Cleaner shrimp lays dead

Hello. I have a cleaner shrimp and a couple of hermits in a 10 gallon that is 3 months old now. I acclimated this shrimp nine days ago and everything seemed very good till this morning. He was laying at the bottom still alive. I tested the parameters and did a water change eventhough everything was perfect. I fed him fish food granules and frozen coral food. He didn't eat all the granules but he would go crazy for the frozen food. I was going to go in and buy him some special food if there are any that this happened... =( Anyone has any ideas why he might've died so sudden even that those parameters have been perfect?

 

are you sure its dead and not a molt? look eerily similar.

 

mine just died last night.... poor thing decided it had enough after 3 weeks in my tank it got stuck on my power head and well that was it

 

I would also double check and be sure that its not a molt. When I first started out in this hobby ... I swore up and down an acan ate one of my cleaners ... looked Identical... ended up being a molt and a few days later the shrimp came out of hiding with a nice new exoskeleton lol

 

My 5 shrimp (1 fire, 1 cleaner, 3 peppermint) molt all the time.... freaks you out 1st time you see a molt!

I think if they are molting, it is a sign that your calcium levels are good (or at least not way to low).

 

Here is a great example...

http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/interesting-photo-50573.html

 

ne pics?

 

If you're confident it's dead, that's one thing--but if you have never had the pleasure of looking at your dead shrimp, when all of a sudden up walks a "new" one! It's quite the mind freak.

As others have said, a molt looks eerily like a dead shrimp. The main difference with a molt, is that the contents of the body will be absent. For the first few hours to a day; the empty shell will share the same vibrant coloration as the live one did, but that will quickly become faded in a day or two. Another indicator of what it is you're looking at--is whether or not your clean up crew has any interest in the remains. If they're busily "working on it" it's probably a dead shrimp. If it's left alone with nary a hermit or snail in its midst, then it's probably a molt.

It was more than 20 years ago, but I remember like it was yesterday the tragic feeling that I had just lost a new shrimp, I only had one. I tossed the body in the garbage, and about 3 days later you can only imagine my shock and delight at seeing a new shrimp! I knew I certainly didn't replace him!! Did he reincarnate? Nope! He molted.

If you're able to collect the corpse, or molt or whatever, if there's "meat" in the tail section, then sadly your shrimp has died. If it's hollow, he's hiding while he's soft and vulnerable, and you should see a newer, brighter model soon enough!

I certainly hope this is a molt for you.

Good luck!!