can not understand

[byran]

let me start off with saying my water is pristine, the nitrates are 20 ppm but not bad at all, nothing a water change wont fix

but the problem...
i cannot keep cleaner shrimp

i had one a while ago when i first set up my tank
then i bought a percula, which i belived was sick, so as a inexperienced salt enthusiast i did not do a fresh dip, i used what was available at work(i work at petco, but please leave this out of the topic) we had a bottle of "Clout" which said safe for salt and freshwater aquariums

so a few hours later with my carbon filter back in, and both fish and shrimp are upside down, my live rock still looking good, and my button polyps still fine

so after many water changes, testing(including copper tests) i bought a new shrimp....get him home acclimate it, release him, and not ten minutes later he's dead

about a month later, added a poly filter, did a water change
tested (all perfect)
bought another shrimp, put him in and watch him, he starts freaking out in the water, i take him out, do a fresh dip and before i put him back in, he's dead....

a few weeks later i decide to try a decorator crab (by this time my tank has been up for about 4 months, i have buttons flourishing, star polyps that im culturing from frags, a christmas tree rock, feather duster hanging inside rock, and coraline algae)

he lives
and is still alive

so last night i bought a new cleaner shrimp and a strawberry psudo

i havent been able to buy fish at my store because we've had a ick problem and i dont have a cleaner, so i bought them, bagged them in the same bag(hoping he might clear off what she had on her) got them home and acclimate them, 15 minutes later, i put some of my water in the bag, he seems fine, 5 minutes later, i get my net, drain them into a net, and put them in my tank, he seemed fine, he wasnt moving much so i turned off the lights, 10 minutes later and the shrimp is dead

i dont get it, i can keep inverts and some polyps and have my tank running wonderful but hardy cleaner shrimp die when they touch my tank....any insight??

and now my strawberry has ich, hopefully i can fish her out, give her a fresh dip and kill the ich before they infest my tank and kill her

[jdieck]

First never do a fresh water dip on a shrimp.
Second if you are sure you have never had copper in your tank then look for a posibility of electrical current or a short circuit electrifying your tank. That can cause stress on the fish resulting on ich and may kill delivate critters like shrimps.
High nitrate also is a sign of pollution, keep a regular 10 to15% weekly water change schedule with a quality salt mix.
Insure you are using Pure RO/DI water for your water changes.

[byran]

no clout does have copper, thats why the fisrt guy died, but a poly filter will remove copper, and my copper test comes out negative....so thats no copper anymore

i dont have time for the weekly water change, and i normally do monthly, and my tank takes care of itself a bunch, i use instant ocean salt and keep my salinity at about 1.024

umm no shorts, (used my meter)

and thanks for the tid bit on never doing fresh dips on shrimps

now why can i keep a decorator but not a cleaner?

[jdieck]

Sorry to say but Copper gets embebed in the rock and is not easy removed, not even with a polyfilter.
Further more, letal doses for crustaceans is below what a test kit can detect.
I suggest yo wait a year or so before trying again.

[byran]

is that about how long it takes for copper to just dissapte or beome removed from the tank?

and are decorator crabs less likely to be effected by copper than a cleaner?

[jdieck]

Really do not know if copper will ever get out but over time it might react with some other stuff and render it less poisonous. Diferent organisma have diferent resistance to it.