# sea monkeys died



## pollyprissypant (Jan 29, 2010)

so ive been keeping freshwater fish sucessfully for awhile. i recently saw sea monkeys at a local store so i picked them up. my last sea monkey aqurium years ago was mistaken for a snow globe and came to an early demise. So i set it up according to directions and i had my little seasociety going for about a week and i decided to put them in a larger tank. I went to lfs and bought a 1 gallon aquarium, instant ocean salt, and a salt water ph test kit. i put small rinsed rocks and put them at the bottom. mixed the salt per directions which was a half cup of salt per gallon of water. i used store bought distilled water. i filled the tank added a small heater an airstone set on high and let it sit for two days. i checked the ph, and it was at 8. i then turned the air down and transferred the shrimp. i noticed right away that a lot of the small ones were going down into the rocks and sometimes it took them awhile to get out but they seemed to eventually. i fed them and they went nuts feeding at the top. i assumed all was good. this morning i got up and all but one lrg one was dead. Any ideas of what i did wrong? these little guys were NOT going to be used as food, so im especially bummed they parished. least i still have the one... for now. thanks in advance for any wisdom and input. oh, the only other thing i can think of is the ph kit came with a bottle called buff. i used one drop, which is less then the recomended amount. the "Buff" is supposed to maintain a high buffer capacity.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

I think the problem might be the salt. Are you sure the salinity was the same as the store package? The mix you used would have been a full ocean saltwater mix. You only put like a teaspoon of salt mix in with the store packaging, so I assume that it is not full ocean salinity.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

That 1/2 cup per gallon thing is only a rough guide to get you in the ballpark. You need a hydrometer to adjust the salinity to the right level after that.
Also, brine shrimp like their water a bit saltier than the ocean, hence the name brine shrimp instead of sea shrimp.

Transfer shock is the most likely cause of this wipeout.


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## pollyprissypant (Jan 29, 2010)

ok, do you think if i were to go out and buy more seamonkey and put there eggs directly nto the 1 gal tank would they be ok?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

only if you checked to make sure that the salinity of the tank is the same as it is inside the little seamonkey tank when it's ready for eggs.

By the way, regular brine shrimp are WAY cheaper than seamonkeys; they're the same thing without the brand name.


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## pollyprissypant (Jan 29, 2010)

thanks for the help.


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