Cleaner just died?

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nessaathena0822

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jul 19, 2017
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116
I woke up this morning to my cleaner shrimp dead on his back
There is 0 ammonia in the tank, and my other levels are normal; I've had no spikes or anything

All my other animals are okay and are exhibiting their normal behaviors and are eating fine.

I've noticed that lately my cleaner shrimp refused to clean my hand, even though he LOVED to clean my hand and always has. My fish refused to be cleaned by him also, which made him upset and he would hide in a cave and wouldn't eat.

I tried to get him to eat by holding a flake in my hand or sprinkling some food above him, and sometimes he didn't want any.

My two clowns, my 6 line, my corals, my hermits, and all my snails are all fine.

My sister was feeding my tank for three days and she waayyyyy overfed it, I came home at 4 am to food sludge and had to perform a water change early in the morning.

I don't know if this affected him? He was honestly my favorite animal in the tank and I'm planning on getting another one, but does anybody know what could have killed him, despite my water parameters and other animals being perfect?
 
You sure he didn't just molt? Shrimp don't get "upset". They are instinctual creatures so not trying to clean would be a sign something's off. If he's getting ready to molt that would of explained it. If actually dead then it could of possibly been old age. How large was it?
 
You sure he didn't just molt? Shrimp don't get "upset". They are instinctual creatures so not trying to clean would be a sign something's off. If he's getting ready to molt that would of explained it. If actually dead then it could of possibly been old age. How large was it?



I am 100% sure he didn't molt because he's molted twice before and it was clearly a thin shell and broken in half.
It was him because I saw his little organs :(
He was upside down, too.

He was almost the size of my palm including his legs and was as long as my ring or even middle finger. I am a 5ft tall 19yr old female for reference, so my hands aren't large but I think even he was a bit big for his species. I'm not sure how long my LFS had him but I know he was there months before I got him because that's when I started setting up my tank.
 
Just checking :). Yeah sounds possibly like he was just old. Sorry for the loss. Nothing copper based has touched the tank right? That's the only other culprit I could think of
 
Just checking :). Yeah sounds possibly like he was just old. Sorry for the loss. Nothing copper based has touched the tank right? That's the only other culprit I could think of



Nothing at all, and my snails would all be dead too if there was but they're all scootin' along as normal! And it's okay, I'm most likely going to get a new one when I'm feeling up to it. I really appreciate the help, thank you.
 
I'd look towards the overfeeding causing enough stress to have caused the loss, if food was sludged down in the system. Just because the parameters were 'perfect' when you got there didn't mean they could spike.
 
I'd look towards the overfeeding causing enough stress to have caused the loss, if food was sludged down in the system. Just because the parameters were 'perfect' when you got there didn't mean they could spike.



This was definitely my other concern. I'm still keeping a close eye on my other animals and they all seem to be fine, maybe my shrimp was just super sensitive.
 
Snails and hermits on the other than have been known to survive cycles...but it depends on the type as some are more hardy than others.



I have blue legs, some nerites, ceriths, and nassarius. I guess they're just more equipped for worse conditions?

On another note, I'm teaching more people how to take care of my tank since my sister didn't listen, unfortunately. Hopefully this problem doesn't arise again :(
 
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