Help! Is my cleaner shrimp dead or did he molt?

[jeps]

Bought a cleaner shrimp yesterday, this morning i see him bottom up on the sand. Before i go back to the fish store to get another one, could someone please tell me how a molt looks like? This looks like a whole shrimp.. with appendages and everything still attached. I'll try to post a pic later. Any help is appreciated thanks.

 

[ginarox]

my coral banded shrimp did that, one morning i looked in there and my coral didnt look right, and i thought i lost my coral banded shrimp i was very sad, at the time i didnt know they did that,,but i was reading on this forum and found out that they do,,,so i looked around in the tank and sure enough there he was,,happy,,,i dont know if this has helped or not,but i would look around in your tank to see if you can find another one...have a great day...

 

[jrthomas40]

you should pull it out to check it...the skin looks like the whole shrimp but it is a little more transparent...how long have you had it???

 

[shogun323]

Molting is freaky. It is an exact replica so to speak. The first time my Emerald crab molted, I thought he had died. I took out the exoskeleton and tossed it and planned on getting a new one. A day later he emerged from the rocks bigger and badder than ever!!!!
When Inverts molt the leave their exoskeleton out in plain view to serve as a decoy. Then the hide in the rocks while their new shell hardens.
Since you bought it yesterday it may be dead though. What are the parameters of your water?

 

[uberlink]

My guess is that he didn't make it. Cleaner shrimp molts look less like the whole shrimp than, say, a hermit or emerald molt looks like the whole crab. They're pretty translucent, and they tend to come apart in your tank pretty quickly.
I would suspect that there was a problem with the acclimation process. These little guys are VERY sensitive to shifts in salinity, and they have to be acclimated very slowly to a new tank (preferably over two or three hours using a slow drip). What kind of method did you use to acclimate him?
In any event, if he is gone, very sorry for your loss. It's always a bit heartbreaking to lose one of these little guys!

 

[jeps]

I just got it yesterday.. did the drip acclimation method but only for an hour. I also just changed the water the day before. All that said and taking into consideration all your posts.. I'm assuming that shrimpy (my 5 year old nephew's name for him.. oh no, he's gonna be crushed when he comes home from school today!!!) is dead. Here's a pic.. sorry, its not very clear.. I have yet to master aquarium photography.

 

[djm]

That is definitely a dead shrimp. Sorry about the loss.

 

[shogun323]

Based on Uberlinks info on shrimp molts as well as the fact that you got him yesterday, I assume he is probably dead. As far as what caused his death I would first check your water parameters such as salinity, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, Ph, and temperature. Best of luck to you!!!

 

[uberlink]

Yes, I think he's probably a goner. You should probably get him out of there to avoid polluting your tank. Sorry about that!
By the way, for acclimation I have found that the best way is to use a refractometer to test both the water in your tank and that in the new critter's container. As you drip, periodically test the container water and only move the animal over when the two have gotten quite close together (very close--like within .001 for shrimp and other invertebrates). I suggest this because the number of hours it takes to drip acclimate can vary wildly depending upon how far apart the two sources of water are. I've noticed that crustaceans from swf.com are often shipped in water that's at about 1.030, which is much higher than most of us would ever keep our tanks. Fish are often at around 1.018, which is significantly lower. The amount of time you need to drip would vary as a result.
Best of luck with Shrimpy the Second.