 
I keep mine at 80 ± .5°. Get that temp up and get your salinity to 35 ppt and you shouldn't have any problems.

FWIW, I don't acclimate snails. Floating is all.
 
One thing- are you sure that they're actually dead? Many time when I ordered snails, they don't come out for a couple of days. A couple of times my cerith appeared dead and didn't start moving until a week later. Maybe you should try and wait a couple more days before pronouncing them dead. Not saying that you're wrong, just saying that you could wait a couple more days and see.
 
What kind of rock is in the tank? Did you buy it raw? If so, look for a mantis in there. Shrimp and snails shouldn't succumb to low temps nor low salinity that quickly. There is a chemical contaminate in there or a mantis. I had a friend bring back some rock and it had a Japanese 7.7 round in it.
 
What kind of rock is in the tank? Did you buy it raw? If so, look for a mantis in there. Shrimp and snails shouldn't succumb to low temps nor low salinity that quickly. There is a chemical contaminate in there or a mantis. I had a friend bring back some rock and it had a Japanese 7.7 round in it.
Now there's a find
 
Now there's a find
The tip off that there was something in the rock was the blue-green tint to it and my metal detector. I need to see if he still has that rock, I know he was REALLY pissed about it and threw it out in the back yard when it happened, lol.
 
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