What is Wrong with my Pistol?

[Apollo7235]

My Tiger is one of two pistols in my 38-gallon tank. The other is a Bullseye who lives in the rocks and leaves the Tiger alone.

The Tiger’s paired Watchman abandoned him yesterday (she does this regularly), then this morning this is how he looked when I fed. I found him under a rock laying sideways, so I lifted the rock because I thought he was dead and this is what happened. There is a piece of claw that I noticed on the sand bed a few days ago, so I figured he must have recently molted. He has been eating great and been perfectly healthy to this point, but now he is face first in a rock, which I know is not normal.

Any idea what could be wrong with the little dude? Can I help him somehow?

For reference, my Watchman, Neon Goby, and Bullseye Pistol are all doing fine, as are the snails.

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[Sharkbait19]

Weird. Something certainly seems off there. I haven’t seen that in mine but I’m inclined to say it is related to molting. I can't bee too sure, because I've never actually seen my tiger pistol molt, as he usually hides in the caves. Hopefully someone with more experience chimes in.
Any other odd behavior or just this?
What are your parameters? Inverts are incredibly sensitive.

 

[Sharkbait19]

double post

 

[Apollo7235]

Weird. Something certainly seems off there. I haven’t seen that in mine but I’m inclined to say it is related to molting. I can't bee too sure, because I've never actually seen my tiger pistol molt, as he usually hides in the caves. Hopefully someone with more experience chimes in.
Any other odd behavior or just this?
What are your parameters? Inverts are incredibly sensitive.

I am going to have to run parameter tests once my daughter goes down for a nap, but the other Pistol in the tank is doing fine, so I can’t imagine it would be a water quality issue?

 

[aabjones888]

I’ve had tiger pistols for a lot of years and have never seen that. I hope he ends up being ok for ya.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I am going to have to run parameter tests once my daughter goes down for a nap, but the other Pistol in the tank is doing fine, so I can’t imagine it would be a water quality issue?

Then it could be molting, although I have no idea what that would look like for a pistol shrimp...

I did have a skunk cleaner with a similar behavior, and it wound up dying on me. I've never had luck with cleaner shrimp, though, so I think in my case it was poor water. If your other pistol seems fine, then the problem may not be params, or the other one simply is unaffected by whatever is wrong.

 

[Smirkish]

Check your parameters.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

It might be a calcium deficiency or they don’t have any food. Do you feed it dedicated food? It could be a molt also. Does the shrimp feel hard to the touch, does it have all its parts? If it has all its parts that claw is a molt

 

[Sharkbait19]

It might be a calcium deficiency or they don’t have any food.

+1 on the calcium deficiency. Inverts often die due to failed molts, which is a result from poor water, calcium deficiency, or low/imbalanced iodine levels.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

I honestly think all your problems are because your tank is too clean and bright. Before you get fish and inverts, you gotta let your tank get dirty some. There’s a Chinese proverb that say clean water, no fish. If you aren’t feeding your shrimp and corals at this time In your tank, imo your stuff isn’t getting nutrients or it’s being burned by your too ai primes.

 

[Ricksreeefs]

Hope he does alright! Not sure I could be much help tho. I had a yasha and candy cane pair for about a day and the they split up and a few days later I found the little yasha head being chowed down on by my hermit

 

[Apollo7235]

It might be a calcium deficiency or they don’t have any food. Do you feed it dedicated food? It could be a molt also. Does the shrimp feel hard to the touch, does it have all its parts? If it has all its parts that claw is a molt

It has all its parts, but no, I haven’t touched it. I don’t know if I could honestly get to it even if I tried. He scoots around so quickly and now he’s wedged into the rock face first. I target feed my fish and pistols morning and night and they eat really well. My watchman is a brat and doesn’t always let the Tiger get the goods, but I always shoot a bit of the chunky stuff into their burrow to make sure he gets a meal. I feed a mix of SBB Carnivore Cuisine, Mysis, Baby Brine (for my neon goby), and NLS Plus A pellets,

+1 on calcium deficiency. Inverts often die due to failed molts, which is a result from poor water, calcium deficiency, or low/imbalanced iodine levels.

I just can’t imagine it could be a calcium deficiency because I just did 2 water changes over the weekend (trying to figure out something else). I use the Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt mix and my calcium has always come back within range. I will verify that once I can check my parameters, but I would be very surprised if that’s the problem considering the recent water changes.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

You might be shocking ur fish with water changes. Try hand feeding or target feeding your shrimp

 

[Apollo7235]

Hope he does alright! Not sure I could be much help tho. I had a yasha and candy cane pair for about a day and the they split up and a few days later I found the little yasha head being chowed down on by my hermit

Oh man, that stinks. I would hate to lose this little guy so I can imagine how that felt.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

Mabye put the shrimp in a qt and throw in a peice of dead shrimp or something for it to eat

 

[Apollo7235]

You might be shocking ur fish with water changes. Try hand feeding or target feeding your shrimp

I haven’t done any more changes since Sunday and they have all been doing great since then, until this guy today, obviously. I target feed all four every morning and night. I was actually looking for this little guy this morning to feed him which is why I noticed this behavior.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

Mabye the watchman and shrimp don’t wanna be
Paired and you would have to rehome one of them. Honestly, I don’t think watchman and shrimp pair well but like Randall’s and Yasha and all those gobies are more viable pairs

 

[Sharkbait19]

Mabye the watchman and shrimp don’t wanna be
Paired and you would have to rehome one of them. Honestly, I don’t think watchman and shrimp pair well but like Randall’s and Yasha and all those gobies are more viable pairs

Watchman and tigers are natural pairs the same way High fin and Randalls pair.

 

[Ricksreeefs]

Oh man, that stinks. I would hate to lose this little guy so I can imagine how that felt.

yeah had him two weeks in a mesh breeder box with macro-algae before I got the pistol. He jumped once when I first got him into the return pump chamber in my aio and I kinda freaked out but he was fine. Still no idea what happened to him. he was hardly half of my pinky btw

 

[Apollo7235]

yeah had him two weeks in a mesh breeder box with macro-algae before I got the pistol. He jumped once when I first got him into the return pump chamber in my aio and I kinda freaked out but he was fine. Still no idea what happened to him. he was hardly half of my pinky btw

Aiyaiyai. That’s crazy! Maybe I’m not right for this hobby because I don’t appreciate unanswered questions.... Hahaha

Well, I’m really stumped about this poor little pistol. Really hoping he can hang in there until I can get my parameters checked. I really don’t want to do another water change on this tank. I feel like they’ve been hurting my situation rather than helping it.