Cleaner shrimp

[Vicki77]

Hi all
I've got a cleaner shrimp and he's been doing well. When I first introduced him to my tank he was shedding too much roughly every couple of weeks so started using aqua vitro calcification just 2ml per week as my tank is 60 litres. He started shedding on a monthly basis so not as often. I have had the shrimp for 10 weeks. The other day his yellow part of his body has turned a burn't orange colour. He hasn't shed for a while could this be the reason for the orange colour or could it be something else. Water quality is ph 8.2, amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 80. Salinity 1.025. The shrimp and fish are eating fine.

 

[reeffreak]

What I know is you should really work on lowering your nitrates.I'm not sure what that Vitro stuff is but it doesn't sound like it's helpful.There is evidence that iodine levels help promote proper molting in crustaceans.Most of us don't dose iodine nor check for it,usually regular waterchanges take care of any trace elements the fish,corals,crustaceans etc. might need.

 

[Bifferwine]

Nitrates at 80 are high enough to be fatal to inverts, especially shrimp. That could be causing some irreversible damage to your animals. The Aquavitro Calcification is just a calcium supplement -- and you shouldn't have to add that unless you have stony corals. That is just a waste of money at this point and I wouldn't bother with it. As long as you are doing regular water changes, your calcium levels will stay sufficient for the animals you have. You really should bump up your water changes to get those nitrates down in any case. If you have shrimp or other inverts, you don't want nitrates above 20.