My Friends marine disaster

[nero]

Hi everyone,
a friend of mine in Hong Kong has recently set up a marine tank. So i will say right now that i wont be able to give detailed information on readings and equipment.
Recently he set it up, using the sera starter booklet as a guide. He was intending to do a fish cycle. So the story goes "all my readings were perfect" then he bought 2 shrimp (I have no idea what kind) and"one hour later they were both dead". I have told him to check the ammonia levels now.
So what i would like to know is your opinion on why they died. I didnt think it would be likely that two shrimp ammoniaed themselves in the space of an hour (the tank is over 110L). So the other two things are: in Hong Kong do they catch their fish by setting off a bomb in the water and letting the fish float to the surface stunned, meaning they are already very delicate before you get them home. Or is it more likely his cleaner cleaned the inside of the tank with something while it was empty?
My last question is that I will be going over to visit soon, and if he still hasnt got it going, he wants me to do a fishless cycle for him. I succesfully cycled my tropical tank, is marine any different?
Thanks!!!!

 

[Navarre]

Ok lets try and give a few answers, they may be vague simply becuase the information is not that precise )

Doing a cycle using fish is a bad idea, very cruel and isnt needed these days. What happened to the fish after the tank had cycled (Assuming they survived?).

What is he using for filtration? The standard filtration methods these days is liverock, if he had enough liverock then the tank didnt need cycling at all..

If the tank has been used before then its possible that it had copper in the tank at some point for treatments etc. Copper is deadly to inverts, crabs, shrimps corals etc. Even the tiniest of trace eliments is enough to wipe out a tank of inverts.

Using bombs or cyanide to catch fish/inverts is barbaric and should be totally banned IMO. The survival rates for fish and inverts caught by this meethods are minimal (But what do they care as long as the shops keep paying em to catch more). My suggestion is to do some research and find a shop that doesnt get supplied by this method. THis will show that the shop at least has an interest in the welfare of their livestockse these shrimp for?

Crabs shrimps and corals etc are very delicate to water changes. IF the PH, SG etc are different to the shop water they came in then they will need a very long acclimatisation. I usually recomend up to 2 hours in a bag with a drip feed going into it to help new inverts adjust. If the bag fills up within this time simply empty out half of th ebag and continue to drip feed. thisway the changes in the water are very slow and the inverts find it easier to adjust.

When you go out to visit and are asked to cycle the tank again, purchase 25kg of good quality cured liverock. Make sure this liverock is the very best quality and dont buy from shops with less than reputable ways of looking after their liverstock. if you follow this advise then you will find the tank is far more stable.

Hope this helps.