# All my CRS keep "itching" themselves?



## Danimals (Sep 15, 2011)

At first I thought it was just a pre-cursor to them molting, but they seem to do it quite frequently and although there have been a fair number of molts, it's not necessarily the one's "itching" that are molting.

Could something be wrong with the water? Maybe a tiny parasite that I'm missing?

Parameters; I'm using Tetra EasyStrips and the Ammonia was tested using an API drop kit. I already know that strips aren't the most accurate diagnostic tools regarding water parameters, but at the same time I'm not trying to micro-manage my parameters to hell and back.

TDS: 256 (Still gradually lowering it with regular cuts of distilled water)
Temp: 71-75 F
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrates: 0 ppm
Nitrites: 0 ppm
GH: 75 ppm
KH: 30-35 ppm
PH: 6.5-6.8

Equipment:

Tank: Fluval Ebi
Lighting: 2x Fluval 13w CFL
Filter: Eheim 2213
Substrate: Fluval Plant Stratum

Stock: I'm probably going to transfer the RCS to my community tank once I stop being lazy.

Plants: Malaysian Driftwood with tied down Java moss, Clump of X-mas Moss? Marimo Ball, 2x Banana Plants
Livestock: 13 CRS (S - SSS), 2 RCS, 1 Black Mystery Snail


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

Itching? Describe it or post a video?


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## Danimals (Sep 15, 2011)

mordalphus said:


> Itching? Describe it or post a video?



The first picture up top kind of shows it...basically they're curling their tail forwards into the main body kind of like how you would see a cocktail shrimp.

I'll try to take another photo after I'm done cleaning up a bit.

::edit::

It kind of looks like they're scraping something off themselves or "itching"


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

Sounds like they are cleaning their back legs, which they sometimes do or getting ready to molt maybe.


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## Danimals (Sep 15, 2011)

GeToChKn said:


> Sounds like they are cleaning their back legs, which they sometimes do or getting ready to molt maybe.


Could it be that they're just getting used to my tank? They seem to be doing it quite frequently...

I got about 8 CRS this morning and before that I had just 5 of them + the 2 RCS.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

They're cleaning their swimmerettes


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## antbug (May 28, 2010)

mordalphus said:


> They're cleaning their swimmerettes


 
+1. That's what it sounds like to me. But don't trust me, Liam is the shrimp pimp!


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## Danimals (Sep 15, 2011)

mordalphus said:


> They're cleaning their swimmerettes


Do they do that often or is it something in my water that's making them?


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## antbug (May 28, 2010)

It's just something they do. Nothing to worry about.


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## zdnet (Aug 13, 2010)

Based on what is shown in the following close-up:










I believe they are cleaning their telson or uropodes.

BTW, when I saw the word "itching", I thought of the following:


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## shrimpzoo (Sep 27, 2011)

zdnet said:


> BTW, when I saw the word "itching", I thought of the following:


Hey I was thinking that too... what does that action mean for the Shrimp (I've seen my Shrimp do it once in awhile)? Now that we have the original question answered ;o


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

They are just grooming themselves, keeping the bacteria on their body surface under control.


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