I want to $%@#@# scream!!

handbanana

handbanana

Member
This hobby seems to be a huge money vacuum. Its killing my desire to go forward with this even tho Im in too deep to turn back now.
On last friday I bought two pepperment shrimp and a new coralvue skimmer for a grand total of 240 bucks. 200 for the skimmer and 10 apiece for the shrimp. Everythings honkey dorey.
Last night I bought some cheato and culpera for my sump. Not a lot just a small clump. I also bought a cleaner shrimp. Macroalge. $8 cleaner shrimp....get this....$33.50.

I acclimated the shrimp for about 3 and a half hours and tested my params in the process.
Ammo 0ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Nitrates 20ppm
PH 8.0 finally!
sal. 1.027
So when I woke up this morning( about 7 hours later) I ran to my tank to see how my critters were doing, and discovered the cleaner on its back dead and a pepperment shrimp barely alive. floating around unable to cling to anything. I figure hes dead. I put it in the sump, thought it might be a safer place even tho theres nothing else in my tank. And theres ABSOULTY no return policy on live stock at the LFS I went to. Can I slander the store on here without getting in trouble? Im so pissed!
In thru my cycle and my water SEEMS ok. DID THE SHRIMP KILL EACH OTHER? What am I supposed to do? I cant afford to bolw 40 bucks on something that may or may not survive overnight.
as always thanks for any help. Im really upset.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Have you added anything else to the tank yet? Like snails?
Shrimp are very sensitive too.....
AND YES, this hobby can be frustrating at times....:)
 
jackri

jackri

Active Member
Why would it be the fish stores fault? All of them have a no guarentee policy (that I know of) on saltwater life.
This hobby IS expensive, no two ways around it.
Your shrimp didn't kill each other.
Not sure if the salinity is too high or if the tank was ever dosed with copper (that would kill the inverts pretty fast) or some other underlying reason.
90% of us go through a lot of set backs we learn from when starting in this hobby. The key is to learn from each one and try not to make the same mistake again.
Sorry for your losses -- but it really could be a lot of things not mentioned as so much can play a factor in our little slices of the ocean.
 
bulldog123

bulldog123

Member
Everything in this hobby is your fault. Who else is there to blame, really. Be glad your shrimp didnt cost you $30 a piece like my LFS charges. Slow down take a deep breath and beat your head on the wall a few times and you will feel better
. Most of us have been in your shoes (I lost an entire tank when I started). Live, learn, and you can get through it.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Two different Lysmata species could certainly have fought with each other though it is rare to hear of.
You chemistry values all look fine.
Now that said it is very common for folks that are getting their first "taste" of ornamental shrimp to become overwrought at their shrimp "dying" only to find out that it has molted. If you don't know anything about molting please do some further research on the subject. Most often people see a molt and think the worst. Then some time later see their shrimp happy as can be. You see when something molts it is common for it to go into hiding until the new exoskeleton becomes hard and gives them the protection.
Now I am not saying this is what happened in your case, but it may be.
Another possibility is aggression from something else.
And another is sometimes things die. No matter how careful we are, sometimes things die.
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
LOL; welcome to the real world of saltwater aquariums. As stated by yourself as well as others, this hobby is a money pit, and you are still at the cheap stage. Wait to you start adding corals and fish, especially if you get really into corals and/or fish and start buying the expensive ones. You think a $10 shrimp is bad, wait till you pay $50 or more per polyp for a frag of a coral and it melts on you, or you buy that must have fish for $250, and the next day its belly up. There are so many unseens in this hobby, that we have no control over. Why do you think the LFS has a no return policy on livestock? Because they cannot control your tank parameters and/or you acclimation process, but also because they understand how some of this livestock is being collected. Some fish are caught off the reefs using explosives or toxins which eventually destroy internal organs, and the fish die regardless of the LFS, and/or you doing everything right. And sometimes things die because they reach the end of their lifespan. While it is very cool to have your very own little piece of the ocean sitting in your living room, it is neither cheap nor fail safe. There are going to be losses.
 
bulldog123

bulldog123

Member
Think of it this way, you lost a few dollars they lost their life. Ok I will stop piling on. Just trying to lighten you up.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Shrimp are extremely hard to acclimate. As far as molting when I am not sure if a shrimp has molted or died I give it the smell test. You will know if it’s dead or just a molt. Finally as Henry pointed out sometimes things just die and sometimes hobbyist just have no luck with a particular introduction into their tank. I consider myself past entry level in this hobby yet I have killed more royal grammas then anyone I have ever talked to.
BTW in the old days if you got a fish to live going from the LFS to your tank you were a head of the game
 
handbanana

handbanana

Member
sigh.. Ive calmed down reading everybodies responses.
The tank, sump, overflows and pump were all bought brand new so I dont see how copper could be an issue.
I just think it sucks how you can return a FW fish a week later but a SW invert cant be returned ten hours after purchase. The LFS wont even give me a direction to go in to try to figure out what happened. They say the possiblities for falure are endless. %%
Theres two nacc snails, three hermits and one shell less hermit in there. two turbos, and a zebra hermit and a bumblebee snail.
Could my macro algae have dumped all its bad stuff? I still have a lot of learning on how to propperly trim and care for it.
I didnt think about molting, the shrimp carcass had some weight to it when I fished it out. I didnt smell it tho.
Im going to read up on it later.
What else should I post as far as tank info when I have questions? Is there someware to post all this stuff so ppl can see it and I dont have to repost it everytime?
Hey Jackri, I know we all make mistakes in this hobby, but how do I know what mistake I made so I can learn from it?
Thanks everyone for their response. I can only imagine how stupid I look trying to blame the LFS.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
What process did you use to acclimate?
What test kit are you using?
What do you use to test your salinity? Swing arm hydrometers are proven to be inaccurate.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
drop your salinity to .025 or .026
.027 isn't lethal, but it is above average. Few oceans hit .027+
(Dead sea got its name for a reason^_^)
Check to see if the molt was hollow. You can tell if the animal is inside or not.
Your 20Nitrate readings aren't enough to kill over night, and they are arguably safe for long term anyways.So I doubt that killed.
Maybe you should double check your readings just in case.
Also if you have a copper test that might yield some results.
You never know.
Is this RO-DI water? or tap water? Did you de-chlorinate it if its tap?
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Oh, and the refractometer...yess definitely. Take your water sample into the LFS and see if they can test if for you, if you dont own one.
 
louti

louti

Member
Originally Posted by King_Neptune
http:///forum/post/3221188
drop your salinity to .025 or .026
.027 isn't lethal, but it is above average. Few oceans hit .027+
(Dead sea got its name for a reason^_^)
Check to see if the molt was hollow. You can tell if the animal is inside or not.
Your 20Nitrate readings aren't enough to kill over night, and they are arguably safe for long term anyways.So I doubt that killed.
Maybe you should double check your readings just in case.
Also if you have a copper test that might yield some results.
You never know.
Is this RO-DI water? or tap water? Did you de-chlorinate it if its tap?
Not trying to make an issue of this, but 1.027 is not too high. The only water I've personally tested was from the Atlantinc and it was 1.028.
 
shwstpr88

shwstpr88

Member
Did you check your water after you added the macro's? I wonder of the caulerpa released Nitrates? DO you have a constant light on on the refugium?
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member

Originally Posted by louti
http:///forum/post/3221222
Not trying to make an issue of this, but 1.027 is not too high. The only water I've personally tested was from the Atlantinc and it was 1.028.

33-37ppm is the majority. Making 35ppm the medium.
one more time:
.027 isnt lethal.
But consider .025 - .026
 
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