Cleaner Shrimp

[pluff]

:mad: Hmmmm,kinda curious why 1 of my Cleaner Shrimp died.I've had 2 of them for about 7 months.Do they or should they live longer than that?I havn't did anything to the tank to make the perimeters change,except clean my powerheads and skimmer.No soap or chemicals were used to clean them,just warm water.

Thanks
Pluff

[ajx22]

Animals that molt (such as shrimp/crabs/etc.) sometimes have trouble molting - and as such die. I have seen it happen many times before.

If all you tank specs are within the proper ranges - then I would suspect a bad molt - and chalk it off to the unfortunate.

I know that this doen't help in the loss of the shrimp...but it can and does happen sometimes.

HTH & sorry to hear...

[pluff]

AJ
Thanks

Speaking of what you said,actually did happen.I was walking by the tank and noticed a molt from the cleaner shrimp.For starters never thought nothing o it as it was normal with my 2 cleaners.

Thanks again!!

Pluff

[Daniel Schubert]

Pluff

I had one cleaner shrimp for about a year before he died. I noticed my nitrites/nitrates were registering a very small amount. I also read that iodine helps in the molting process. Maybe someone with more experience can comment on the iodine. So far I have two cleaners and two red blood shrimp and they seems to be doing fine. They eat like little pigs.

Daniel

[piscies75]

skimming reduces iodine, if you add a cap full every week per average size set up , you will be fine. I find the deep red ones shy except at feeding time, brine shrimp is the food of choice. Nothing entertains like these creatures. Does anybody have one for sale? I saw a few yesterday but pretty small.

[ajx22]

Iodine...

You do not have to add ANY iodine to your tanks. Research has been done to show that any and all iodine that is put into the tank does NOT help with invert molts as it was originally thought to.

So far the results show that while some inverts may store some of the iodine...it looks to be more negative then positive.

Bottom line...no need to dose Iodine to a tank.

I you have any questions...feel free to post them to Dr. Ron Shimek or Eric Borneman in their respective forums @ Reef Central. They both know alot more about this research then I do.

Cheers,

[Kutter]

Another thing is you should leave the "molt" in the tank after a shrimp has succesfully molted. The molt will dissolve in 24-48hrs and therefore whatever molecules it is composed off are in essence recycled.