Peppermint from hell help!

[shy07guy]

Here is my story i want to know if this has happened to anyone and what I should do. In Jan I for get the dates I added 2 cleaners and 2 peppermints. After each cleaner molted for the first time it died I only saw the boby of one and got it out of the tank for inspection. I could not see anything and neither could the owner of my LFS. Then a week or so later one of my peppermints molted and also dissapeared. Over those two weeks I checked and rechecked all my pararmaters they were all in perfect range. I waited for another week testing every day or everyother day waiting and watch my last peppermint. Finally two weeks later at the end of Jan my last peppermint molted and survived. So I went ahead an bought another peppermint I waited for him to molt and he survivored so I figured I had just been unlucky and the others had not been healthy or something. I then bought 2 new cleaners on Jan 31 or something they were both bigger then the original two I had thinking that the larger ones might do better. However tonight I just saw one of my cleaners dead!!! Part of his tail molt was up on a rock above his boby (the only part of the molt I could see) and the biggest peppermint was on the dead body. (the peppermint that has been the only survivor) The cleaner's boby could not have been dead that long because as I first saw it the big peppermint was grabbing it from the other side of the rock and then a feeding frenzy began and the cleaner was gone in minutes. So now my delema... is it my peppermint that is going after the shrimp when they molt??? am I just that unlucky with these guys??? I have been able to rule out the chance of an unknown predator and I am testing the tank on everything as I type so let me know if it is possible that I do have the peppermint from hell. Also on a side note the biggest(oldest) peppermint is pregnat again do not know if that helps or changes anything. Oh and one last thing that implicates the peppermint. My anenome crab that hangs on the rock with the biggest peppermint molted this after noon and looked fine however he has now moved to the top of a powerhead and is missing his right claw! Could the peppermint have gone for him too when he was soft? Help anything would be great! I like the cleaners so much but now i have lost 3 of 4 not to mention 75$ too but that is not as important to me as beinging able to keep these guys alive! Thanks so much sorry for the long post

My tests..
temp 79
trate = 0
cal = 440 - 450
Ammonia = 0
Trite = 0
KH = 8.3/2.97
Mg = 1200
I = .03
ph = 8.1 - 8.0
O2 = 7 - 8
S.G. = 1.0235 - 1.024
Thanks again any questions/ clarifications that you need let me know I want to figure this out.
Derek

 

[Ben1]

Shrimp are very sensative and need to be acclimated very slowly to their new tank. Did you do this?

Did you check your iodine levels? Iodine is needed to gelp the molting.

 

[Anonymous]

a predator is taking advantage of their weakness just after molting. i'm not sure it's the cleaner shrimp. what else you got in there? perhaps there is an uninvited hitchhiker.

 

[cdeakle]

I agreee with HW,

A hitchhiker predator or a predator of some type killing them when there molting and vulnerable. If not then could be your acclimation proccess. How exactly did you aclimate the little guys?

 

[cdeakle]

ph = 8.1 - 8.0

Try to keep it steady from 8.1 - 8.3

 

[shy07guy]

Acclimation = 30 min floating the bag then 1 hour of a slow drip and removing part of the water as the bag gets to full. I do not think it is my acclimation because all the shrimp are fine, healthy and eating for at least a week or more until they molt
As for a predator this is what I thought too after I lost my first two cleaners and one peppermint. So I watched the tank night after night with a flash light (red lense) searching for anthing but I could not find anything. I even fed the tank in the middle of the night to try to draw something out but I didnt just pods. So I kept checking all my parameters everyother day or so and everything continued to stay normal (Ph 8.0 sometimes but I dont think that did it). Anyway after my one remaining peppermint molted and survivor I was so happy thinking that my problem had been solved so I went and got another peppermint and put him in the tank. I waited for the new one to molt just to make sure and it did and survived so I went out and got two new cleaners and put them in the tank that was on the 6th or 7th of Feb and they have been doing fine up until now when one molted last night and died. Sorry for the long post again I just want to make sure i put all the info out so hopefully I can figure out what the **** is going on im my tank. Thanks again for all the help
Derek

 

[Jolieve]

Acclimation is an important part of introducing cleaner shrimp, but something that is not commonly known, or spread around (at least from what I have seen) is the importance of leaving their shedded skins in place after they molt. Shrimp consume the old skeleton and get nutrients from it that helps them to produce a new one more quickly.

Also.. for iodine, regular water changes actually do more to maintain the small amount of iodine that shrimp need in the water than dosing or testing, and most iodine test kits are... well... inaccurate. You never really know how much you have, or how much you are putting in.

That said, it sounds like you have a predator in your tank. You didn't mention what fish you have in the tank, but Hawkfish are known predators of shrimp, as well as some other critters. Check and make sure your livestock is compatible with shrimp keeping.

Good luck!
J.

 

[shy07guy]

I do leave the molts in the tank. However the one that died last night was really wierd in the fact that he did not even completly molt I just saw the top part of the tail portion of th molt up on a rock then the dead cleaner below whose body was quickly scooped up by the peppermints and torn to shreads. So in this case the cleaner did not even completely molt just to top of his tail seemed to pop off. I must have missed exactly what happened my a few minutes which makes me even more mad because then maybe I could have figured this problem out. As for the Idoine I will just stick with my regular water changes everything else in the tank is doing great. I do not have any fish in the tank tomorrow my first one will be introduced from the QT and it is a red firefish. So as for a predator I am really stumped I have searched and searched for one but can not find one. Also yesterday the shrimp died under full lighting (4x65 pc) so I would think a predator that I have not seen would not be the culprit because it was not at night but who knows. Thanks for the help
Derek

 

[Anonymous]

dude i honestly don't think it's anything to do with tank conditions or water parameters. it is possible, but if the shrimp are fine one minute and toast the next ... that's not the slow "crapulating" process that is usually evident when an animal is being poisoned or otherwise made ill from the environment.

i've heard of people having all kinds of predators in their tank, some only being discovered 6 months to a year later. do you hear any clicking at night? maybe it's a mantis shrimp. they are the debbil, and quite good at avoiding even red or black lights.

also, i usually acclimate my livestock for 2-3x as long ...

 

[Jolieve]

It's also possible that the one last night died of a bad molt. I lost one of my cleaners to a bad molt. Came out of the new skin deformed... and my cleaner shrimp are fairly large (meaning old) so he didn't recover from it.

J.

 

[shy07guy]

Ok thanks for the advice. I dont here any clicking I had a pistol shrimp when I first started but got rid of him cuz he was pinching at snials when they came onto the rock. So maybe this just had a bad molt. Also from dealing with this previoulsy I know there is some parasite that attacks shrimp and makes black dots on them does anyone know where I can get a pic of this. The one that died had some black spots but they were inside of him and looked more like his internal oragans then anything else. Thanks
Derek

 

[Anonymous]

Hwarangs totally right man...what do you have in your tank other than decorative shrimp? its like red lobster in your tank and something is getting an all you can eat shrimp deal....

 

[shy07guy]

I only have the two peppermints and now the one cleaners as well as hermits and snails. I just added my first fish today that was a red firefish. I havent heard any clicking or other signs that I have a mantis all my crabs and snails are still acounted for. Who knows maybe I am just cursed with the cleaners! Thanks agian any other ideas and I will keep and eye for a predator.
Derek