Cherry shrimp - attempt #2; good Cu test?

[Naomi Mizumoto <naomizu at pacbell_net>]

Hi, All!

Well, the final outcome of my disaster from last week was the loss of all 
three cherry shrimp and two of my old Amanos. The one surviving Amano 
shrimp resumed eating and came out of the incident apparently unscathed. I 
knew he was okay after he went back to stuffing his little shrimpie face 
and the intestine thingie down his back was getting filled again. I believe 
the whole thing happened because of my failure to quarantine a new plant. 
The small size of my tank (5.5-gallons) compounded the problem, and what 
appeared to be the shrimp suddenly "playing" on the floating bits of bacopa 
was probably them trying to get away from the poison. Should have known 
something was up, since the Amanos were pretty shy up to that point. And I 
thought the new cherries had convinced them to come out and party...

I got three more red cherry shrimp yesterday, but put them in my 2.5-gallon 
planted tank. After they were released, I saw far more "normal" behavior. 
They soon proceeded to do the "Cookie Monster" and stuff their little 
shrimpie faces alongside the two Amano shrimp. I think one of them might 
have even molted during the night. So I guess some good early signs that 
all's not well with shrimp is when they're NOT doing the "Cookie Monster" 
(which seems to be normal for a few hours after molting), and insist on 
being as close to the water's surface as possible. By the time they're 
being very still or acting disoriented or look cooked, it's almost always 
too late. A number of people e-mailed or posted about certain similar 
experiences with shrimp, and I'd like to thank all of you. Final word: when 
in doubt, quarantine new plants!

Oh, one more thing: can anybody suggest a good freshwater copper testing 
kit that won't completely drain my wallet? Thanks!

-Naomi