I think my mantis didn't survive the molt.

[Anonymous]

She stopped eating and closed up her cave 3 weeks ago. Haven't seen or heard her since.

I am in a state of mourning.

 

[Anonymous]

Same thing happened to my last one, man...I'm very sorry to hear that.



Peace,

Chip

 

[cdeakle]

That sucks, you have such a beauty too!!

Don't loose hope yet though, I have heard of a mantis taking 2-3 weeks in hiding during a molt before. Please keep us updated brutha...

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah I think she would have been super pretty after a few more molts. I'll maintain the tank as-is for another week or sob but I'm not hopeful. I'll probably use the rubble from there and some of the substrate to start my little tiny red-sea mini.

Maybe I'll put that mini on my desk at work. Hmm ... I bet by the time the weekend was over, it'd be dry though. LOL.

 

[Anonymous]

Thats discouraging to hear...i found out that mine is a N. Wennerae too.. I suspected that or G. Smithii..Im hoping if mine molts, it will be ok... sorry to hear your bad news...

 

[Unarce]

Sorry to hear that, Hwarang.

Now, what could have caused this? Is this a common occurance with Mantis Shrimp? Fortunately, this hasn't happened to any crustaceans in my care and I'm thinking it's because I maintain my iodine with Lugol's, which helps them molt properly.

What do you think happened?

 

[Anonymous]

Well according to Dr. Caldwell it may be caused by improper water conditions, but that is a general blanket statement. And I feel pretty safe in saying it wasn't my water. I test it all the time, am diligent about the salinity and topping it off, the LPS and soft corals in the tank are thriving, I use a good reef salt, I test the "clean" water from my RO filter ... all that jazz.

Also I think Dr. Caldwell has said that there can be other causes, and that it is sometimes common, and that he has experienced this occassionally in the lab ... I'm not sure exactly so maybe I'll head over to RC and see if I can find any posts from him about it.

 

[Anonymous]

P.S. for future references a lack of Iodine will cause improper molting resulting in at worst death of a shrimp/crab...So this does reinforce Reefnutz's statement with using Lugols..i use Kents..and i only supp every two weeks..ive noticed it does promote better molts...My CB molts every month or so give or take a week or two, usually after i use the Iodine...

 

[Anonymous]

Well I guess there is some debate about that. Some say that it's too easy to overdose iodine, and that it's best to buy a good salt mix w/ iodine in it. That's what I did. Anyhow, I haven't had any other crustaceans bite the dust from a bad molt.

I guess maybe the next time I'm in the LFS I will see about picking up a bottle of iodine ... but I'll probably dose very judiciously (under-dose a bit).

 

[KLN]

Does anyone know the iodine level of Instant Ocean? I do 10 gallon water changes weekly in a 75 gallon system. Would you expect that to maintain adequate iodine?

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Yes i underdose btw..i dont put in as much as the bottle says...

 

[Unarce]

Ditto on the underdose.