Mantis Shrimp suddenly died

[lissampson]

My mantis shrimp died tonight. He was about 4 inches long. I really really liked him and want to figure out what happened. He was in a 20 gallon display refugium. The water perimeters looked good and he was behaving normally. Any ideas of what might have happened? Yesterday I put in some little pieces of LR rubble since he loved moving that and the macro algae into his cave.

The upclose picture of him draped over the rock is him dead. Does anyone see anything that might explain his death?

Temp: 79; Specific Gravity: 1/024; Ammonia: 0; Nitrite: 0; Nitrate: 10-20; PH: 8.2; Calcium: 400; KH: 143.2; Magnesium: 1080; Phosphate: .06

 

[nmotz]

Looks like he either had shell rot or a bad molt. There's some discoloration on the back of his shell and it's tough for me to say which it was. Sometimes the old exoskeleton cannot be shed and that causes death.

In terms of what caused it, can't be too sure. Nitrates 10-20 aren't terrible but it's better to run a low nutrient tank with a mantis. I'm surprised you had any nitrates with all that macroalgae in the tank. How long was your tank running? How long did you have your mantis?

Sorry this happened, it's a tough hobby sometimes.

 

[lissampson]

My main tank has been running since December. I added the refugium recently along with the mantis shrimp - about 2 weeks I guess. The mantis shrimp had been at my local fish store for at least 5 months (I had been drooling over him for a while now). When I first got him that discolored area had what looked like hair algae growing on it. The nitrates were a definitely a little high but I was do to do a water change today. Just not sure if I did something wrong.

Thanks for your post. I want another one but I am going to wait a while and see if I notice anything else with my tanks.

 

[nmotz]

My main tank has been running since December. I added the refugium recently along with the mantis shrimp - about 2 weeks I guess. The mantis shrimp had been at my local fish store for at least 5 months (I had been drooling over him for a while now). When I first got him that discolored area had what looked like hair algae growing on it. The nitrates were a definitely a little high but I was do to do a water change today. Just not sure if I did something wrong.

Thanks for your post. I want another one but I am going to wait a while and see if I notice anything else with my tanks.

Sounds like he came with a fairly advanced shell disease of some kind. Doesn't surprise me since he was at an LFS for so long. You'll often see them develop those kind of problems if they stay at the LFS for a while. Not much you could've done for him, don't feel too bad.

 

[lissampson]

I know I want to get another one but I am going to wait awhile and keep an eye on my tanks. Let it get more established and get those nitrates low consistently. When I do get a new mantis shrimp, any tips? How often do you feed yours? I put about 5 hermits and 3 snails and he took out almost all of them in 2 weeks (the hermits were smallish). Plus I fed him small pieces of scallops & shrimp twice a week.

Thanks for your help!