Bad molt!!

[Ab3]

Ive had my mantis for almost two months and he just molted over the weekend. He looked fine yesterday but today both of his arms came off. Im very sad what should I do. I always fed him hermits, snails and mithrax crabs so why did they still fall off??

 

[justinl]

you feed a good staple diet so nothing wrong there. one thing to note is that immediately after a molt you should be feeding soft stuff like shrimp or krill for a bit. otherwise a still-soft rap may get damaged on a hard shell.

there's a large number of things that could go wrong with a molt so take your pick.

don't worry too much. they will grow back over a few molts... maybe 3-4. to speed up the process, feed every day (remove uneaten food) and soak all frozen feedings in a marine food supplment like selcon. do not dose iodine. if you want you can reduce photoperiod.

 

[Ab3]

how long should the photoperiod be? Hes only about 2.5 inches, could I move him to a 2.5g tank?

 

[justinl]

well if you have anyhting that is dependent on the light in there (like corals), dont bother changing the photoperiod. it's not that big a deal. otherwise, i think as low as 4-5 hours would do well.

i would not move the thing as that will stress it out a lot.