cleaner shrimp died during drip acclimation?? wth

no other inverts and i've never introduced copper into the tank, i never put any foreign water in from the drip i hand move the livestock and i make my own ro/di, checked my water 4 times today even recalibrated my salinity monitor, before i put the shrimp in. i'm thinking if there is something bad with the petco water it would have already killed it, they get the shipments in on wed and with the drive home/acclimation time it would definately have killed it, something up in my water.

i've never used any chemicals in the tank, it should be good, but maybe i have some phantom copper. i'm FO so the decorations are all fake and i have a gravel bed. talked to a good fish store here and they are scratching their heads too, probably going to take some water in to have them test to make sure we're on the same page.

pretty disappointed at this point, the petco i goto has knowledgeable people unlike most of the other ones, maybe it is just bad shrimp i dunno, gonna sit these things out for a while until i can test my water further.

the only action shot of the shrimp in it's 10 minute life

 

I am not sure of the gravel...perhaps that has something in it? I have only used sand in my tanks. Maybe that is releasing something????Also where did you buy your rock? Perhaps someone dosed copper before you got the rock? Any problems with your fish ever

 

2 pieces of the fake decorations came with the tank and were bathed in vinegar and rinsed before insertion, the other 2 are fake pieces of live rock i bought and did the same thing, also did the same thing with the gravel, just in case. Before i filled the tank i wiped the entire inside with alcohol but maybe i missed some places, the tank was sitting outside before i got it. tank looked like this http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-of...slist-tank-resurrection-65231.html#post623533 when i got it. it's been up since last november, but livestock wasnt put in til a month or two ago.

fish are doing great and have never shown signs of distress other than fighting each other.

 

might also add some carbon and poly filter as a safety net to remove any metals that might be in your water Aquarium Water Quality: Poly Filters Filter Media

 

thanks i'll take a look at those, may add those as a layer under the media i have cut on top of the bio balls to keep them clean.

 

Was the tank brand new or purchased used?

 

used, which is why i tried to clean everything i could.

 

Well, cleaning will do absolutely nothing for copper if it had been used previously. And it can leach back out for more than a year at times.
I would invest in a copper test kit ASAP.

 

I would second the copper test kit...

Do you have any other inverts in the tank???

 

Bio balls?

You might slowly want to get those out as well. LR will take care of the things bioballs are supposed to.