Loosing livestock

I have a question I keep loosing livestock and it is really starting to puzzle me. They are really sporadic. Recently I purchased a coral banded shrimp and a Tiger Conch about a week ago. i acclimated them for about a hour and half and them put them in the tank. After the first night I noticed that the shrimp was missing a claw he was good for about a week and then the day of the 4th i woke up and he was stone dead in a cave. The Conch is still doing really good. I have lost a lot of other livestock here or there seems like its really hit or miss.
All my water parameters are right on the money. I do a 5% water change every week. Any ideas?

how old is tank? Are u sure u weren't looking at his exoskeleton as they shed ? Do u have anemones?

What all fish do you have in yuor tank?

I pretty sure he is gone as he can't be found any where in the tank and i have been able to find him daily.
I have a bubble tip anemone.
Livestock I have Pacific blue tang, two particular clowns, and a Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse.
I did have a good outbreak of bristle worms the larger few were about the size of a pen, but slowly been taking them out with a forceps as them come out far enough to snag.

Has your problem been all stock or mostly Inverts?

my tank is about 9 months old.
I am loosing about 50/50 the inverts that i have lost is about the same as the livestock. Its almost like every other thing i buy dies and then next piece i buy does just fine.
I have lost 3 damels, a tail spot and a bi-color blennie. Gold headed sleeper golby.

Reefer wrote:my tank is about 9 months old.
I am loosing about 50/50 the inverts that i have lost is about the same as the livestock. Its almost like every other thing i buy dies and then next piece i buy does just fine.
I have lost 3 damels, a tail spot and a bi-color blennie. Gold headed sleeper golby.

The Gold Headed Goby does't surprise me. I had one for about a year then it got skinny and died. From what I' ve read they are difficult to feed even if they are eating food we give them they neeed lots of live pods all the time to maintain health. Not sure about your other livestock though. Damsels are pretty hardy.

If it was limited to inverts I'd say possible copper but since it's not...

Do you use RODI water or tap water?

Do you know what the local water treatment plan uses for cleaning the water? (Cloramines possible? Fargo is now showing they are using them so I need to change out a carbon block in the RODI)

After drip acclimating do you temp acclimate then release or just release to the tank?

Do you have an aggressive fish? You said Damsels right? I had a damsel that cost me about $250 in livestock before I tore the tank down to catch the PITA. You'd be surprised as to what they can actually kill...

Since it's summer I need to ask, what do you use for temp control? Do you have a controller or monitor on it to see if it spikes at all during the day?

My clowns seem aggressive towards some things, but not towards the coral band shrimp. My Pacific Blue also is suppose to be peaceful, but i see him being aggressive towards the clowns. I did see him go after the coral band shrimp but he flared up his claws and that was that.

I use tap water. I know a lot of people in salt water don't like using tap water. I haven't been able to purchase a RODI unit yet. hopefully this tax season i can fit one in the budget. I make 20 gallon batches of top off water and treat it with amquel.

When i acclimate I float them for 20 mins. and then empty them into a bucket and drip acclimate for about hour and half. I usually double the water quantity that i start with.

I dont have a temp controller my tank runs between 78-82 degrees. I have noticed my temp rise a lot more when the air conditioner is not on. I added a 6" fan in my sump to help keep the water at that 78-80 mark. I want to add a controller to my tank to fix the temp flux.

I have never lost a single coral. I have just had fish and inverts die.

What size tank do you have?

I know the tap water conditioner says it is safe, but you may want to consider buying RO water from the stores in your area or using Distilled which is a little better than RO but not as good as RODI (more expensive typically though). Unfortunately the tap water can contain everything from chemicals from runoff, heavy metals from transmission lines or household piping, and chlorines, chloramines, and other water treatment chemicals... The Amquel canot remove all of the impurities but an RODI typically can. Amquel is kinda like that little pill you drop in lake/river water when camping that makes it "safe" to drink...

Since they seem to live at least a few days this may be a moot point, but after dripping, have you measured the temp in the acclimation bucket compared to the tank? I typically float, drip, then float again as the ambient temp of the air is lower than the tank water and a slow drip canot keep the temp at the right temp in the acclimation bucket for me...

Regarding temps the hardest part is catching it at the hottest part of the day to see if it is at the right temps. Without some sort of controler the fan and heater will fight against each other and it isn't very efficient. I used to see swings up into the 86 mark before I got my controller, but I didn't lose any fish or inverts because of it...

You would think if there was a problem with the tap water it would affect the coral as well. I use the same acclimation technique as you and have had success . Cdness is right on about trying rodi water and see if that helps. A 2 degree temp swing can't be the problem.

Just to play devils advocate a bit...

Where do you buy your livestock?

Do you ever ask how long it has been in the store before purchase?

Do you know what salinity or other parameters the store keeps their stuff at?

Corals are the pickiest creatures in our aquariums so water quality issues "should" affect them first but unfortunately there are many things in tap water we don't test for so with that comes many uncertainties and unknowns... There may be something in the water that only affects the livestock other than corals but we wouldn't know without a full range water test... That's the reason to start trying to use RODI because we know it is pure water and removes the water quality unknowns and uncertainties. (FYI I started my tank on tap water so I have been there too. The RODI is SO worth the money)

Fargo really doesn't have many places to choose from as far as livestock purchases. Usually if you don't buy something here in Fargo when they get the order in you don't get it cause it is gone within the first day.

Yes that I know for a fact, but one thing to keep in mind is the stress from shipping, then getting acclimated the first time, only to get acclimated again in the same day... lots of stress for the livestock in one day for sure...

What place in Fargo do you usually get your stuff at?

Do you quarantine your livestock before introducing them to your tank?

I get my livestock from in the mall. Great pets never has much for salt water and he usually asks a outrageous price for it.
I don't quarantine my live stock i usually add them pretty close to the lights going out on the tank.