Shrimp Killer :(

[nereid]

Sooo.. I had 2 small EcoSpheres and lost a couple shrimp in them. The rest had stopped swimming around and just lay on the bottom in a little cluster. I did some googling to see if they were Ok, and I kept reading these spheres were cruel. I went to the local tropical fish place and talked with the owner. He suggested I get a beta tank, some live plants, and a foam filter over the intake and I could keep them in there. He said tap water would be fine if I used 1-2 drops of prime in each gallon.

I did what he suggested and got the other 6 out, but the next morning 3 were dead, I felt bad but the other 3 seemed to be doing ok. It's been a couple weeks, but now another one is dead tonight. I googled again and found this site and it appears I've done everything wrong. I'm reading I need salt water, no filter, and I should add coral. I had kept the original small algae ball and placed it in the tank, and I fed them once with a couple pellets of beta food.

I'd like to save these 2 if possible. If I'm careful, and get most of the water out, could I add water treated with reef or marine salt, and remove the filter? It looks like the live plants might not be a good idea in that kind of water so I could get an artificial one and add some coral. There's just no way to do the cycling I've been reading about. This sucks, since I really like these little guys and I wnated to do the right thing (which I think was the very wrong thing).

I would take any thoughts if you have them. Thank you.

[Varanus]

Given your situation don't worry about cycling. Just get the shrimp in brackish water as soon as you can. Get distilled water, mix it with half the amount of salt the reef salt mix recommends. I would do the mixing in the gallon jugs of distilled water so you can then just pour the prepared water in (shaking the jugs to dissolve the salt worked well for me).

And yeah, no freshwater plants. Unless they are adapted to brackish water they will just die and pollute the tank.

These shrimp are very tough so if you act quickly the survivors may still have a chance.

[nereid]

Thank you! I just got home from buying reef salt and distilled water. Pet Smart didn't have real coral, so may need to order that online. I just really like watching these guys.

[Aloha919]

Not sure where you live but the Petco in my area has lava rock the shrimp look great against it.
Its black and has lots of little caves, nooks, and crannies