iflytoohigh Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 hey there. i'm pretty new to saltwater invertebrates. i recently purchased a peppermint shrimp from RCA. well, after a day in my tank it started acting very odd. it was lying on his side flapping the legs on his abdomen. i left him alone and figured he was acclimating or some such. he only lasted a day or two more laying on the floor before i found a blue leg hermit feeding on him. any ideas as to what it was doing? was it sick? was it lack of hiding places because it was trying to molt? i had it in a 3gal nano. was that waaay to small? specific gravity : 1.025?ph: 8.1 ?ammonia: 0?nitrite: 0?nitrate: < 1 ppm?phosphate < 1 ppm? i dont dose with anything, as i dont have much in the tank at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 What did you do to acclimate him to your tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflytoohigh Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 before i put him in the tank. i kept him in the original bag and added my tank water into the bag over a period of about an hour. i dont have an IV drip system, so i was just spooning water into it every few minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Hmmm. That sounds like a solid acclimation. I'm stumped. Maybe John or Brian or Carlos will see this and have an idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedude Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 On a tank that small, what is the temperature swing like? Shrimp are one of the more fragile invertebrates and a huge temperature swing could have killed it. PS: You acclimation sounds solid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflytoohigh Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 hmm..well, i have the tank located in an area that never receives sunlight. i dont regularly check the temperature. (is this something i should be doing? ) i keep my home at about 78 degrees all the time. there might be a few degrees difference when im not home and the ac is not on. do you think that might be it? a fluxuation in temperature? there is no heater or chiller on the tank. dontknow.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 definitely need to keep track of your temp. Ideally it should not swing more than 2 degrees. Somewhere in the 77- 81 range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jroescher Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 You should check and monitor the temp. Your going to find it is a whole lot higher than the room tempurature because of the pumps and lighting. There's alos other things that affect the tempature, like humidity and air movement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedude Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 You turn the a/c off when you leave? If that is the case, we found the cause of your dead shrimp. When you leave and turn the A/C off I'd bet that the temperature of your water would have no problem swinging upwards of 4 degress very quickly! Coralife makes a cheapy 7 dollar digital thermometer that you should look into getting. I'm sure Carlos has them at RCA or can get one. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflytoohigh Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 hmm.. that is disappointing. not that horrible, but i was hoping i could keep a shrimp in there to help keep the aptasia in check. i dont think putting a chiller/heater and a regulator on a 3 gallon nano is viable for me. i guess i will have to start eraticating the aptasia with boiling water injections or some such. thanks for all the replies guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMFett Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 radioshack has cheap digital termometers that keep track of your max and mins that you can reset as often as you'd like. they are made for spas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflytoohigh Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 oh ya? i will have to swing by a radioshack then. thanks for the heads up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 There are a few easy chiller options at reasonable prices for nanos. Isn't one of them http://www.reefchiller.com/proddetail.php?prod=Solo Not to sure if it was actually a temp swing or not but this would definitely work well for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iflytoohigh Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 hehe. i think that would take up about 1/4 of the tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 You mean like how this guy mounted his on a tiny pico filter on his 7g? In fact after seeing that pic I'm going to do it to my girlfriends 7g. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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