Could I help him?

[anabechara]

Hello there!
My cleaner shrimp molted last night and today he looks like a truck ran him over... he is missing his hind legs, his antennae are wrinkled and thin and he can barely move...
I have been keeping am eye on him waiting to see if he will harden throughout the day but nothing...
In my last feeding of the day, I turned the pumps off and threw some food his way and he did eat a lot.
Nobody has bothered him so far... but who knows what the night might bring...

Is there something that I can do to help him? Or is he doomed?
Thank you!!

 

[RedoubtReef]

he looks fine to me. They're designed to go through this process.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Hello there!
My cleaner shrimp molted last night and today he looks like a truck ran him over... he is missing his hind legs, his antennae are wrinkled and thin and he can barely move...
I have been keeping am eye on him waiting to see if he will harden throughout the day but nothing...
In my last feeding of the day, I turned the pumps off and threw some food his way and he did eat a lot.
Nobody has bothered him so far... but who knows what the night might bring...

Is there something that I can do to help him? Or is he doomed?
Thank you!!

If you're worried about predation while it's injured, then you could move it to your sump or a breeder box or something to keep it safe - as long as it gets enough good food and good water quality, it should recover over a few molts.

 

[anabechara]

If you're worried about predation while it's injured, then you could move it to your sump or a breeder box or something to keep it safe - as long as it gets enough good food and good water quality, it should recover over a few molts.

Thank you!
I have been making sure that he gets plenty of food!
Since he is quite mobile nobody has been bothering him... so I will live him in the corner he chose to stay. I bought some special food for shrimps I read might help him as well.

what do you think about dosing iodine and iron to the tank? I also read that they could be lacking those when they have a bad molt... but I am afraid I don't have a tester for those metals and I don't want to cause toxicity for the rest of fishies and corals...

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Thank you!
I have been making sure that he gets plenty of food!
Since he is quite mobile nobody has been bothering him... so I will live him in the corner he chose to stay. I bought some special food for shrimps I read might help him as well.

what do you think about dosing iodine and iron to the tank? I also read that they could be lacking those when they have a bad molt... but I am afraid I don't have a tester for those metals and I don't want to cause toxicity for the rest of fishies and corals...

Personally, I'm not sure on the iodine and iron. Some people are convinced that iodine helps with molting, but I haven't looked into much yet. So, here's what Randy says about it (both quotes below are taken from the same thread, with Randy replying to JNalley):

@Randy Holmes-Farley I was under the impression that crustaceans needed iodine as part of their molting, is this not the case?

It's a widely held notion in the aquarium hobby, but the evidence that invertebrates need iodine in the water is not clear.

The evidence seems to stem from the observation that when dosing some types of iodine, some inverts will be spurred to molt. Whether that is because they like the iodine, or are trying to get rid of it is another question.

With regards to dosing iron, I haven't heard of inverts needing iron specifically, so I'm not sure if it would help or not (I haven't looked into it much). That said, a lot of algae species tend to be iron limited, so you may see increased algae growth with dosing iron:

I don’t agree with this. It is not dangerous (unless you may include encouraging pests like algae), and is demonstrably useful in some tanks (the owner of ReefCentral added iron on my advice and within 1 day his caulerpa was much darker green and grew faster over the next week).

Personally, as long as your water parameters are stable, I wouldn't worry too much about the iodine or iron.

 

[jabberwock]

Thank you!
I have been making sure that he gets plenty of food!
Since he is quite mobile nobody has been bothering him... so I will live him in the corner he chose to stay. I bought some special food for shrimps I read might help him as well.

what do you think about dosing iodine and iron to the tank? I also read that they could be lacking those when they have a bad molt... but I am afraid I don't have a tester for those metals and I don't want to cause toxicity for the rest of fishies and corals...

Are you leaving the molt in the tank? They typically eat it to restore lost nutrients.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I dose Iron and Iodine regularly as part of my Red Sea trace elements regime. If you stick with their guidelines you should be fine. I do not have any idea if it will help in your case, but it is not going to hurt him or your corals. I have lost more crustaceans to bad molts than anything else. The fact he is moving and eating well is a good sign.

 

[anabechara]

Are you leaving the molt in the tank? They typically eat it to restore lost nutrients.

I do. And they dispose of it within a few hours!

My sweet Shrimp Albertito overcame his issues after 2 more molts he recovered his legs and is now looking gorgeous!
The only thing I did was ensure that he was getting enough food where he was stuck when he didn't have legs... and also luckily none of the other tankmates bothered him...

 

[anabechara]

I dose Iron and Iodine regularly as part of my Red Sea trace elements regime. If you stick with their guidelines you should be fine. I do not have any idea if it will help in your case, but it is not going to hurt him or your corals. I have lost more crustaceans to bad molts than anything else. The fact he is moving and eating well is a good sign.

Thank you.
I am dosing the trace elements once per month according to their guidelines. I have read that some people swear by those trace elements and other people who hate them and other people say it is a waste of time... so I decided to add them once per month and so far my tank is doing well... so only time will tell...

 

[sfin52]

If you're worried about predation while it's injured, then you could move it to your sump or a breeder box or something to keep it safe - as long as it gets enough good food and good water quality, it should recover over a few molts.

Be very careful if moving him. With out a hardened exoskeleton they are very easy to damage.

 

[anabechara]

Be very careful if moving him. With out a hardened exoskeleton they are very easy to damage.

Thank you! I did not moved him... and thankfully he recovered well!

 

[sfin52]

Thank you! I did not moved him... and thankfully he recovered well!

Thats great.
For future readers.

Molting is extremely stressful to the animal. It's best to leave them alone after and during a molt. They are extremely valuable during and after this process. With out a hardened exoskeleton they are easily injured or killed. I would wait a min 72 hrs after a molt to make changes or move things in a tank.

 

[anabechara]

Thats great.
For future readers.

Molting is extremely stressful to the animal. It's best to leave them alone after and during a molt. They are extremely valuable during and after this process. With out a hardened exoskeleton they are easily injured or killed. I would wait a min 72 hrs after a molt to make changes or move things in a tank.

I am attaching a pic of my sweet shrimp doing great... (taken just now)
Thank you for your help @sfin52

 

[sfin52]

I am attaching a pic of my sweet shrimp doing great... (taken just now)
Thank you for your help @sfin52

Looks great. Happy it's doing so well.

You did a great job following your instincts.

 

[jabberwock]

I am attaching a pic of my sweet shrimp doing great... (taken just now)
Thank you for your help @sfin52

Great job! Glad it is well!

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Thank you.
I am dosing the trace elements once per month according to their guidelines. I have read that some people swear by those trace elements and other people who hate them and other people say it is a waste of time... so I decided to add them once per month and so far my tank is doing well... so only time will tell...

I didn't look at the time line of the post, I didn't realize it was a few months back. Glad he is doing well. As far as the trace elements go, The best way is to do an ICP test just to see where your regiment stands and if it is lacking anything. We can test for the major things, but there I feel it is good to know what else is going on, good or bad.

 

[anabechara]

I didn't look at the time line of the post, I didn't realize it was a few months back. Glad he is doing well. As far as the trace elements go, The best way is to do an ICP test just to see where your regiment stands and if it is lacking anything. We can test for the major things, but there I feel it is good to know what else is going on, good or bad.

Thank you!
By ICP test you mean the Reef ICP total test from Marin Fauna?

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Thank you!
By ICP test you mean the Reef ICP total test from Marin Fauna?

There are few different companies that do it, some with different benefits and price options. That is one of them, ATI is another and Triton also.