what killed my Cleaner shrimp (pic)

[NewInTown]

I cant figure out what happened to my cleaner shrimp.
I was topping of the tank after work today. about one gallon. and my cleaner shrimp was out and looking normal. 2-3 hours later I found him in the hands of two of my hermits. I pulled him out and put him in a dish for pic's and a closer look but he was already gone. I tested all water parameters and everything is a+. I have two blood shrimp in their two
and their both doing fine. what gives? it looks like all of his organs turned
black. but what are the black sploshes? HELP

 

[MT79]

I had a cleaner that had the same problem. fortunately, mine lived but the black remained until several molts took place. The only thing I could think of was I was getting a bit "relaxed" w/ my water changes, so possibly my iodine levels were low. FWIW, I also had two other shrimp (cleaners) at the time that were not affected. Do you do regular partial water changes? If so how much and how often? Just a guess....

 

[NewInTown]

yes I do water changes at around 10-15% every 7-10 days. just did one three days ago. I changed from oceanic to instant ocean salt. I was having problems with the oceanic salt mix containing high phosphate levels. :?

 

[MT79]

yes I do water changes at around 10-15% every 7-10 days. just did one three days ago. I changed from oceanic to instant ocean salt. I was having problems with the oceanic salt mix containing high phosphate levels. :?

Your water change schedule is "ok". It may have been the change in salt mixes. When switching salt brands it is best to introduce the new salt very slowly. There are minute changes in chemistry made by switching salt mix that can adversely affect the inverts in your tank. Slow is better. This is just my speculation as to what happened to the shrimp...Best of luck.