Dead shrimp? or not.

[dansemacabre]

I found my tiny pistol shrimp that came with the LR about a month ago. Wow! He's doubled in size at least. Hiding in a cave in the rock. Anyways, I went looking at my tank again, and I saw what appeared to be a crystal-clear shrimp. It was on its side near the pump. It didn't look like anything was "inside." Is it a shrimp exoskeleton? Or is it a dead shrimp? I know there are several other shrimp that I've not seen since the rock was put in the sump. One was a large shrimp that I believed to be a female pistol. Another shrimp actually played dead the entire time in the tupperware container. He'd wash around, never moving, but always ended up right-side-up. So I figured what the heck, I dropped it in, it sunk to about halfway, quickly righted itself, and swam off into the rocks. It had red and white bands, from left to right, the entire length of his body. Any idea what this bugger was? and does anyone know if that's a dead shrimp or just a shed? Thanks!

 

[XXFirefighter]

IT's probally his old shell and he molted and has a new shell. He will hide for a few days untill it's hard again.

 

[quarryshark]

Agreed, he molted. Thats a very good sign. The second shrimp, if it was a hitchhiker, could be a Mantis.

 

[markh30]

When a shrimp molts, you will want to leave the clear skeleton where it lies. Believe it or not, the shrimp will eat it. It puts something back into their system - I'm thinking it's calcium. I've read about this and have seen it first hand. kind gross actually.

 

[dansemacabre]

I've not seen the red/white stripe guy for some time....HOWEVER, tonight, as I looked in...there _IT_ was. A Mantis...looking right at me. We seemed to study each other...for a moment. He didn't dart away, he kinda slinked off. He's about 3" long. So, now comes the fun task of catching him. Any ideas? :x

 

[XXFirefighter]

I've not seen the red/white stripe guy for some time....HOWEVER, tonight, as I looked in...there _IT_ was. A Mantis...looking right at me. We seemed to study each other...for a moment. He didn't dart away, he kinda slinked off. He's about 3" long. So, now comes the fun task of catching him. Any ideas? :x

Look for the rock he goes into and then dip the rock !

 

[dansemacabre]

carbonation dip, hyper-salinity, what? I don't wanna kill the cool critters I've got already, so I'm thinking I should probably go the normal-salinity-carboated-water dip? I saw him again! He was hiding in the other shrimp's usual spot. He managed to escape, but I'm waiting to find the rock he's in so I can at least isolate him to the 5gal bucket.

 

[fishfreek]

THe description is a shrimp molt.

 

[24 hours? NE!]

New addition, FF? If so, congratulations!

Dansem, check out the various posts about traps for the mantis. It's at least worth a try before you go yanking things out.

 

[dansemacabre]

It's rock that was in the sump, the main tank is just coming back online after a leak, so it would have to be moved anyways. I got the rock he's in in a 5gal bucket, w/ heater. I'm gonna grab some CO2 water tomorrow and see if I can get him out, and then it's off to the lfs.

 

[XXFirefighter]

Here is how I dipped my LR from LRs.com

5 gallon pail with approx 4 gallons of RO water.
About 1-1.2 cups of salt per gallon... SUPER salty !
heated water to only 70or so...

Dipped rock for 1 min and stuff came RUNNIN OUT !
Grabbed QUICK what I wanted to keep and the other stuff into a pitcher of "good" water...

 

[dansemacabre]

Caught the little bugger. He's in a 5gal bucket recooperating from the trauma of being caught. I think he'll be fine. Gotta see if a LFS will take him, if not, anybody want a mantis shrimp? =]

 

[Aztlan]

Someone under classifieds forum wants a mantis.

 

[dansemacabre]

LFS wants him. He's goin on Friday.

PS - Cool pic of the "Sun Stone"

 

[MarkW19]

I've just removed the molted skin from my 2 cleaners, not knowing what to do with it. Should I put it back in (it's been out of the tank now for about 15mins), or just discard it?