Two cleaners died :( ???

[shy07guy]

I have had two skunk cleaner shrimp in my tank for about 2 or 3 weeks. The first one molted at the begining of this week and was acting normal the next day however the 2nd one molted on thurs and I never saw him again. All I saw was the head portion of the molt that the other cleaner was eating. At the time I was happy knowing that both were healthy and molting. Over the next two days I searched all over the tank for the missing second cleaner but could not find him and still have not seen him. This moring I woke to find the first cleaner laying under a rock he was not his normal perky self and had most of his underbelly laying in the sand. I knew he was alive because his front legs were moving about and it looked like her was cleaning the sand bed. After I got out of the shower he was in the same spot but this time on his side and a snail was eating his dead body! I pulled him out to look to see if he had any signs of a fight but there was nothing he looked perfectly fine. So now I am concerned two shrimp have died in 2 or 3 days and I have no idea why. I am assuming the one that is still missing just got eaten somewhere that I could not see the body. I took the body to the LFS as well and there were confused as well. They said maybe a disease or something...? I have 2 pepermints which are doing fine and have paired up everything else in the tank looks great and so do all the tests so I have no idea... The cleaners were somewhat small the one i found this morning was 1.25 in and the other mayber .75 in both the pepermints are larger by just a little so I dont know if that makes a difference. Any ideas or guesses as to what happened would be greatly appreciated. If any other info is needed please let me know. I loved having the cleaners and would like to get 2 more but not until I can maybe get a clue as to what happened.
Thanks a bunch
Sincerely
Derek

 

[Anonymous]

what else is in the tank?
and how big is the tank?

 

[shy07guy]

The tank is 60 gal there are 2 pepermints, various snails and some red legged hermits as well as an electric blue hermit and an electric orange hermit

 

[cdeakle]

Havent used joesjuice recently have you?

 

[shy07guy]

I have never used Joe's juice.... what is it?
thanks
Derek

 

[shy07guy]

Here is an update. It has been more then a week since my first cleaner molted and about a week since the second one did so. The one I saw dead in the tank I removed while the other still has not shown up so by this time I am assuming he died after molting and was eating before I could see his body. I now have lost a pepermint shrimp as well. I came home on thurs and found a new molt in the back of the tank and figured one of my peps had molted since they were all that was left as far as shrimp, however I still I have not seen him. So up to now I have found three molts in the tank and each time a shrimp has dissapeared. I am down to just one pepermint who has not yet molted and comes out when just the actinics are on at night and cleans and pokes around the rocks and seems to be perfectly healthy. Has anyone lost 3 shrimp after molting just b/c or natural causes? I can not seem to find a predator in the tank unless the last pepermint was it but I dont know if that is a possibility or not? I test for ammonia, tirtes, trates, phos, CA ( a little low 350), PH, dissovled oxygen, and ALK all of which are in the correct range or 0. Am I missing something here I would really like to get 2 new cleaners but I am hesitinat until I can figure it this out. There are no fish in the tank only hermits and snails. Any ideas would be great Thanks
Sincerely
Derek

 

[Anonymous]

I smell a mantis here.. (or similar).

 

[shy07guy]

NOOOOO anything but that... I had one for a few months in my tank when it was first getting going and I would here the clicking when any snail was on the rock he called home. I finally ended up taking the rock out and did a fresh water dip and waited for him to come out.. he never did and I ended up having to kill everything on the rock ( just coraline for the most part) as I let it sit for a few days in the water. I actually still dont know if it was a pistol or mantis but whatever it was it is dead. Since then I have not heard anything is there something else that doesnt make noise to give it away? I watched the tank last night for an hour or so after the lights were out and could not see anything unusuall Thanks for the help seamaiden let me knwo if you have any ideas thanks

Sincerely
Derek

 

[alambers]

In fresh water aquaria the presence of iodine is required for shrimp and other species to molt and survive. I assume (yeah, I know) this requirement applies to marine environments as well.

How frequently do you do water changes? Do you add any supplements that have iodine in them?

My two cents...

 

[Deadhead1450]

Just for what it's worth, my shrimp are better at hiding than Navy Seals. I put 2 peppermints in my tank and they were not to be seen after 2 days. I figured they were lunch. About 10 months later, there they were hiding upsidedown in the rocks. My tank is in my office and MANY people looked everyday and didn't see the shrimp until 10 mos later.

Did you see both of them dead? Just a thought.

Mike

 

[Anonymous]

I smell a mantis here.. (or similar).

What do you mean by "similar"? I have had cleaners disappear in the past. Although I have not had shrimp for some tme, I plan to introduce a bunch as soon as I can get my hands on them (current shortage).

I have never seen any indication that I have a mantis in my tank, but I do know that there is at least one identified crab in there. The few times (very seldom) I have seen it, and I have only seen a part of it, it looks like it might be some sort of rock crab. Could this be a problem.

FWIW, I also have a very large sally lightfoot and a palm crab in the same tank.

 

[surfdawake]

i had a hitchhiker crab, and he took out, 1 fire shrimp, 2 cleaners, and a pepper, and all my hermits and most my snails, so yea, that may be it.....

 

[Anonymous]

i had a hitchhiker crab, and he took out, 1 fire shrimp, 2 cleaners, and a pepper, and all my hermits and most my snails, so yea, that may be it.....

I am starting to really believe that this is the problem. I added 2 cleaners earlier this week and I have not seen then for the last 2 days. I have had a few small fish disappear from time-to-time as well, but I did not think that was all that unusual because of the size of my tank (400g). A crab could explain alot.

I ordered an Exterminator trap. Anybody use one of these? Any tricks?

 

[Anonymous]

Being a predacious arthropod.. I do believe that would fall under the heading of "similar".

 

[Anonymous]

Update - the crab in question has been caught, at least I hope I got the right crab.

I have seen glimpes of this crab every once in a while and in different parts of the tank. Usually, I just see a part of a claw through a hole in the rock or between a rock and the sandbed. He seems to move around a lot since I have seen him in different parts of the tank.

Anyways, since deciding last week that this crab may be a problem, I went ahead and ordered an Xterminator trap. There is no way I was going to remove the 200-300 lbs of rock from my 400g just to catch one stinking little crab - no matter how many fish or shrimp he might be eating.

But in an unbelievable twist of luck, the little bugger was sitting right in front of the tank, tucked between the sandbed and the base of a large colt coral. A quick scoop of the net and he was captured. He now resides in the sump.

I have not a chance to ID him yet, but I can try and describe him. He has the same general shape as an emerald crab - rounded body with 2 large claws - but he was reddish/brown in color. I will try and match him up and let you know the correct ID. In the meantime, what do think? Is he the preditor?