Shrimp passed what happened???

[Luka]

So some of you may have seen my previous post about my shrimp flipping out. If you didn't the story is one night my shrimp started swimming rapidly and crazy then would slowly sink to the bottom and repeat. I was able to stabilize him for the night and a few days after. I noticed his behavior was off, he would just sit in one or two places throughout the day. He would also occasionally flip out and then return back to normal. I was told he would be fine after feeding him so I assumed he would get use to everything. Today when I turned back at my tank I saw him on the ground belly up. I grabbed him placed him on a rock and saw half his head was missing (Eye included). I saw he was moving an antennae or a leg here and there. So I instantly grabbed a glass bowl and put saltwater in it and started heating it up. But by the time the bowl was at 78 degrees my shrimp was dead. I learned that my Clown is a champ and stood by my shrimps side. A hermit was trying to crawl up to my shrimp and my clown would turn around and try to knock up sand at the hermit. Unfortunately my clown did save him so I went in and grabbed the hermit and put him else where. (This hermit is a real annoying one. That day my shrimp was flipping out he grabbed my shrimp by an antennae). Anyways even after that hermit was out of the way the clown just kept swimming over him making sure he was protected. Anyways I thought that was pretty cool. I am just wondering why my shrimp passed...all the parameters were fine everything was at 0. Salinity was 32 ppt, temp was 76-78. Oh and it was a blood shrimp.

My hypothesis:

I personally think it was stress. A couple days before the flipping out incident my clown kicked my shrimp out of his normal place. This made my shrimp need to search for a new one and seemed like he couldn't find one so he got really stressed out, he felt naked without a home and anything that bothered him or startled him made him flip out, which resulted in a lot of energy being spent. I did hand feed him some brine shrimp two days after the incident, because I noticed how lethargic he was.

Anyways that's what I think happened, if you know anything else feel free to post below. Also anything that could help me prevent this in the future.

 

[twilliard]

What kind of shrimp was it?

 

[Luka]

Oh and it was a blood shrimp.

 

[twilliard]

How long was he in the tank?

 

[Luka]

I got him 2 fridays ago first week he was great till he got kicked out which he was still fine then he flipped out then he died a few days later

 

[twilliard]

I am not sure it was due to stress.
These guys are sensitive to change in chemistry.
How did you acclimate him?
Did he molt right after being introduced?

 

[Luka]

He molted the day after or maybe a few days after I don't quite remember. I acclimated him by letting the bag sit in the water for an hour and every 5-10 minutes adding some of my water to the baggie. After an hour I put him in using a net cause I didn't want to dump any water from the LFS into my tank.

 

[twilliard]

Ya I think the acclamation got him.
Here is what I do to acclimate.

I use this adjustable drip method for around 2 hours

 

[Luka]

Acclimation obviously didn't get him he was fine for the first week or so...................................Just doesn't make sense.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Sorry about your red guy.

Inverts can be sensitive to so many things. I have had skunk cleaners only ever last a year whereas my bloodred (knock on wood) is over 6 years old. I go through skunks like crazy same with peppermint. I know my bloodred has lived in the same cave area for the entire time in my tank. I do not see him for 2 days after he molts.

Maybe after he molted, he got kicked out and just did not handle stress well. If all other inverts are fine, cannot imagine chemistry would throw off just him. Could have also been a parasite or infection that happened at molt or prior that weakened him. Really hard to say. Comes with this hobby. The unknown... (scary music here)

 

[Luka]

Thanks. I guess it's too hard to tell. I Still think it's cool how my clown protected him. Now my clown hates all the clowns and goes up to them and try's knocking sand at them. After a hermit flips over my clown will try and prevent him from ever getting back up by scaring it every time it try's to poke it's head out.