I’m concerned about my blood red fire shrimp

[Sethdarkus]

He hasn’t molted in 2 months and he use to molt monthly, he very active and readily accepts large sinking omega pellets that he grabs from my hand and takes it off to his cavern to eat alone and away from Duke my loveable all ways hungry Falco Hawkfish who I worry would jump out of the tank for food. He loves small floating omega pellets. Only change is I began using nutri seawater for 2 water changes a month and coral pro the other 2 weeks instead of using nutri seawater every week. I’m getting much more coralline algae growth on my rock. However I did notice his left claw has gained the same size as his right. When I got him his left was a stump. So it’s possible he has molted and I haven’t noticed. I got him at a Petco during a week of bad weather and he was paired with a coral branded shrimp at the time. He been a very happy active shrimp and actually comes up to the glass as if to greet me

 

[RMS18]

He hasn’t molted in 2 months and he use to molt monthly, he very active and readily accepts large sinking omega pellets that he grabs from my hand and takes it off to his cavern to eat alone and away from Duke my loveable all ways hungry Falco Hawkfish who I worry would jump out of the tank for food. He loves small floating omega pellets. Only change is I began using nutri seawater for 2 water changes a month and coral pro the other 2 weeks instead of using nutri seawater every week. I’m getting much more coralline algae growth on my rock. However I did notice his left claw has gained the same size as his right. When I got him his left was a stump. So it’s possible he has molted and I haven’t noticed. I got him at a Petco during a week of bad weather and he was paired with a coral branded shrimp at the time. He been a very happy active shrimp and actually comes up to the glass as if to greet me

A molting shrimp can be a good sign and also a bad sign. Shrimp can molt under stress, they also molt when they grow. Mine used to molt monthly, but they would also mate monthly as well and since my parameters were always stable it was safe to say they were not molting due to stress. Iodine is important to their molting, and with regular water changes this should be replenished which is why most will molt the night after a water change. I would check the iodine levels in the tank and go from there.

 

[Sethdarkus]

A molting shrimp can be a good sign and also a bad sign. Shrimp can molt under stress, they also molt when they grow. Mine used to molt monthly, but they would also mate monthly as well and since my parameters were always stable it was safe to say they were not molting due to stress. Iodine is important to their molting, and with regular water changes this should be replenished which is why most will molt the night after a water change. I would check the iodine levels in the tank and go from there.

Iodide is the only thing I don’t have a test kit for however I do have increasing coralline growth and I think he may of been molting without me noticing because his left claw is now the same size as the right. Once my 40 gallon is set up I may try to see if I can get him to pair up with another fire red, think it would be enough space to avoid issues