Cleaner Shrimp is missing!

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artoledo

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Apr 20, 2007
Messages
343
Location
Miami, FL
I added a Bartlett's Anthias on Saturday and haven't seen my shrimp since. Any ideas on what might have happened? I have searched the entire tank and cant find him. He molted on Friday night and when i got up Saturday morning i saw him and his old shell. I am really stumped here. Do you think the Anthias had anything to do with it? :cry:
 
No way the Anthias or any of your stock would mess with it unless it died from the stress of molting. Typically my shrimp will hide for 3-5 days (how long it takes the new shell to harden) which is easy to avoid detection in lr. If you don't see it after a week then it's probably gone but till then it's nothing to worry about.
 
Ok. I will wait. I am kinda worried. I really love my shrimp. I would hate to get a new one and not have the same personality as my "Young Joc".
 
I agree with Micah. When mine molt they dissapear for several days. I have bartlett`s anthias and they have never bothered my shrimp. Hopefully he`ll show up soon.
 
ok Thanks guys. If he doesnt appear by Thursday i am going to start worrying. I would hate to tear my tank apart to look for him
 
Why tear the tank apart to look for it? if its dead is free food for the tank if you have a clean up crew.
How many fish do you have in that tank now? It seems like your adding a fish a week? Just worried about over stocking..
 
I agree , Dont tear the tank up. It`s not worth it. Hopefully he will be OK but if not as mentioned earlier your clean up crew will take care of it.
 
I was surprised how efficient clean up crews were. I had a chalk goby go missing. I hadnt seen him for 24 hours and he was a very active chap normally, so I lifted the small peice of LR that he lived under and all that was left of him was a skeleton imprinted to the rook. Stripped bare 8O

It was quite freaky.
 
Well, looking around the tank yesterday my wife noticed a dead Turbo snail. I went over to look and sure enough it was on its side dead. i pulled it out and the first thing i thought was "let me check my water levels". Sure enough there had been a small rise in ammonia. .2 to be exact. Nitrates were about 10 and nitrites just above 0. I think that if my snail is dead then my cleaner shrimp must be if he doesnt come out within the next few days. I am waiting for my Purigen to get here so i can drop it in the sump.
 
I would do a PWC ASAP to get those levels down.
 
I would add nothing to the tank for a while till it becomes more stable. If you have nitrites still something is going on in the tank.. Slow down some..
Only bad things happen fast in this hobby..
 
seaham358 said:
I would add nothing to the tank for a while till it becomes more stable. If you have nitrites still something is going on in the tank.. Slow down some..
Only bad things happen fast in this hobby..

I have witnessed that first hand. Thats why i am taking it slow.
 
Just about a week missing and still no sign of my shrimp. I think he is done. What do you guys think? I will be setting up my new tank on Thursday. Waiting on the tank to be delivered to my LFS. Maybe I will add a couple of cleaner shrimps.
 
A week is a little too long. I`m starting to wonder now. Maybe he`ll show up when you take the tank apart.
 
He usually hid next to my LTA all the time and he isnt there anymore. The weird thing is that he went to the other side of the tank to molt. Then went back to the LTA and that was the last time i saw him. Sucks that i dont know what happened to him.
 
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