Whats going on?

bschuerman · 01-29-2008, 09:15 PM

So the tank is officially 31 days old. We added a coral banded shrimp this weekend thinking it would be a good idea to have a cleaner shrimp. Well the shrimp kicked it. I called the LFS and they were willing to trade accross for another.
Before I considered another one I checked my tank parameters,
Nitrate 0
Phosphates 0
Calcium 460
PH between 8.2 and 8.3 I am thinking more 8.3.
DKH = 12
Salt levels 1.025 (maybe a tiny tiny bit over .025)
Did a small water change and exchanged the shrimp out thinking maybe I just had bad luck with the shrimp.....
Well the shrimp I traded out for died today too!!
My hermits are fine, snails fine, the couple corals I had in there are 100% from the looks of them.
The only thing I added was some purple up and some calcium and some phytoplankton.
Why is it that my hermits and snails and starfish are ok but the shrimps cannot survive?
Since the shrimp was in the tank all day probably dead for the majority of it I tossed it when I got home (I am sure the LFS is tired of seeing me) and checked the levels in the tank as follows:

Nitrate = Guessing 3ppm? It looks close to zero.
Phosphate = 0
Calcium = 460 as before
PH = same as other test 8.2-8.3
DKH = 12
Salt = 1.025 + - .0005

Anyone have any ideas as to what might be going on? I am going to clean out the canister and do another partial water change tonight if I can afford enough RO water to do so.

I guess I am done putting anything else in including cleaners...

My algae problem is pretty much solved I had previously.

So far my luck has been pretty bad and the shrimp was 20 bucks.

I did have a significantly reduced lighting schedule a couple hours of the 10k and about 3 or so of the 4500K lights per day.

Thanks for any info you can help with.

**Deepwater** · 01-29-2008, 09:44 PM

Shrimp are very sensitive invert . 31 days may be too young for them.

Im not a fan of purple up and ill assume that dosing both the PP and calcium is raising you levels. The only things i would dose , is calcium , alk , and mag everything else can be replaced with water changes.

Did you acclimate them ? and how long ?

ItalianSausage · 01-29-2008, 09:45 PM

Acclimation Time is also an issue with shrimp. they need atleast an hour to adapt.

Casanova1016 · 01-29-2008, 09:47 PM

[quote=bschuerman;14481]So the tank is officially 31 days old. We added a coral banded shrimp this weekend thinking it would be a good idea to have a cleaner shrimp. Well the shrimp kicked it. I called the LFS and they were willing to trade accross for another.
QUOTE]
how are you acclimating the shrimp???? i hope u acclimated him

looks like ur parameters are great??? no fish to pick on him right/

are u adding two diff shrimps?? coral banded and a cleaner or was that just a mistake?

i think both would get along fine...then again maybe not

**Deepwater** · 01-29-2008, 09:51 PM

[quote=Casanova1016;14489]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bschuerman

So the tank is officially 31 days old. We added a coral banded shrimp this weekend thinking it would be a good idea to have a cleaner shrimp. Well the shrimp kicked it. I called the LFS and they were willing to trade accross for another.
QUOTE]
how are you acclimating the shrimp???? i hope u acclimated him

looks like ur parameters are great??? no fish to pick on him right/

are u adding two diff shrimps?? coral banded and a cleaner or was that just a mistake?

i think both would get along fine...then again maybe not

coral bandits can get aggressive , they will chase eachother way from time to time , but nothing to the extreme , at least nothing i have experienced. I have a yellow coral bandit ,with 2 peps and a blood shrimp. Most of the time they are all hanging out in the same area

bschuerman · 01-29-2008, 10:37 PM

No, only one shrimp both times. I read about their agressiveness towards each other. I acclimated both close to an hour each (May have been like 40 45 minutes more realistically) just like the other things I put in the tank. Maybe I am doing it wrong? I don't have any magnesium to dose what are you recommending? I dont have a magnesium test either. No fish in the tank yet too young. The cleaners were in there and I read that if you keep the shrimp well fed he will not bother the cleaners on several different sites. This saltwater stuff is proving to be very confusing. I cannot aford to lose 20 40 dollar fish so I guess I will be waiting another month to be able to do something with my tank. I don't know what else to do.

rbtwo4 · 01-29-2008, 10:58 PM

gotta acclimate i waited 2 months before i stuck a shrimp in mine. are u drip acclimating them?

Reefer4life · 01-29-2008, 11:35 PM

bschuerman, all advice given is what I would have said as well. Yes, this hobby can be (is) expensive, but if done correctly(mostly a large dose of PATIENCE) it will be extremely satisfying! Don't lose heart.

Take it slow, I honestly believe your tank is way to immature to handle shrimps as yet. Keep an eye on the tank, do some research on the type of fish you would like to keep then narrow it down to the ones your system can sustain comfortably.
It will all work out!!!

rbtwo4 · 01-30-2008, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reefer4life

bschuerman, all advice given is what I would have said as well. Yes, this hobby can be (is) expensive, but if done correctly(mostly a large dose of PATIENCE) it will be extremely satisfying! Don't lose heart.

Take it slow, I honestly believe your tank is way to immature to handle shrimps as yet. Keep an eye on the tank, do some research on the type of fish you would like to keep then narrow it down to the ones your system can sustain comfortably.
It will all work out!!!

Ditto. Just like she said PATIENCE is mostly needed ESPECIALLY starting a new tank. After reading several posts by you I don't see any =/ personally I think ur rushing things. I know it sucks looking at an empty tank with just green algae and a bunch of rocks but u will reap the benefits by being PATIENT and let nature take its course. You can't beat mother nature no use of trying to. Purple up in my opinion is not needed.

bschuerman · 01-31-2008, 12:38 AM

I appreciate it guys, trying one day at a time.

**Deepwater** · 01-31-2008, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bschuerman

I appreciate it guys, trying one day at a time.

dont worry , we all did it and learned the same way .

when you have a new tank , what you need a best friend with an established tank to view while your tanks is getting to that point LOL

Reefer4life · 01-31-2008, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deepwater

dont worry , we all did it and learned the same way .

when you have a new tank , what you need a best friend with an established tank to view while your tanks is getting to that point LOL

And then again sometimes this can back fire.LOL I know when I was waiting on my tank looking at other tanks made me want stuff in my tank even more.LOL
It is really hard to be patient, and if you are as inpatient as me. Well what can I say! You end up causing some lifes.;( Not a good thing, but at least you have us here to nag you.

Wait, please wait! Save your wallet, and save a life or two.

eyes:

mynd · 01-31-2008, 08:30 AM

Took me 7 months just to put water in my tank.. Another 3 just to get one 1/2" long fish. Meanwhile I got the tank stable and the parameters for Calcium and Mg going. Watched the coralline grow like mad. Made the tank nice and purple before the first coral ever went in.

Time is on your side

johnmaloney · 01-31-2008, 09:54 AM

By any chance could there be copper in your tank, or is your tank used? I have found that some snails and hermit crabs can handle very small amounts of trace copper, but shrimp are particularly sensitive to any levels. A friend of mine couldn't keep shrimp, but had some blue legs and ceriths that did fine. He was an experienced seahorse keeper, and waited for the tank to completely cycle, and waited an additional 2 months before adding the shrimp. He called the guy he got the tank from and it turns out it was dosed with copper when it was a freshwater tank. Not sure if that is what killed the shrimp, but that is the best we could come up with. He no longer tries to keep shrimp in that tank.

johnmaloney · 01-31-2008, 09:58 AM

Also if you are new to shrimp keeping, check to make sure the shrimp is dead rather than molted. I remember the first time my shrimp molted, I thought it had died and that I was looking at the remains my nassarius snails left. When I removed the shrimp's exoskeleton, (I thought it was the remains), my shrimp came running out to greet me!

bschuerman · 01-31-2008, 10:35 PM

LOL smelled pretty bad... donno if it was molting. I had to put the guy outside. And my tank "from what I was told by the seller" was NEVER dosed with copper because it was also a previous reef tank. She had a cleaner shrimp and some rock and sand and other stuff that came out of the tank I have now and it was put into a smaller tank because her husband was freaking out about the costs of the tank and so she sold me the bigger setup she had and went with a nano herself. So unless she was lying... I should be ok.

**Deepwater** · 01-31-2008, 10:42 PM

Best thing to do now , is get a copper test kit and see if there is any trace.