Can’t keep peppermint shrimp!

[toadstool_paradise]

So I ordered 2 peppermint shrimp last week. One was DOA and the other was pale but alive. Acclimated it by floating bag while adding water every 5 mins until the volume was over doubled. (Maybe a hour total) Gently scooped him in.
Next morning dead. Definitely him, not a molt.
Figured it was bad luck. Tried with three more shrimp. Same acclimation. Lived two days then randomly all dead when I wake up.

14g peninsula
SG: 1.025
PH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate 5-10ppm
All snails and hitchhiker brittle stars and feather dusters are thriving. All soft corals, loving life.

I feel bad they’re dying! I wake up and their bodies are just floating around or being devoured by my snails. If anyone has any ideas I would love feedback. I did order some poly filter to make sure there’s no metals or contaminants in the tank. It will come soon!

 

[Shawaiz_106]

So I ordered 2 peppermint shrimp last week. One was DOA and the other was pale but alive. Acclimated it by floating bag while adding water every 5 mins until the volume was over doubled. (Maybe a hour total) Gently scooped him in.
Next morning dead. Definitely him, not a molt.
Figured it was bad luck. Tried with three more shrimp. Same acclimation. Lived two days then randomly all dead when I wake up.

14g peninsula
SG: 1.025
PH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate 5-10ppm
All snails and hitchhiker brittle stars and feather dusters are thriving. All soft corals, loving life.

I feel bad they’re dying! I wake up and their bodies are just floating around or being devoured by my snails. If anyone has any ideas I would love feedback. I did order some poly filter to make sure there’s no metals or contaminants in the tank. It will come soon!

Did you buy all the shrimp from the same place by any chance ?, there's nothing necessarily wrong with your acclamation. I usually float the bag closed( so ammonia doesn't become toxic with oxygen ) for around 15 min. Then the rest similar to yours. Did this for my peppermint shrimp aswell, thriving !

If you did get all your previous shrimps from the same shop, maybe try another one. Maybe their shipping procedure isn't great or shrimps might not ship that well

 

[Tcook]

Agree. Not the way to acclimate fish shipped in O2. Match temp and salinity then dump into QT.

 

[toadstool_paradise]

Did you buy all the shrimp from the same place by any chance ?, there's nothing necessarily wrong with your acclamation. I usually float the bag closed( so ammonia doesn't become toxic with oxygen ) for around 15 min. Then the rest similar to yours. Did this for my peppermint shrimp aswell, thriving !

If you did get all your previous shrimps from the same shop, maybe try another one. Maybe their shipping procedure isn't great or shrimps might not ship that well

Yea all from the same place. It’s a popular online shop that has amazing corals too, so I trust them. Just sucks because I have no idea why they passed. Worried my acclimation was bad. I floated the bag for 20 mins before even adding water too.

 

[toadstool_paradise]

Agree. Not the way to acclimate fish shipped in O2. Match temp and salinity then dump into QT.

I usually just temp acclimate my fish then put in to avoid ammonia issues and never had a problem. Do you recommend just temp acclimating inverts as well?

 

[Shawaiz_106]

Yea all from the same place. It’s a popular online shop that has amazing corals too, so I trust them. Just sucks because I have no idea why they passed. Worried my acclimation was bad. I floated the bag for 20 mins before even adding water too.

Maybe they just had a bad batch, try contacting them to see. Either way, trying another store should help, maybe even one where you can walk in and choose a healthy specimen if possible. With the acclimation, I think yeah temp match with bag closed and then salinity match quickly if it's not too different to your tank salinity.

 

[Idech]

I usually just temp acclimate my fish then put in to avoid ammonia issues and never had a problem. Do you recommend just temp acclimating inverts as well?

I wouldn’t do that to fish because our tanks have a salinity around 1.025-1.026 and stores often keep them around 1.019-1.021. Not good for fish to just dump them in unless you’re certain the store had a similar alkalinity as your tank.

It seems to me you did everything correctly. You said the shrimps were pale when you got them. I think they were doomed even before going into your tank. I would buy from a different store.

 

[toadstool_paradise]

I wouldn’t do that to fish because our tanks have a salinity around 1.025-1.026 and stores often keep them around 1.019-1.021. Not good for fish to just dump them in unless you’re certain the store had a similar alkalinity as your tank.

It seems to me you did everything correctly. You said the shrimps were pale when you got them. I think they were doomed even before going into your tank. I would buy from a different store.

How would you avoid ammonia issues when opening the bag a fish is in? Just figured salinity change is the lesser of two evils when it comes to ammonia. And thanks, I’ll look into it.

 

[Shawaiz_106]

How would you avoid ammonia issues when opening the bag a fish is in? Just figured salinity change is the lesser of two evils when it comes to ammonia. And thanks, I’ll look into it.

Ideally, if the salinity difference is a lot. Prepare a bucket of saltwater with the same salinity and temp as the water in the fish bag.
Pour the fish in the bucket and then slowly acclimate to tank. Also have a heater in the bucket. But that can seem impractical, for me I just open the back and start adding tank water into tank slowly for around 5-10 mins and then I add the fish to tank

 

[Idech]

How would you avoid ammonia issues when opening the bag a fish is in? Just figured salinity change is the lesser of two evils when it comes to ammonia. And thanks, I’ll look into it.

If the fish was shipped to you then yes, I guess you don’t have much of a choice and your method is the best. I’ve never bought fish that was shipped to me.

 

[toadstool_paradise]

If the fish was shipped to you then yes, I guess you don’t have much of a choice and your method is the best. I’ve never bought fish that was shipped to me.

Yep no good fish stores near me in the past so always got them shipped but never had an issue so far! I would acclimate differently if I bought directly from a store.

 

[toadstool_paradise]

Ideally, if the salinity difference is a lot. Prepare a bucket of saltwater with the same salinity and temp as the water in the fish bag.
Pour the fish in the bucket and then slowly acclimate to tank. Also have a heater in the bucket. But that can seem impractical, for me I just open the back and start adding tank water into tank slowly for around 5-10 mins and then I add the fish to tank

Ohh I see, that makes sense. Thanks!

 

[Stomatopods17]

I've lost more animals to ammonia poisoning doing long acclimation than just floating closed bag for 30 minutes, pour and scoop with the bag itself until pretty much all the water is the same as the tank, then drop in. As long as its not a temperature or salinity shock, or you slowly refresh the water to dilute the ammonia already there (drip method usually they soak slowly and water barely gets changed every 30 minutes or so), they should be fine.

Before you order more online I'd try a local test one first, find an LFS and get a peppermint from them to rule out anything specific to them surviving in there.

Depending where you live, and how far the shipment is, could just be a really stressful journey for them especially with a bumpy flight and lame weather and air pressure changes.

 

[Tcook]

I usually just temp acclimate my fish then put in to avoid ammonia issues and never had a problem. Do you recommend just temp acclimating inverts as well?

To clarify what I said earlier. You match your QT tank or bucket salinity to the salinity in the bag. Not the other way around. You can call the shipping store to see what they send at but best to double check. Have warm salt and RO water ready to adjust your QT or observation tank.