Cleaner shrimp- keep on dying

[gobie1313]

My tank is well established with 0 nitrates, 0 ammonia, 8.3 ph.
I havent had a death in quite a while except for cleaner shrimps. I cant seem to keep cleaner shrimps for any length of time. 6 weeks seems to be the longest. My hermits(cleaner crew) are not dying off. No fish pick on them. The shrimp always come out when i drop food in the tank.The yellow tang just goes to them for cleaning. Are'nt they supposed to be hearty?
Any ideas? suggestions? Treatments?

 

[stingythingy45]

Cleaner shrimp molt and require Iodine to do so.
It seems like you shrimp are dying about the time they should be moulting.
What kind of saltmix do you use?
Are you doing water changes every few weeks?
I'm not a fan of dosing without testing.But every so often I will dose some Kent Iodine following the directions on the bottle.Other leather,exenia also require Iodine.Again not saying this is the problem.But it is a fact that Iodine is required for moulting.

 

[Briko03]

I had a blood fire shrimp recently, I acclimated it very slowly, much slower than most introductions (due to a suggestion of the LFS).

He died in the tank within two hours. Still don't know why...all water parms are in check.

 

[gobie1313]

I do a water change once every two weeks. Instant ocean. Is that enough iodine?. Thanks for the info. I will start dosing iodine when i try again.

p.s I dint have much luck with blood shrimp too.

 

[Moe_K]

Cleaner shrimp molt and require Iodine to do so.
It seems like you shrimp are dying about the time they should be moulting.
What kind of saltmix do you use?
Are you doing water changes every few weeks?
I'm not a fan of dosing without testing.But every so often I will dose some Kent Iodine following the directions on the bottle.Other leather,exenia also require Iodine.Again not saying this is the problem.But it is a fact that Iodine is required for moulting.

Got a link for that iodine needed?

Most people recognize that when iodine is added to the tank, they can see a molt soon after. From what I've read it's not clear whether the iodine is needed. Sure, the shrimp molt from the iodine, but is that a good thing? Would they molt on their own without iodine supplements? I don't supplement iodine, and my shrimp molt. I do monthly water changes. I haven't notice a correlation between water changes and molts - there could be a correlation, I just never paid attention.

 

[Moe_K]

My tank is well established with 0 nitrates, 0 ammonia, 8.3 ph.
I havent had a death in quite a while except for cleaner shrimps. I cant seem to keep cleaner shrimps for any length of time. 6 weeks seems to be the longest. My hermits(cleaner crew) are not dying off. No fish pick on them. The shrimp always come out when i drop food in the tank.The yellow tang just goes to them for cleaning. Are'nt they supposed to be hearty?
Any ideas? suggestions? Treatments?

What kinds of fish and other mobile inverts are in the tank?

 

[stingythingy45]

I do a water change once every two weeks. Instant ocean. Is that enough iodine?. Thanks for the info. I will start dosing iodine when i try again.

p.s I dint have much luck with blood shrimp too.

I've found that I.O. is low on magnesium,not sure on iodine.It's not going to hurt anything as long as you don't go hog wild with the stuff.If you dose,do it and don't dose again until after a few water changes in the next month.
You could try a test kit but they are expensive and not very reliable I.M.O.
I can't keep peppermints,I think my monster Coral Banded gets them.

 

[stingythingy45]

Got a link for that iodine needed?

Most people recognize that when iodine is added to the tank, they can see a molt soon after. From what I've read it's not clear whether the iodine is needed. Sure, the shrimp molt from the iodine, but is that a good thing? Would they molt on their own without iodine supplements? I don't supplement iodine, and my shrimp molt. I do monthly water changes. I haven't notice a correlation between water changes and molts - there could be a correlation, I just never paid attention.

I hear you on the,"is this a good thing?",Moe.
My only guess is that some salt mixes just don't have the required Iodine,or it's used up quickly.Also read a very convincing article about Iodine being removed via the skimmer.I ran out of Kent Iodine about 2 months ago.
But I use a blend of Tropic Marin and O.I. salt now.

 

[stingythingy45]

Here's a great article by Randy.
Again,I'm not a fan of dosing blindly.
But like it says in the article,there many different reports from those that do and have never dosed.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2003/chem.htm

 

[gobie1313]

I haveabout 150 hermits(redleg, blue leg) 12 large mexican turbo snails, 50 astria snails.
a pair of gsm
cream angel
yellow tang
sgt major
2 damels.
2 LTA's hosted by the GSM's
125 gal

 

[Moe_K]

I haveabout 150 hermits(redleg, blue leg) 12 large mexican turbo snails, 50 astria snails.
a pair of gsm
cream angel
yellow tang
sgt major
2 damels.
2 LTA's hosted by the GSM's
125 gal

What's a gsm?
Sorry, sometimes I'm slow.

 

[gobie1313]

Sorry, trying to pass off like i know what I'm talking about LOL
gsm gold striped maroon clowns

 

[stingythingy45]

GSM?....I'm at a loss also.

I found this interesting about Randy's article.
I feed Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 and my skunk cleaner shrimp will grab a hunk of that green square and run away to consume it in private.

"Of the foods provided to most marine aquaria, algae in fish food is likely to be a big source. Gracilaria sp. macroalgae are often added to tanks, both in commercial prepared foods (e.g., some of the Formula foods from Ocean Nutrition, which also includes additional inorganic iodide), and as an individual macroalgae for fish (e.g., Tang Heaven)."

 

[Moe_K]

Stock list doesn't show anything I'd think of as a shrimp predator... Hmmm.

 

[gobie1313]

Is it generally hearty? If it were a parasite would hermits be dying?

 

[phaedraeos]

I'd be somewhat suspicious of the hermits. Are any of them relatively large?

 

[gobie1313]

not as big as the shrimp

 

[stingythingy45]

Is it generally hearty? If it were a parasite would hermits be dying?

Yes,they are quite hardy.
Make sure you try and get a good sized specimen when you purchase one.I'm still thinking that you're lacking something in water parameters.Even low calcium will cause problems with shrimp building their exoskeleton's.
Do your crabs moult?

 

[gobie1313]

no i havent seen any empty shrimp skins, should i see some??They seem pretty healthy. My Ca ia about 450, and i'm starting to get coraline(finally).

 

[stingythingy45]

Yeah,crabs will moult also.You'll see tiny empty claws,ect on the sand bed occasionally.I have both a coral banded shrimp and a skunk cleaner.They seem to moult every few weeks.I once had a emerald crab that never moulted and eventually died.I think it was just old as it was very large.