Skunk Cleaner Shrimp died =(

[Kinetic]

The first animal I had in my tank other than snails and hermits was a skunk cleaner shrimp. After 1.5 years it's dead =(

Sucks I feel so sad.

What is the life expectancy for shrimp? Was it just time? I'm pretty sure it was full grown, I haven't seen any bigger before.

 

[4jlong]

sorry to hear that dude

 

[jdieck]

Sorry about that. Like expectancy is longer than a year and a half but they are delicate animals that might have trouble, (specially molting) regardless of your level of care.
In other words it just happend some times.

 

[Elite]

Sorry to hear that Art!!

How big was it when you got it?

 

[Kinetic]

it was almost full size when I got it, and within 3 months of me having him he already grew to full size. At least he molted numerous times after that and never got bigger, so I figured it's been more than a year that he's been this size.

I did notice his body getting more transparent and clearer recently...

 

[NanoClown]

thank sucks =(

 

[jdieck]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9666699#post9666699 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kinetic

I did notice his body getting more transparent and clearer recently...

Were you dosing Iodine? Some believe they need iodine to facilitate molting.
Were you target feeding him? They eat a lot and target feeding pieces of scallop or cooked shrimp are readily taken.

 

[Kinetic]

I didn't use Iodine, basically just weekly water changes =P

He was getting hungry because I added an extra skimmer, much more flow, in a BB prop tank.

I started feeding him by hand since the fish would get it all before it would float down to the bottom.

But recently I cut down to feeding my fish every other day, not sure if that did it or not =/ but i had done that for about 4 months last year as well.

 

[DarkXerox]

I dunno, they seem to max out at about 2 years. That's why I got my last one at a smaller size than normal hoping it was younger.

 

[otterpop510]

i've also read that iodine helps with shrimp as well as potentially zoas.. in addition to two part i only dose mg and iodine, seems to keep everyone happy in my tank..

and yeah, i also try to buy shrimp smaller, figuring that they have more lifespan to live out.. though not sure how long they live either..

 

[otterpop510]

hey darkxerox, great thread on italian sps tanks a couple months back (TOTM).. amazing tanks out there, did you actually get a chance to see any of them in person?..

 

[650-IS350]

Yup ave. life expectancy on a cleaner is roughly 2 years from what I've read and heard... So basically enjoy em' while you have em'

 

[sfsuphysics]

Wow surprised you noticed it. Me I usually don't notice when shrimp go missing. I had some peppermints I never saw for a whole year, and they were somewhat active/visible at feeding time, then didn't realize until I moved tanks there was one still alive when it fell onto the floor.

My coral banded I think is dead too, I haven't seen him in ages. And I really don't have that much rockwork in my tank.

 

[DarkXerox]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9667074#post9667074 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by otterpop510
hey darkxerox, great thread on italian sps tanks a couple months back (TOTM).. amazing tanks out there, did you actually get a chance to see any of them in person?..

Actually the only person I met up with was Bisck who taught me how to make pappone, what the blu coral method was, and showed me his systems. I kinda didn't try to seek out all the reefers, what with being in Italy and all lol. Just too much other stuff to see.

 

[Ti]

wow only 2 yrs.

 

[darcitananda]

I'm pretty sure I've had skunk cleaners last at least 2-3 years, maybe even longer (i don't think I'm imagining this). If you are doing regular water changes, there should be enough iodine in the water without dosing extra. They are really sensitive to changes in salinity though, did you have any incident which may have stressed him in that way? Maybe he was just getting old, time to move on to bigger oceans. Sorry for your loss.