Something is wrong with my cleaner shrimp.

[Sharkbait19]

Hi,
I’ve had a scarlet skunk cleaner that has been concerning me recently. He hangs out by the sandbed often, walking clumsily, falling over, and doesn’t clean things rapidly. Really he’s just generally lethargic. He also scratches against the floor rolling around quite often. Other than that his eyes seem rather cloudy and his whiskers are getting fuzzy. Here are some pics:

The last time I saw this behavior and appearance was in my peppermint shrimp, which unfortunately died a week after initial symptoms. This is what that one looked like:

I really don’t want to lose the cleaner shrimp, especially because of how expensive they are. He’s also probably one of my favorite creatures in the tank, always doing stuff, and cleaning my hand when I scrape away algae.
What is going on? Is it trying to molt or something? How can I help him?

 

[Reef.]

Is your salinity stable? Sounds to me it’s one of your parameters being unstable could be the issue?

salinity, ph and alk are the main ones and I believe they don’t do well with excessive magnesium, my guess would be salinity.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Salinity generally runs at about 1.023 in my tank. I try my best to keep it stable. pH is 8.2 and alk is 214.8 or something like that.

 

[vetteguy53081]

The relationship I see i that although hard to see on my phone. it almost appears current cleaner and past peppermint are carrying eggs and may be . . . it is known that Cleaner shrimp make eggs basically every time they molt (while the exoskeleton is still soft) and is either going thru molt or having difficulty with molt

 

[Reef.]

Salinity generally runs at about 1.023 in my tank. I try my best to keep it stable. pH is 8.2 and alk is 214.8 or something like that.

Are they stable though, any change up or down that isn’t very slow can be a big issue for shrimps....alk is normally 7-12.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Are they stable though, any change up or down that isn’t very slow can be a big issue for shrimps....alk is normally 7-12.

The alk is 12, which translates to 214.8 according to this chart thingy on the test kit.

As far as the stability goes I generally do my best to keep salinity the same all the time, and pH is always the same every time I read it.

 

[Reef.]

The alk is 12, which translates to 214.8 according to this chart thingy on the test kit.

What salt do you use? And do you dose anything?

 

[Sharkbait19]

I don’t dose anything though have considered iodine. Is that a good idea?

I use Reef Crystals for the salt.

 

[Reef.]

I don’t dose anything though have considered iodine. Is that a good idea?

I use Reef Crystals for the salt.

You shouldn’t need to dose iodine if you do water changes, could be something worth looking at but I believe iodine is tricky to dose.

I’m out of ideas if it’s not a parameter that is unstable that is causing this which to be it looks like, then my next guess would be a moulting issue.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Just a quick note—the last time he molted was about a week ago. It started acting odd not too long after. I don’t know if that info is helpful, and I also don’t know their molting schedule. He’s molted about three times so far and I’ve had him a little over two weeks.

 

[Reef.]

Just a quick note—the last time he molted was about a week ago. It started acting odd not too long after. I don’t know if that info is helpful, and I also don’t know their molting schedule. He’s molted about three times so far and I’ve had him a little over two weeks.

Wow that’s a lot, mine does it maybe every 3 weeks or so, looks like it is a moulting issue then, could be caused by a parameter out of something else...maybe one of the medial guys will be along soon, or see if you can tag one.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Wow that’s a lot, mine does it maybe every 3 weeks or so, looks like it is a moulting issue then, could be caused by a parameter out of something else...maybe one of the medial guys will be along soon, or see if you can tag one.

Thanks for your help! He is fairly young, less than an inch, and I think inverts molt more when young??

 

[Hincapiej4]

ALK being 12 is WAY WAY too high. The heck

 

[Hincapiej4]

Shark man, you're having a pretty rough go at it man.

 

[Reef.]

Thanks for your help! He is fairly young, less than an inch, and I think inverts molt more when young??

They do, as they grow they need to molt to grow but that seems a lot? So your water would need to be on the ball to support that...I’ve had a couple of shrimp, started small but they still only melted every 3 weeks or so.

 

[Sharkbait19]

ALK being 12 is WAY WAY too high. The heck

Well it is API test kit so......

 

[Hincapiej4]

Well it is API test kit so......

Salifert test kits for ALK are like 20 bucks ...no more than 25. They are pretty close to my Hanna checker in accuracy. Get one.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Yeah, I totally will. Thanks!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Just a quick note—the last time he molted was about a week ago. It started acting odd not too long after. I don’t know if that info is helpful, and I also don’t know their molting schedule. He’s molted about three times so far and I’ve had him a little over two weeks.

It sis and it has affected shrimp. Can you take a pic of belly to confirm eggs?

recommended:

temp 77-79
Ph 8.1-8.3
salinity 1.024-1.025
alk 8-9
mag 1300
CA 440
Nitrate < .04
Phos < .04
Ammonia < .03

 

[Sharkbait19]

The shrimp appears to be better today, though is still acting off. I’ll try and get a good pic of its belly soon.