Problems with Anenome Shrimp and LFS

[travis_]

I bought 2 Anenome Shrimp from my LFS and would like you input on what happened. He bagged them up and they looked heallthy. I then asked about aclimation, stating that I was planning a drip aclimation and I asked him to check his salinity so I know how close they were. He did, and I was surprised to see his salinty at 1.015. I keep mine at 1.025. The LFS guy said he was going to bring up his salinity. Once I saw this I asked if he should keep the shrimp while he rasies his salinity so that there was not so much of a transition. He assured me that with drip aclimation they will be fine, so I took them home and drip aclimated for ~1.5 hours to give them a smooth transition. After this period one shrimp didn't look so well and when I put them in my tank it died shortly after. The other one looked OK but a day later he was MIA (may still be alive, but I don't see him anywhere). Do you figure this was due to the drastic difference in salintiy or perhaps something else? The entire time during the drip aclimation the bag was floating in my tank so the temperature was the same. Should I request some sort of compesnation for this if you feel it was the salinty difference?

thanks for input.

 

[returnofsid]

Even if it was a salinity difference, I don't think you'll be able to request any compensation. You did the right thing by asking about the LFS salinity....but then, still made the purchase, knowing about the large difference. Unfortunately, LFS will sometimes tell us what we want to hear, instead of what's correct. Not that they're just out to make the sale...but sometimes that's the case. Other times, they are just uninformed.

Also, from what I've always been taught, motile inverts usually need a very long drip acclimation period. I drip acclimate fish for 1-2 hours. I could be wrong, but I believe the proper acclimation for motile inverts is usually at least 3 hours. They're much more sensitive to pH differences than fish.

The deaths could have been caused by the huge swing in salinity, but I would also look at pH as a likely cause.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

I would go in there with the two dead shrimp, remind him of the conversation, and ask for ONE replacement shrimp as a compromise.

These little shrimp have a very high mortality rate anyway, so no way to determine what precisely killed them.

Either way, never buy any livestock that you have less than 100% confidence in; as once you pays your moneys...