Whats killing my shrimp???

[Alysiak00]

Hello all. I had 2 peppermints and a cleaner in my 20 and now they're all dead. 2 were dead one day about 3 weeks ago and the other pepper just croaked this morning. I wonder if it had anything to do with him molting 2 days ago or if I have a pest. Any ideas?

[ritter6788]

Are you finding the bodies or are they just dissapearing?

[Alysiak00]

I'm finding the bodies :(

[CRASHJT]

Could there be copper in the tank??

[Alysiak00]

None

[FrankenReef]

Are there places where the shrimp can hide when they molt? The damsels could be killing them while they are soft.

[Reefman29]

Is there enough iodine for molting? They could be squeezed to death because they can't molt because of the lack of iodine. Are your tank parameters high?

[CRASHJT]

no crazy temp or salinity swings??

[Alysiak00]

Everything is ok with no swings. Maybe ur right with the damsels

[ReefMan1111]

what was the temp. I lost 1 when the temp was over 80

[Logzor]

Are you sure it wasn't just a molt casing? Sometimes they look A LOT like the actual shrimp, considering it was their entire exoskeleton.

[Alysiak00]

I'm sure. It had meat on it lol.

[King_Richard]

I know how ya feel, I just lost a cleaner shrimp who seemed perfectly healthy. My param's are in check also and although not sure how to get them to successfully molt each time they do. I'm thinking of buying the small ones if I can find them since they are supposed to be hardier when molting. I was just wondering how big yours were, because the one I had was almost full grown and I believe mine died because it was unable to get out of it's molt completely.

And be carefull with peppermint shrimp, I used to have one but I sumped it when I caught it eating my zoo's, as a result, I'll never get one again.