Cleaner shrimp died within hours

[browniebuck]

My wife and I got an order for our two tanks today from SWF.com. Everything was drip acclimated for 2+ hours after being temp acclimated for 1/2 hour. My wife's tank (29 gallon) got two cleaner shrimp, 3 emerald crabs, and a cleaner clam. The crabs and clam are fine so far, but the cleaners died within a couple of hours (they looked perfectly healthy when they went into the tank). She has had cleaners before, with limited success, but has had very good success with peppermint shrimp. I only use RO water for both top offs and saltwater mixing, so I don't think that it would be copper...but I don't understand why the peppermints are doing fine while the cleaner shrimp never last. Any suggestions or thoughts as to what could have happened? Also, does SWF guarantee their inverts as well? Do you have to do the salt packing for them as well?

 

[alyssia]

What is your sg? SWF guarantees their inverts and you do need to do the salt packing.

 

[metweezer]

What does salt packing mean

 

[dinki]

Also, are you sure it's not a molt? I take it from your other shrimp keeping experience that you'd probably know a dead shrimp from a molt, but I guess it's worth mentioning...

 

[bcott]

What about calcium?

 

[browniebuck]

I tested the water and found that the sg was 1.021 (this is with a hydrometer as I don't have a refractometer).
It was definitely not a molt, it was the shrimp.

 

[snakeblitz33]

That's a pretty low salinity for most inverts... Most inverts like an sg of at least 1.025 to 1.026. Watch out for your clam. If you pulled him out of water to put him in, he might have gotten air in between his shell and mantle. Over time he will die and separate from his shell. Good luck!
You can bring your salinity up by adding saltwater as top off water.
I seriously suggest buying a refractometer, it's good to know your exact reading.

 

[browniebuck]

I plan on doing a water change later tonight or tomorrow. I have mixed the saltwater to 1.025. Will adding this water create a shock to the system of the current inhabitants (going from 1.021 to 1.025). I know that you are normally supposed to try to match the salinity as close as you can, but I want to bring the salinity back up to at least 1.024.