EMERGENCY Hurting a cleaner shrimp during acclimation, do I move it?

  • Thread starter Thread starter 00pflint
  • Start date Start date
  • Tagged users Tagged users None

00pflint

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 5, 2025
Messages
54
Reaction score
17
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I bought a cleaner shrimp and didn't realize it had an isopod on it until I got home. I looked it up and found many mixed answers as to whether to remove it and looked up some videos and it looked easy enough so I tried it. I got under it but couldn't get it out and I think the carapace got punctured. He went into shock and stayed upside down for awhile but then righted himself. And it's now clinging to a heater I had in the acclimation pot. I've seen him grooming but he's not moving much. In the pot he has a heater, an air stone, and filter media from my display tank. I'm not sure whether to leave him in the pot for now or move him into a breeder box in the DT. I have no other shrimp so I'm not worried about it spreading. I'm sure he'll probably die but I want to give him the best chance. I'm worried about evaporation and salt creep from the air stone messing with the salinity too much of I leave him but I'm worried about excess stress if I move him. What do I do?
 
I bought a cleaner shrimp and didn't realize it had an isopod on it until I got home. I looked it up and found many mixed answers as to whether to remove it and looked up some videos and it looked easy enough so I tried it. I got under it but couldn't get it out and I think the carapace got punctured. He went into shock and stayed upside down for awhile but then righted himself. And it's now clinging to a heater I had in the acclimation pot. I've seen him grooming but he's not moving much. In the pot he has a heater, an air stone, and filter media from my display tank. I'm not sure whether to leave him in the pot for now or move him into a breeder box in the DT. I have no other shrimp so I'm not worried about it spreading. I'm sure he'll probably die but I want to give him the best chance. I'm worried about evaporation and salt creep from the air stone messing with the salinity too much of I leave him but I'm worried about excess stress if I move him. What do I do?
13b64b48-0ac9-4dee-8cbb-e36f3e3b64e7.png
This was before attempting the surgery
 
I bought a cleaner shrimp and didn't realize it had an isopod on it until I got home. I looked it up and found many mixed answers as to whether to remove it and looked up some videos and it looked easy enough so I tried it. I got under it but couldn't get it out and I think the carapace got punctured. He went into shock and stayed upside down for awhile but then righted himself. And it's now clinging to a heater I had in the acclimation pot. I've seen him grooming but he's not moving much. In the pot he has a heater, an air stone, and filter media from my display tank. I'm not sure whether to leave him in the pot for now or move him into a breeder box in the DT. I have no other shrimp so I'm not worried about it spreading. I'm sure he'll probably die but I want to give him the best chance. I'm worried about evaporation and salt creep from the air stone messing with the salinity too much of I leave him but I'm worried about excess stress if I move him. What do I do?
I moved him, I guess we'll see how he is in the morning
 
3am (to me) was a tough time for that to happen.

Fingers crossed the shrimp makes it.
 
I bought a cleaner shrimp and didn't realize it had an isopod on it until I got home. I looked it up and found many mixed answers as to whether to remove it and looked up some videos and it looked easy enough so I tried it. I got under it but couldn't get it out and I think the carapace got punctured. He went into shock and stayed upside down for awhile but then righted himself. And it's now clinging to a heater I had in the acclimation pot. I've seen him grooming but he's not moving much. In the pot he has a heater, an air stone, and filter media from my display tank. I'm not sure whether to leave him in the pot for now or move him into a breeder box in the DT. I have no other shrimp so I'm not worried about it spreading. I'm sure he'll probably die but I want to give him the best chance. I'm worried about evaporation and salt creep from the air stone messing with the salinity too much of I leave him but I'm worried about excess stress if I move him. What do I do?
Just as an update, he ended up dying, it was not as easy as all of the videos I found made it look. I think I should have just left it be but too little too late
 
3am (to me) was a tough time for that to happen.

Fingers crossed the shrimp makes it.
Yeah it happened earlier and I just thought he was going to recover based on the improvements but he ended up passing. I didn't know to watch out for that but I will always be inspecting shrimp before buying now
 

TOP 10 Trending Threads

WHAT’S USUALLY THE FIRST CLUE THAT SOMETHING IS OFF IN YOUR REEF?

  • A fish’s behavior or appetite changes

    Votes: 5 9.8%
  • A coral looks different or stops opening normally

    Votes: 34 66.7%
  • Water clarity or surface appearance changes

    Votes: 7 13.7%
  • Equipment sounds or flow seem different

    Votes: 6 11.8%
  • A test result catches my attention

    Votes: 13 25.5%
  • Algae or other growth starts changing

    Votes: 11 21.6%
  • I usually notice when the problem is already obvious

    Votes: 3 5.9%
  • It depends on what’s going on

    Votes: 9 17.6%
  • Other (Post in the comments)

    Votes: 1 2.0%
Back
Top
Home
Post thread…
Market
What's new