Sick shrimp

[joeyswife]

I have a fire shrimp that looks like it's about to explode! It usually hides but today he was out and i was surprised how big it was. Now he is laying on his side not looking so good. Do they sometimes have trouble with molting? It's been about 3-4 weeks since his last molt.

 

[Zer0]

They can have trouble molting.. but thats only if you have a lack of iodine. Which most likely you dont because most salt mix brands take care of the iodine. Not really sure what his prob is.. ive never heard of something like this personally, but maybe someones else knows. Is he eating normally at least?

 

[joeyswife]

I have to admit, this summer I have been very lax on the water changes. The past 3 weeks I have been doing a 5 gal change each week. I just checked my parameters and my calcium is 300(pretty low). Every thing else is in a normal range.
He has been eating well.
I feel like a bad mother.

 

[melosu58]

Usually PWC`s will supply your tank of the iodine. I`d do one soon and see what happens.

 

[joeyswife]

I did one last night. I think this little guy is too far gone to save at this point. He's not looking good at all.

 

[juice28]

you said its pretty big.. maybe it is just his time to go...

 

[Zer0]

Could be. But i dont think that shrimp just suddenly bloat when they are about to die. There's got to be some other cause for this. You never did say what kind of shrimp it was?

 

[joeyswife]

He didn't make it through the night. It was a fire shrimp. He was a lot bigger than my husbands shrimp so maybe it was just his time.
Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[Sharkbait430]

Sorry to hear about your loss...