Is this shell disease??? (P. Ciliata

deboM3

deboM3

New member
I found this guy at a LFS tonight, and snapped this pics. He was in a little 5g? tank and had no rocks to hide. He didnt look too good, but I might be willing to try to save him. Should I buy him?????? Does he have shell disease??? Also, do you think he would kill a 1.5 inch blue damsel????? He is just under 3 inches...


Here is a picture
mantis131Medium.jpg


Thanks in advance everyone
 
that doesn' look good. If he isn't too expensive I would take him in. He's a cute one. If it molted very soon (If that is shell disease) It MIGHT survive. I wouldn't bet on it. But he has a better chance in your tank I'm guessing.....
 
It looks similar, but knive's spots are not nearly as dark and are much smaller than that Ciliata's spot. Also I belive knives will molt soon. However, knives spots are a white ring around a darker spot, Like I see in that mantis (unless the dark spot is algae on the glass)
 
eee.... that doesn't look great. If you go ahead and save that P. ciliata, Id suggest putting him in his own tank. I wouldn't trust a lfs who lets a mantis get in that bad a shape. If you don't buy though (please?), could you do the mantis a favour and tell the lfs to throw some LR in there and soak its frozen foods in a supplement?
 
Pea-brain,

Thats not alae, I remembered your description and thinking that this one looked similar. Ill keep checking your thread to see if there are any updates. Best of luck...

I dont really have a hospital tank or anything to put it in. I just have two tanks, one is FOWLR, and the other is going to be a mantis tank but it has a blue damsel in it for the time being.

I will definitly tell the lfs to give it someplace to hide, and soak the food in a supplement.

Its really frustrating, because the pet store i go to normally has a mantis on order for me, but I guess they are having a hard time getting one from the wholeseller, and i refuse to pay anything more than 30 bucks.

I wish he was in good health =0/
 
Thanks. I am pretty sure that if I can keep the water in good shape, and keep the feeding up until he molts he will come out fine. I hope that poor mantis from the LFS comes out ok. Also good luck obtaining a mantis from that other place :)

Also, is it me or is P. ciliata coming up more and more on the forum lately? Since I have one maybe I'm just noticing it now.....
 
Hey debo, where'd you see this fella? I was in at chris' LFS and he mentioned your order they had one G. chigara there. i picked her up and she's absolutely ferocious, but pitch black.

if you don't mind i might want to take a shot at the p. ciliata if you dont' want it...
 
Ill let you know. If it wasnt in such bad condition i would have bought it today. Did you have an order in there too or just walk in and see it?
 
I've had an order for "lime green mantis" (g. smithii) that over the months has transformed into ANY mantis that they can find! I'm going up north to the bay area and am going to call around again. found one last weekend up there, and I called at least 15 or 16 stores before someone had one. Drove up the 200 miles and guess what? PISTOL SHRIMP! argh.

Hey, have you tried ordering mantis shrimp from any other stores in the area? They might have different suppliers with healthier shrimp. The two I got from A Adventures were/are both sketchy. One had a parasite and this Chiragra has stretched out, unhealthy looking ventral "melting armor".
 
Well i just picked this guy up a few hours ago, and he is now in my tank. He seems pretty active as he is exploring his new habitat.

So as for food, I should soak frozen krill or silversides in selcon and feed that??? Is there anything else I can do to help him get past the shell disease?

(I am still not sure that it is shell disease, im just assuming)
 
Keep your water Clean Clean Clean.
Feed an assortment of foods like Silversides, Krill, scallops, fresh fish, squid all soaked in Selcon. You can also feed it inexpencive live damsels. :D
Keep heart, the reason my G. chigra is named Hairy is because he was sporting an algae mowhawk when I got him (along with some spots of shell rot) and he has been with me for well over a year now.
And he is back to sporting the bald look, thankfully.
 
Hey Thurge, what is shell rot??? Maybe that is what this poor guy has because it doesnt quite look like the shell disease that ive seen in Dr. Roy's gallery. Also, he has one leg that is all bent up and non-functional.

I will keep the lights off more than normal, and definitly soak the food i give him in selcon.

Thanks for the advice guys, and heres some pictures just for fun...

fish078Medium.jpg

fish086Medium.jpg

fish091Medium.jpg
 
Isn't shell rot the same thing as the shell disease? I thought it was.

I like that last pic. The mantis is looking across the divider almost longingly... "mmm, damsel"
 
lol, yeah my GF would kill me if anything happened to that damsel. I didnt know that shell disease and shell rot were the same thing.
 
Thats shell rot/disease.

Go tell your GF that she has two choices. She can go tank shopping with you so the Damsel has a safe home, or she can kiss the fish good bye. You can SEE the drool in the second picture, and she will probably figure out how to get to the other side.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9288007#post9288007 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Thurge
She can go tank shopping with you so the Damsel has a safe home,
Click to expand...

yeah she is, the netting is only temperary. Im planning on getting another live feeder damsel in a week maybe...
 
It is my understanding that live foods are healthier than frozen and freeze dried. I would suggest feeding the fish a very healthy diet (maybe brine shrimp soaked in selcon) to make it as nutritional as possible. I believe its called gut loading in the reptile world ;)
 
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