Shell Disease Claims another victim

[dave3d]

Well my G Terna "Al Capone" ending up losing his battle with the disease yesterday after hanging on for a few weeks. He did manage to make it to a molt over the weekend but his new shell was discolored. It was kind of a pale grey color, which looked different than the diseased shell he shed but certainly was not healthy. After his molt his odd behaviour was still not right and he still seemed to be blind. In the end he just didn't have any more fight left.

Now for a couple of questions. So that I don't put another mantis in harms way.

Should I wait a while before putting another mantis in the tank in case any of the shell fungus is still in the system?

Can too much light cause shell disease? I have 96watt T5 lighting fixture over this 15 gallon. This mantis was moved into this tank only a few months ago.

A few months back we had a long power outage and the water temp dropped into the high 60's, if I remember correctly. Could the temp swing or drop in the O2 levels in the water be the catalyst which set this into motion?

And looking forward to a new mantis given the amount of lighting that I have what species would be a good fit?

Thanks,
David

 

[Gonodactylus]

Gonodactylaceus ternatensis are prone to shell disease. I have found that the disease is contagous. I usually use uv to cut down on this. Personally, I would not put another G. t or O. s in a tank that had held a diseased animal. There are several gonodactylids that would do well in bright light as long as they have a dark burrow. I would try G. smithii, G. platysoma, G. chiragra, G. viridis, N. oerstedii or N. bredini.

Roy

 

[dave3d]

I was actually thinking of repalcing him with a G Smithii. I'll have to keep an eye out for one though as the LFS can't order a particular species. One LFS has a G Chiraga now. It's about 3" in size but they are asking too much for it as it was sold to them as a Peacock.

Thanks for your advice.
--
David