Cleaner shrimp has algae on him

[RickG]

Lol first time this has happened to me, my cleaner shrimp has some algae on him. Has anybody seen this before? Is it healthy? Lol is he lazy to clean it off? Hopefully he molts soon

 

[skiergd011013]

Never seen that. When i had one, it spent tons of time cleaning itself and flicking his antenna. It was entertaining to watch.

 

[zachxlutz]

I was JUST searching for some topics on this on the forums! I noticed a bit of algae on the bases of the antennae of my cleaner shrimp. It molts fairly often but I've never seen algae on it before! Following along to see what others think.

 

[ludnix]

He might not be getting enough Iodine to molt as often as he needs to. I would pick up some Iodine supplement and dose as per instructions. You will probably see him molt within the next day or so after dosing.

 

[KMench]

Yeah, I've always heard that they stop cleaning their shells when they are getting ready to molt. So either it's getting ready to molt, or maybe needs some iodine to molt. I would worry about dosing iodine in my tank since there is no easy test to measure you're iodine levels, but would do a water change instead

 

[RickG]

Was able to snap a better pic of him. I was actually going to do a water change today so hopefully that will help with the iodine.

 

[Zack K]

Keep us updated. Personally wouldn’t think that is healthy. Mine is_always_ cleaning himself. He molts always as well.
-Zack

 

[Jeff Hall]

Are you sure it hasn't already molted and that's it's exoskeleton?

 

[RickG]

Are you sure it hasn't already molted and that's it's exoskeleton?

Lol yeah I’m sure it hasn’t molted

 

[RickG]

Update lol. So I got around to my water change about an hour ago and just came by to check out the tank make sure everything was good after lights out and noticed that my shrimp molted just now. He is nice and clean now. Maybe it was the iodine as stated above. Anyways thanks for the help and input guys

 

[ludnix]

Yeah, I've always heard that they stop cleaning their shells when they are getting ready to molt. So either it's getting ready to molt, or maybe needs some iodine to molt. I would worry about dosing iodine in my tank since there is no easy test to measure you're iodine levels, but would do a water change instead

Salifert sells iodine titration tests you can do, not sure which specific varieties of iodine it is and which would be dosed though. I had always just used a small amount lugols though I believe there are more balanced supplements available.

 

[zachxlutz]

Mine molted sometime yesterday, too. Seems like normal behavior I guess.

 

[Rakie]

If it's growing algae that means there's not enough iodine in your water for them to molt -- This is very abnormal, it means your tank is deficient in iodine. IMHO, that means you need to do something about it. Not shrug it off as "oh well, that was weird" -- It's a hint. Take the hint. Do something about it.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

That's not actually a cleaner shrimp. They call those Hoarder Shrimp.

 

[SauceyReef]

Late response here. My shrimp molts every week. At around the last few days it starts to get covered in algae.

 

[azreefkeeper]

Late response here. My shrimp molts every week. At around the last few days it starts to get covered in algae.

Posting a similar update here because I just saw this on my cleaner shrimp for the first time ever yesterday...looks almost identical to RickG's images. I couldn't tell you what my iodine levels are, but he/she molted last night and now looks brand new again. I'm guessing that shrimp will dial back their cleaning as the molt approaches because that would be a waste of time.

 

[Shrewsbury]

I have some kind of purple hair already on everything and now my shrimps whiskers and dark and it's dirty idk what to do and I've tried Chem clean and everything idk how to get rid of it

 

[Shrewsbury]