shrimp molted after being acclimated

[rookie07]

I just acclimated 2 harlequin shrimp. I did the pour 1 cup of tank water into the bag every 10 mins for about 2 hours....I emptied the bag twice and kept refilling.
Now, afetr being in the tank for about 2 hours, one of the harlys molted. What does this mean, is it b/c they are scared and feel threatened? Is the shell just a decoy to give them time to hide and find a new "home"


All parameters are within normal range.

Thanks

 

[vinny]

yea its common for it to happen when introduced to a new tank, my peppermint shrimps molted too.

 

[rookie07]

do your peppermint eat aptasia? before I use the chemical stuff, I would like to try the natural approach

 

[vinny]

not mine i dont have any, but yea they usually do eat them. not always though

 

[rookie07]

ive been told, that u must starve them for them to eat aptaisia, or that they will eat zoas before eating aptasia.... I guess Ill get one.

 

[BrooklynsReefMan1]

nah i feed my 1 peppermint mysis and he Pwned 2 aiptasia already lol tru story

 

[ellebelle]

Phil, in my experience peppermint shrimp only eat zoas if they see mysis in them. It's like they don't know quite when to stop... they'll start eating the zoanthids to get the mysis and then end up eating both. if you feed while the lights are on, that shouldn't happen (peppermints are nocturnal).

I had a huge aiptasia outbreak while I was away. I added three peppermints, fed the tank lightly in the mornings - basically, enough for the fish and stayed away from spot feeding anything - and they destroyed the aiptasia population. I saw them slowly disappear in an expanding ring from their little hidey-hole. Haven't seen a trace in my tank since. I think one of mine died, but I still have two. They mate and release eggs all the time - free fish food!

If you don't want to use chemicals to kill the aiptasia and peppermints aren't doing the job for you, you could try boiling water or white vineagar. In either case, results are better if you can get a syringe with a metal needle. You need to get your agent of destruction all the way into the body of the anemone, and aim for where it is attached to the rock. When you're done with destruction, try scraping the rock in that spot a little if you can, just to get it all gone.

 

[rookie07]

thanks

 

[al0ha]

lol my peppermint always molts and it eats like a pig, swims up and competes with the lone false perc for food