sick cleaner shrimp

Question
I have a very small SW tank with 2 small clownfish and 1 domino damsel and 1 small anemone and 1 cleaner shrimp.  We have 1 live rock as well.  For the past two days the shrimp has kinda just been staying in one place and not really moving.  He just molted yesterday and I thought that maybe thats why he was being so still. But today he is still being pretty much a loner and not doing too much moving at all.  We have some green hair algae in our tank as well (what can we do to get rid of it?) but I was told that doesnt hurt any of the fish.  I'm very new to this and I dont know what to do?  I checked pH and it was 8.4 and all other levels were 0 except the nitrate and it was only 5. We did a partial water change on Sunday.  He was fine until wednesday.  SG was normal as well.  If you could help in any way I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks, Kim

Answer
Hi Kim. Usually when a cleaner shrimp molts its new exoskeleton is very soft. This makes it vulnerable to predators and can take up to three days to harden. The molted shell is often left somewhere out in the open almost as a diversion while the shrimp hides. The amount of energy it takes to go through this whole molting process is considerable and not all animals manage it successfully. It may take several days until it is back to normal. Give him a little time to recuperate. As for the green hair algea the best ways to control it is by hand picking some of it off, checking your phosphates and removing them with a phosphate absorbing media if needed, use of a good protein skimmer and utilizing some invertebrates to help in the clean up. A little bit in a tank is harmless but if not kept in check it can soon overwhelm an aquarium. Some good algae eating herbivores are; blue-leg hermit crabs, mexican redleg hermits, turbo snails, and emerald crabs. For hermits and snails the general stocking rule is 1 snail per three gallons. Although you can go a little higher!