I Killed My Shrimp

[effishient]

My tank finished cycling recently (after nearly two months) and my test results were:
pH - 8.1
Ammonia - <0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 10-20 ppm
Two days ago, I placed a Red Fire Shrimp in my tank. I'm thinking that maybe the reason he died is cause I didn't acclimate him long enough. My LFS said he generally only acclimated his fish by letting the bag sit in the water for about 20 minutes (to get the temperature the same) and then turn the fish or inverts loose. So, this is what I did. He seemed to behave fine for a while, then he crawled and hid in a little rock shelter where I could barely even see him. After not seeing him move out of there since he went in, this morning (almost two days later) I lifted up the rock and he was just lying there dead.
The only other living things in the tank are three mollies that have been in the tank from the start. The mollies wouldn't have killed the shrimp would they?
Does anyone have an idea why my shrimp died?
matt

 

[sebae0]

osmotic shock is why it died, you definately didnt let him acclimate properly. with inverts you have to acclimate imo atleast 2 hours so the shrimp can adjust to your water levels. if i were you i wouldn't listen to your lfs guy anymore or its gonna cost you a lot of money. good luck

 

[aarone]

the way i acclimate is to drip water slowly into the bag, until the water size is doubled. This lets the ph and salinity in the bag equal the new tanks. Also float the bag in the water (for temperature)
aaron

 

[cprdnick]

I'm not sure that the way the LFS told you to do it.... If you were adding it to a perfect tank. That's pretty much what my LFS does because the water parameters should be the same in the LFS tanks as the shipping bag.
The way I do it is I have one of those kool aid pitchers. I pour the fish/invert into the pitcher along with the water (this is after setting it in the tank for 15 minutes to hit the temp). I then set the pitcher on the floor. I use a piece of airline and start a siphon into the pitcher. Then I take one of those black bull clips, you know the kind, black with silver swivel clips that you get from office places. I let it drip for an hour or until it is over twice of the original volume.

 

[iluvfish]

Sorry for you loss