Sudden Shrimp Death

[danOkablamo]

For the past month and a Half I had a 2" Fire Shrimp in my tank. When i woke up this morning to tend to my tank, I noticed my shrimp was not in his usual cave and was barely moving anything besides his gills. Water parameters were: Ammonia-0, Nitrite- 0, Nitrate- <5 ppm
PH- 8.1.......

He was an active eater Up until the night before last when he molted for the 3rd time this month. I didn't think much of it yesterday because he usually didn't eat the whole day after molting.

Now I know invertebrates aren't succeptible to Ich, right?, But i did notice some white spots that were smaller than his real spots, and he had a little extra mucus on one of his antennae. I have two healthy ocellaris clowns who aren't showing signs of poor health.

Im open to all constuctive input and ill include pictures both pre and post mortem, and of the clowns who are still alive. Please ask any questions you have and help my come up with a reason why he died after looking healthy.

 

[KoleTang]

You are correct, they don't get ich. Do you know how old he was? They don't have the longest life spans and if you got a large one it may have already been around for a while.

 

[wuuzzzuuppp]

That's sucks! Sorry you lost him. Could be a virus of some sort or possibly a fungus or bacteria. I know I'm not much help. I will follow along because I am curious also. I have a skunk cleaner shrimp and love having him in the tank. I would be bummed if something like this happened to him!

 

[Longnose Hawkfish]

I had one and it also died randomly. Sometimes they can have a bad molt. But also as mentioned above, they don't live too long.

 

[Eienna]

Every peppermint shrimp I've had up to my current two has croaked suddenly and of unknown causes after a few weeks. My cleaner shrimp was murdered by my previous pair of clowns.

 

[danOkablamo]

Thanks for the immediate response guys, it really helps...

Koletang: He was much larger than the other shrim in the tank with him so I was hoping the age was the factor

Longnose hawkfish: He was molting a complete shell everytime he molted except for the last time, which i could tell because the shell drifted into a powerhead. Do you think a lack of iodide caused a bad molt?

Eienna: Ive considered your possibility, and you may be right, the clowns would sleep in the shrimps cave at night because my tank is too young for an anemone right now, the shrimps legs were a little mangled but i didn't consider it because his appendages usually looked a little off after molting

Again thanks for all the help and keep it coming, because maybe it will help someone else reading this in the future

 

[Longnose Hawkfish]

It might have needed more iodide, but sometimes they can have a bad molt and not recover. I also think his age played a part in his death.

 

[SirKevinD]

Hawkfish will attack shrimp. I had a Hawkfish maul a fire shrimp in front of me!

 

[danOkablamo]

Im thinking he was old because he was 2.5". There are no hawkfish, its a peaceful tank with only two ocellaris and hermit crabs

 

[Ligershark]

my cleaner shrimp randomly croaked after 2 years, i took him out, peeled him and fed it to my anemone.