Cleaner Shrimp Died Suddenly???

[pstock44]

I purchased a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp on Jan 22. He was doing great and molted at least twice until he was found dead on Feb 22. On Feb 14 I changed about 30 gallons of water. My nitrates (15-20ppm) and phosphates (0.2-0.3ppm) are higher than they should be but everything else is normal.
What may have caused his demise? He seemed to be doing so well for 4 weeks and looked fine then the next day he was dead. He had found "his" spot and was always hanging out there. He was even getting used to my finger and had started cleaning it if I put it down near him. Everyone is fed well (hence my nitrate problem but I'm learning) and I have no aggressive fish or crabs.
Looking for anyone's opinions. Thx.

 

[pstock44]

No comments??? Or ideas??? Well I've been thinking about it and the only thing I can come up with is death by crab. I have 2 red mithrax crabs, 1 green emerald crab, 6 or 7 blue leg hermits and 3 thin leg hermits. I know the thin legs are big enough to cause problems because they've already broken a few coral polyps and turned over some small rubble sized rocks.
What I now believe happened is the shrimp molted and one (or more) of the thin leg hermits got ahold of it while it was vulnerable. Its a sad demise for a beautiful creature. I have now moved the thin legs into the sump and will try another shrimp soon.
Anyone have any thoughts or comments???

 

[speg]

You changed 30 gallons of water? What is the tank size? Are you making sure that the salinity is staying constant? Such a big water change could cause a large change in salinity, and if you're not keeping up on evaporation...
You said that he molted twice within a one month time frame? Are you dosing iodine? I don't believe he should be molting that often.

 

[hunt]

i had one that suddenly died to, i couldnt find any explanation exept that it had trouble getting its molted skin off and died like that, when you found it dead, did it have any molted skin still attached?
Post your water parameters

 

[pstock44]

I just caught up with this post, I haven't been getting any notifications of any replies. Anyway, to answer the questions asked.
I have a 125 gallon tank with about 30 more gallons in the sump. I check salinity when I make my water so it matches the tank salinity. The parameters of the system were given in my first post, what other parameters would you like to know?
I use an automatic top-off system so there is no issue with evaporation. It only adds a half cup or so at a time so the salinity stays very constant. The only loss is from the skimmer waste which is replaced by drip method as needed, usually a gallon every couple weeks.
The actual number of times he molted is a guess. I saw one molting shell, and guessed he molted again because he was such a brilliant color when he was found dead. I did learn these thin leg hermits (that I have) are on the heavy aggressive side so I believe one of them caught him off guard during the night or early morning.
I have since made a purchase at SWF.com which included 2 cleaners and a gold banded. Everyone did fine for a few days but I can't find 1 Cleaner or the Gold CB. I saw the 2nd Cleaner molt yesterday and he is hanging out up on the water return pipe. I got a bad feeling the 2 missing shrimp have met a bad end by one or more of the other crabs in the tank. I have a Red Mithrax that is on the large side and is constantly hungry. One of his claws (the "hand" part) is almost an inch long!!! When he spreads his claws out in defense mode he spans about 2.5 inches! He has been spending a lot of time in the shrimps hang out areas lately too so I'm very suspicious.
Anyway, sorry it took me so long to reply but its hard to monitor all the posts here. I'll watch this one again for awhile since the notifications don't seem to be working.
Thx for all the info.