Cleaner shrimp died in my g/f's tank

[dragon79]

I come in from work today and Sandra's favorite thing to look at is her tank. She looks in and is like....what is the cleaner shrimp doing? I was like...umm...nothing...the emerald crab is eating him. (she didn't even see the emerald) I had Sandra test the water parameters to see if something is offset, but it's testing fine. Only visual thing I notice is she is growing red slime algae and those bubbles are appearing in different sections of the tank. I am having her treat with chemi-clean and that should take care of it.

I'm guessing the emerald crab attacked it.....I doubt it would die just like that. Salinity and params are cool and everybody else is healthy so I have to go with the emerald crept up on it...I think I may have to get rid of him if he kills anything else...

What do you guys speculate what could have happened?

 

[djconn]

Hmmm...that sucks. I wouldn't think an emerald would attack it but I could be wrong.

 

[skipm]

I have wondered what the life expectancy of a shrimp in our aquariums would be. Is it possible that the shrimp died and the emerald was taking advantage of the situation? I would definately keep an eye on the emerald just to be safe and if he appears to be stalking anyone else I would trade him in. Sorry about your loss. Skip

 

[incysor]

The only time I've seen emeralds get agressive is when they get pretty big. Unless it's significantly larger than the cleaner my guess would be the shrimp just died and the emerald was just doing it's job and cleaning up. It could just be natural causes, if everything else is stable.

B

 

[cadeucsb]

have you been feeding the crab if there isnt a ton for it to eat? I have heard they get aggressive when they are in need of food...

 

[dragon79]

yeah it may have been of natural causes. I feed them well, and that tank in particular gets krill and silversides now and then. All the scavengers get a piece, so perhaps ol shrimpy had a stroke and croaked, lol

My girlfriend wants a Fire/Blood Shrimp anyhow, so perhaps it's a sign to get one now, lol.

I'll be keepin an eye on emerald, but he's not that big, and he minds his business for the most part.

 

[YMCA]

Is it posible that it is just a molt and the real shrimp is just hiding while it regrows its shell?

Josh

 

[dragon79]

Is it posible that it is just a molt and the real shrimp is just hiding while it regrows its shell?

Josh

would have been cool if that was the case, but it was it's actual body, you could tell as it didn't look transparent or anything. Another recent death or actually went missing....is the neon blue goby. I just started another thread on that. Not quite sure why the sudden deaths, but speculating on chemi-clean may have killed them.... (they may have gotten a random piece of it and ate it) Not entirely sure, but doing a massive water change for my g/f's tank to be sure.

 

[Mariney]

Mabye,

You have to mucha Iodine in tank. Sometimes the shrimp dont like to muhc.

 

[YMCA]

I just thaught that because i have never owned a cleaner shrimp and i got no idea how to tell the difference between the real thing and the molt. Maby something has gotten into the tank that shouldnt be there (a spray of some sort)

Josh

 

[Anonymous]

I come in from work today and Sandra's favorite thing to look at is her tank. She looks in and is like....what is the cleaner shrimp doing?

You may have a fire worm (blood red looking) Lives in the rock. I had the same thing happen. I made a trap simlar to those green bristle worm traps the fish stores sell, just made one a little larger. The fire worm was 5 inches not extended. One month later I caught another one.

 

[Anonymous]

yep, as others have said emeralds are predaory as well as scavengers but generally only when they get bigger do they pose a threat. However if the shrimp was molting they are very vulnerable at that time and the crab, a fire worm (I dought this though), or some other unseen critter could have got it?????? But speculating the possibilities is endless especially with the missing fish as well, so........... sorry.
I generall don't recomend mixing shrimps or crabs in small tank though, but of course there are exceptions to this and some do fine. I have a blood shrimp by the way and love it - generally a good choice.
Also I really discourage adding stuff like chemi clean and other products. A friend of mine used something like that to get rid of cyano and all her corals bleached - I don't trust those products.