RIP Inky..bad molt??

slice

Active Member
For about 6 months or so, we've had a pair of cleaner shrimp, "Inky" and "Stinky". Always gregarious, always looking for customers at their cleaning station, always looking to steal food. Every 2-3 weeks one or the other would molt, apparently at night, but was back on station the next day.
Two weeks ago, there was a molt in the tank, but Inky was no where to be found. Could he have had a bad molt?
I've read you folks talk about "bad molts" but don't know exactly what you mean.
Stinky is at the cleaning station (under the monti) maybe half the time now, the rest of the time she is in the rock (poor thing).
Both of them had grown rather large, maybe 2 1/2" long. Would it be advisable to get Stinky a new playmate even though the new guy would be 1/2-2/3 her size? If so, I guess the new guy would be named "Dinky" for being so small.
Thanks in advance.
 

meowzer

Moderator
Sorry to hear about your loss..... IDK if stinky would welcome a newb......it's always a risk IMO
 

tangs rule

Active Member
I've had mixed results adding "new" skunk cleaners to existing stock. It usually works - but a couple times it really didn't as the remaining "one" or "pair" killed off the smaller newbies.....and once I bought a group of 4 and they all arrived same size - but there was one "badass" in the group who killed the other 3 over a couple weeks. that one now lives as lone shrimp in my 90 coral qtine tank - and has lived there for more than a year, and WILL kill any other Lysmata sp. added...
One thing that will cause bad molts is the addition of too much Iodine. The basic seawater mixes out there all contain enough iodine to keep shrimps just fine - but adding any more without knowing/testing can raise iodine levels too much - and only a little too high iodine values will cause bad molts on shrimps. Even fairly regular waterchanges will ensure proper levels though... I've kept skunks since the beginning and they'll usually last 2-2.5 years, and 2.5" is full grown.
 

slice

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by tangs rule http:///t/391314/rip-inky-bad-molt#post_3469825
I've had mixed results adding "new" skunk cleaners to existing stock. It usually works - but a couple times it really didn't as the remaining "one" or "pair" killed off the smaller newbies.....and once I bought a group of 4 and they all arrived same size - but there was one "badass" in the group who killed the other 3 over a couple weeks. that one now lives as lone shrimp in my 90 coral qtine tank - and has lived there for more than a year, and WILL kill any other Lysmata sp. added...
One thing that will cause bad molts is the addition of too much Iodine. The basic seawater mixes out there all contain enough iodine to keep shrimps just fine - but adding any more without knowing/testing can raise iodine levels too much - and only a little too high iodine values will cause bad molts on shrimps. Even fairly regular waterchanges will ensure proper levels though... I've kept skunks since the beginning and they'll usually last 2-2.5 years, and 2.5" is full grown.
Thanks for the additional info, Ken. No Iodine dosing here, I guess it was just "one of those things"...
Stinky will just have to be a loner.
 

tangs rule

Active Member
Your welcome Joe - I can say that most of the time adding a different lysmata sp shrimp will work (ie blood fire or peppermint shrimps) ....just don't expect to see either of these very often during lights on, as both these other types are much shyer than skunks and are more nocturnal unless you've a fishless system .
 
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