Peppermint Shrimp Dying

[chris348]

Ok, so i had bought my first peppermint shrimp and slowly introduced him to the tank as usual. i.e.

Lights off
Left in the bag for over 30 mins, floating in the tank
Opened the bag slowly and slowly let small amounts of the tank water get into the back - approx 15 mins duration
Let the little chap out and away he goes.

A week later i introduce another shrimp, same as above and away he goes on his merry way. Apart from spending most of the first hour or so at the top - middle part of the tank. Then watching him slowly make his way down the tank, he started twitching and jumping from side to side. I kept an eye on him and found him around the back of the tank, laying on his back dead.

Any pointers ?

 

[SkiFletch]

15 mins is pretty short for a shrimp. They're much more sensitive to quick changes in chemistry than fish or corals are. I'd try a drip acclimation period of at least an hour, if not more.

 

[tropicalwaters]

yep, i dripped mine for about 3 hours. He's fine so far!

 

[Lynden]

And I acclimated my four for about a half an hour... one took a couple months to die, the others are still alive. Somehow I doubt acclimation was to blame, especially since the other is still alive. I would actually suggest that shipping stress, or some other uncontrollable problem is more likely to have killed the shrimp.

 

[chris348]

Strange that. I thought or i hoped it was possibly a shipping issue. Although i take onboard the need to perhaps prolong the acclimatisation process. The one Peppermint shrimp that I bought from the LFS, was introduced in the same manner, is still going strong and malted - not funny hearing the wife crying the shrimp - we call him Mascharano - is dead, then find we had all of a sudden 2 shrimps.

Was not on enjoyable experience watching the two little critters crashing about inside the tank, not being able to do anything.