Cleaner shrimp died hours after acclimation

[DanSavesTheDay]

Wondering what could have happened to my new Scarlet Skunk Cleaner. Yesterday I received a Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp from LiveAquaria and found it dead not a few hours after acclimation process "he seemed to be doing fine". I thought he was dead when he first came in but it was a molt in the bag with him and he was fine. I noticed that his whiskers were all over the tank "a few were in 1 headed aussie hammer" and after searching for him I found he being eaten on the sand bed by a nassarius and my tiger serpent star "he was missing his head but that is where the nassarius was attached".

I spent over an hour slowly drip acclimating him emptied half the bag when it was full and dripped again til almost completely full and then added him. He quickly latched onto my top rock and made himself a spot for a cleaning station.

I use a 7 stage RODI from BRS with 0 TDS water and I also run a BRS dual reactor with GFO and ROX carbon

Salinity 1.023
Temp 78°F
Alkalinity 8.2
Calcium 420
0 nitrate
0 nitrite
0 ammonia

Stocklist
Fish
1x Solar Fairy Wrasse
1x Tailspot Blenny
1x Bella Goby
1x Pink Skunk Clownfish

Invertebrates
1x Tiger Serpent Star
1x Ruby Mithrax Crab
1x Pitho Crab
3x Thin Striped Hermit
2x Blue Leg Hermit
1x Scarlet Hermit
2x Turbo Snail
6x Nassarius Snail
14x Astrea/Banded Trochus Snail

 

[Japtastic]

Sounds like you did everything right and you'll probably never know what actually happened. Most likely either died from the stress of shipping, natural causes or got attacked.

 

[Modest]

Did he show strange behaviour once released in the tank? If not you Will never know what hit him. Weird moves could indicatie acclimatisation issues.

 

[DanSavesTheDay]

Did he show strange behaviour once released in the tank? If not you Will never know what hit him. Weird moves could indicatie acclimatisation issues.

Nah, he was acting perfectly normal for a cleaner shrimp which is why i'm stumped.

 

[tdlawdo]

The molt is stressful and makes them vulnerable.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Did you check the salinity at which it arrived? An increase of a few points of SG over an hour will kill a shrimp.

 

[DanSavesTheDay]

Did you check the salinity at which it arrived? An increase of a few points of SG over an hour will kill a shrimp.

What would be the appropriate response in acclimation steps if that were the case? Would it be taking an hour drip acclimation and making it into a two to three-hour acclimation?

 

[DanSavesTheDay]

The molt is stressful and makes them vulnerable.

Yeah that's what I was thinking might have been the case since he molted overnight while shipping or possibly right before arriving at my house. I'm wondering if extending the drip acclimation a few more hours would have helped with such a situation.

I think my best bet to avoid it having just molted is going to be to just pick one up at the lfs.

 

[tdlawdo]

Agree...they have always been super hearty for me. But the molt is so stressful for shrimp, birds etc.

 

[vetteguy53081]

If it molted in bag, its' shell never hardened and the stress of the molt likely weakened him more than it showed.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

What would be the appropriate response in acclimation steps if that were the case? Would it be taking an hour drip acclimation and making it into a two to three-hour acclimation?

You can lower the salinity of the DT a few points to match the shrimps current SG (everything including inverts will handle a small quick drop just fine, increases are the problem). The other option is to place the shrimp into QT for a few days and top off with saltwater until the salinity matches DT.