Killer Of Shrimp

[mulva]

My 10 gallon tank had finished cycling, so I figured I would drop in a cleaner shrimp. He looked fine after putting him in, and I went back a couple hours later to find him looking paralysed. A short time later he died.

 

I waited a while before putting anything else in, and during this time I could only wonder if something was wrong with my tank, or if the shrimp had died from some type of shock during the transporting. A while later I got the nerve to try agagin. This time I got a really nice looking coral banded shrimp. He looked great, was picking at my live rock. Running around the tank. All is well. 2 days later he is dead.

 

So what is something to look for that would kill shrimp like that, but not fish or crabs? I have a very small clown fish that is doing great.....lively, eats, acts in perfect health. I also have 2 crabs, they are very red (not sure the name, I am more of an african cichlid kinda guy) and they both seem great. They pick at my rocks, very active, have been in the tank for a few weeks now.

 

My salt level is fine, I have live sand, and a ton of live rock. Tank is fully cycled and is growing algea (no crazy algea blooms, just normal spots on the glass).

 

Tank is a 10 gallon eclipse with the duel light top, and bio wheel.

 

Im not even trying to get into any crazy corals or anything. Just wante some really cool live rock, and a cool shrimp. Got 1 of the 2 things........the second isnt going so well.

[Chyendra]

first off all, you'll find everybody's advice to be "ditch the bio-wheel" It just seems to be a none stop nitrate producer.

do you have any test kits? test the water and find out if there's a problem there. While you're at it, i'd test for copper. Inverts are very sensitive to copper.

 

good luck

[mulva]

ok, I will toss the wheel.

 

I to thought of copper, but I just dont see how it would have gotten in the tank. Also, my live rock (and the critters that live in the rock) are all doing fine. Wouldnt traces of copper put an end to them as well?

 

I will do some test tomorrow, and post them up.

 

ty

[mulva]

ok, removed the wheel, and added some carbon incase there were any traces of copper.

 

I need to get a newer test kit. The one I have is really old, and Im worried the tablets might have gone bad.

 

Now that I think about it, Im wondering if when i used that tank for freshwater, if I didnt rinse the wheel out well enough. Im sure I treated that tank a long time ago for ich when it was freshwater. Wonder if the wheel held onto the copper.

 

man, if thats the case, I really goofed up.

 

:*(

[Chyendra]

it's possiable, some freshwater medications have copper in them, but there is no real way of telling unless you can test the water. Sometimes copper can even leach into the silicon of glass tanks.

 

i'm not sure if carbon would help or not.. i'd assume so... but somebody else is going to have to answer that.

[mulva]

ya, picking a new one up later today, or tomorrow.

 

I hope it helps......its good at getting out a lot of chemicals, and meds, think it works for copper to.

 

So, if all reading test ok, and everything looks good. Should I wait a while, test again, then try with like a cheap peppermint shrimp or something?

 

I already feel bad enough for putting down 2 really cool ones, would hate to have a 3rd go down on me.

[JohnnyMTB]

Carbon will not pull all of the copper out of your system, you need something like Cuprisorb (think it's a Seachem product) to pull it all out. What was your acclimation process like with the shrimp? In my experience they are less hardy than most fish when newly introduced.

[KamDesai]

Make sure you acclimate your shrimp very slowly. I would float the bag for at least 10 minutes to get the temps stable, then open the bag while still floating and add 1/4 cup of your tank water every 5 minutes for at least 30 minutes. Half way through that process, dump out half the water in the bag and resume. At the end, put the shrimp in and dump the rest of the water in the bag in the sink.

[mulva]

I soaked the bag for 10 - 15 mins, then put in some water before releasing. Maybe I should have done it a bit more slow.

 

Im thinking the first one died from some type of stress, or shock, but the second lasted 2, almost 3 days.

 

The kit I curently have doesnt test for copper, anyone know a test that will?

 

If I find it does have copper, Ill check out that Cuprisorb stuff.

 

thanks for the replies

[1fish2fish]

Copper can also enter your tank through your water source. If you are 9in a building with copper piupes and you use tap water to mix your salt with. If the pipes in your house are copper you may consider going to bottled water to mix your salt with. When I say bottled I obviously don't mean those dinky little bottles of EVIAN. I mean teh jugs of distilled or RO water you can get at your local grocery store or from a vendor that sells 5 gallon jugs for water coolers. The alternative is to buy an RO unit, but that can get spendy.

 

Good luck.

[KamDesai]

Don't ever use tap water....copper pipes or not. You can avoid lots of problems by just following that one rule.

[tylernt]

KamDesai hit the nail on the head. Shrimp are delicate and need at least a few hours acclimation time.