Cleaner Shrimp Shedding Problem

[natwood]

I just witnessed my cleaner shrimp shedding for the first time, I've never seen it happen before..I;ve only found the evidence in the past. It snapped in half and then fired itself out of it's old skin backwards..very interesting to watch! But then it just lay on the sand completely motionless, and slowly my bristleworms started to edge their way over. One even grabbed it's tail and I had to help the shrimp to get away from it. It was moving around a little bit..well..jumping away from any bristleworms that were after it, so I've put it in a net now floating on top of my tank so it's not got to battle the worms. Is this normal? Do they normally go all lifeless when they've just shed?!

 

[ozzie2011]

Something must be in the air

My Boxer shed last night. I have a cleaner too, to be honest they normally stay out the way for a couple of days until they harden up again. As for lifeless, I should think it takes a lot out of them. The worms probably just sensed an easy meal? Hope it recovers for you

 

[GrayScale]

If they are similar to fw shrimp, after shedding the shrimp are vulnerable and release some sort of "scent" into the water that most fish will pick up on and know it's vulnerable. So it'll probably hide out for a day or two then come back out and resume normal behavior.

 

[lewiss]

He should be ok, but I've lost a few shrimp and it's always after a shed, they become very weak and are vulnerable to te elements - check your stats and temp and if they're fine - all you can do is wait and see.
Really hope he's ok!!

 

[natwood]

Unfortunately the shrimp died a few hours later : ( ! I'd had him about a year aswell. The first thing I added to my tank I think! RIP Pierre.

 

[lewiss]

That's exactly what happened to me, and my shrimp was called Pierre too!!! Sorry to hear mate, very sad when that happens.