HARD lesson learned...

[aja19919]

On Sunday I bought a Cleaner Shrimp from a local pet store. I acclimated him by adding 5ml of my tank water to his bag every five minutes for 35 minutes. He has croaked and the store won't refund or replace. This was a $24 loss not to mention I killed the little guy Was that not enough acclimation or what else could I have done to increase his survivability?

 

[HUNTER01975]

sorry that guy did not make it..

most stores cant warranty livestock after it leaves the store..But because so many people in the past blame the fish store for their errors like dropping it in the parking lot or putting dory(blue hippo) in a 20 gallon tank and having it stress and die. Or they dont have the right water parameters for that animal.

are you testing your water?

ph
rates
rites
ammon
temp
salty

if you answer the those water readings someone here that is way more smarter than me will help you from there.

 

[N1Husker]

Amy, acclimation should be for about two hours, especially with inverts, they seem much more vulnerable to swings in tank parameters. You still need to add the tank water slowly and drip acclimation is best. Stop by when you can and I will give you something to drip acclimate your little guys. I will show you how to use it. What I do I have a small container ( old cottage cheese container ) and I put the animal in there with his own tank water. I set the container inside a 5 gallon bucket and let the drip tube slowly drip water into the inside container and let it overflow. The 5 gallon bucket will catch the overflow. The drip rate is about 2 drips per second, give or take and when the inner container has overflowed i dump out half of the water in the small container and let it fill and overflow again, then I do it once more and by this time he has been accclimated nice and slow. Come on over and pick it up.

 

[aja19919]

Thanks N1. The guy at the store said to acclimate for at least 1/2 hour so ..... yeah, hard lesson learned. Hunter, I just did a water change and tested and I was well within my parameters. I think I just didn't acclimate long enough....ouch :doh:

 

[HUNTER01975]

ya losing live stock sucks.. I did not know it took that long as well.. Thats why I like this place i am learning all the time.

I feel like i have gotten pretty luck with my coral. and that I have not hurt them.. I usually run about 1hr alc time.

 

[Gryphon]

I do something similar to N1Husker's process, except I use a turkey baster. Half a baster in at a time, after 3-4 times of putting water in I'll suck a full baster out and toss the water. I do this over about 2 hours. I just did this method with my shrimps/crab/snails saturday, worked out well even with my refractometer being off.

 

[N1Husker]

I do something similar to N1Husker's process, except I use a turkey baster. Half a baster in at a time, after 3-4 times of putting water in I'll suck a full baster out and toss the water. I do this over about 2 hours. I just did this method with my shrimps/crab/snails saturday, worked out well even with my refractometer being off.

I used to do it that way also and had no problems. I found on Drs. Foster & Smith a simple drip acclimation that consist of a J tube, air line with a little control valve part way down the tube. It only cost about 3 bucks for three of them. They are so handy and cheap, and work great.
Proper Handling of Aquarium Fish: New Fish Acclimation Kit

 

[Derbird]

I'm sorry to hear your little buddy didn't make it

I try and ask the store what salinity they run their systems at. If its more than .002 + or - from mine I add an extra half hour to the time just to be sure. Yes inverts need more time anyways so this can be a long prossess.

I did come up with a super cheap and easy acclimator. I just got a lenth of air line and one of those air line regulators they sell next to them. The ones with the dial to control how much air goes through them. Cut the air line to the length you would like it, then cut it in half. Put the regulator in between the two halves. Then just suck some water through the air line and turn the dial until you get a slow drip and your have a great acclimator. I think I made four of them for eight bucks It left me a few to share with friends.

 

[aja19919]

Kind of a follow up question since we are talking about shrimp. To my delight I found the shed of my other Cleaner shrimp in the tank this morning. Kind of cool and creepy at the same time. Should I take it out or let the other scavengers have it? I have a lame photo in case anyone wants to see it but figure most of the group has been there, done that.

 

[stylaster]

Let them have it, nothing like a shrimp shed for breakfast lol

 

[Krish]

I never had any issues with acclimating fish or inverts and I believe it may possibly have to do with mine mostly being wild caught and possibly pretty hardy or use to extreme changes. Just imagine a tidepool at low tide. Temp will shoot up in no time and all it takes is some rain and salinity changes or evaporation from the sun (water evaporating and salt staying behind).

With that said,sorry to hear about your loss. I don't think you did anything really wrong there.


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[N1Husker]

Amy, if you have other scavengers in the tank they will feast on the shedded skin. Just leave it in there and let them devour it.

 

[rollermonkey]

I always think it's interesting how the term invert is used when talking about extended acclimation times, but it doesn't apply to ALL inverts. It seems like shrimp are the only ones that really need extended acclimation. Crabs, starfish, maximinis, snails all seem to be 10-15 minute temperature acclimate and done. My urchin pretty much climbed out if the bag and into the tank. I guess I was taking too long.

 

[N1Husker]

The same thing happened to me when I was acclimating my nassarius snails. I had 15 of them in a bag and they were climbing out. Some were headed into the aquarium, some not, so I had to sit there and watch them closely to steer them in the right direction. None died and they are all happy snails.