Shell Disease?

[Ms. K]

The hole is small...just posterior to her large group of leopard spots. What do you think? Shell disease? You can see all the way through it. You can see sand and rock in front of her if her body is turned at the correct angle. It hasn't gotten any larger, and it doesn't appear to be terribly discolored.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

 

[mattyice]

that is shell disease, i would say to try and help it, cut down on the lights ALOT, keep the water in pristine condition, feed vitamin soaked food, and hope for the best

 

[Ms. K]

The light on the tank is just a basic fluorescent strip light, and under that is a plastic gutter guard (used as cover for the tank) that blocks out a lot of light. The tank is actually fairly shaded. I think it just looks bright because of that really bright piece of LR rubble behind her.

I have a CPR Bakpak skimmer..not the best, I know, but I think it's keeping the water pretty clean. I'll check parameters tomorrow to be certain.

What should I soak her food in?

 

[mattyice]

i would use selcon, as for a skimmer, it wont take out nitrates or phosphates, when shell disease comes into play your looking do at least a water change every 2 weeks i would say once a week a 10-15% water change is best

 

[justinl]

ditto on what mattyice said. although 10-15%? I usually do 20-25% on a weekly basis. huh. oh wells.

Are your lights on a photoperiod? If so, what mattyice means is basically leave the lights on less. Some might decide to just leave the lights off completely and rely on sunlight if it`s in a place that gets sun. And leave the thing alone. checking up on it every 5 minutes will only stress it.

UV filters help too and can also help prevent this disease later too. I personally don`t bother with them though.

 

[pikachureefer]

shell disease can result in what for a mantis? what symptoms are there?

 

[Thurge]

Something else that you can do (and may have already done) is provide a nice burrow about 2x as long as the mantis is. PVC works great for this.

Schell disease, in a sevear case, can eventually result in death for the mantis. Symptoms are brown discolored spots sometimes ringed in black. Too much light can also result in algae growing on the mantis's shell.

 

[DanInSD]

As per Dr. Roy, make sure you use gray or black PVC (he suggests chopping down 90 degree bend electrical conduits). The white lets too much light into the middle of the tube (via reflection).

Shell Disease is a bad thing that is generally not well-understood. As has been said, the "cure" is pristine water, reduced light levels, vitamins, and increasing feeding to encourage a molt (which can rid the problem entirely).

 

[mattyice]

i found if you give a mantis a good rock, and alot of rubble he will make the cave he feels comfortable in, i peacocks cave is only about 7-8" long 2-3" deep and is pitch black from the way she has stacked rubble and sand around it

 

[Ms. K]

The lights are generally on for about 8 hours per day. She has built herself a nice burrow in the tank, and I am in the process of getting even more rubble for her so she can add to it if necessary. The tank is not near a light source, so if I turn off the light, her tank is basically completely dark. She's not bothered much during the day. Students and I walk by her tank from time to time, but no one bothers her and we generally just walk by, occasionally stopping to peek in. She's really laid back. She spends most of her time with her head poking out of the front door of her burrow, grooming herself.

I appreciate everyone's advice. I'm not really new to saltwater tanks or to mantis shrimp. I've had a reef system (approx 180 gallons) running for two years now, and I had a G. ternatensis a couple of years ago, but he did not have any problems with shell disease, so I thought I'd ask some questions. I appreciate all of your input.

 

[mattyice]

usually only large deeper water species get it, from what i have seen

 

[Ms. K]

That makes sense. I'm hoping that if she molts anytime soon, I can remove as much of the molt as possible, and possibly prevent the shell disease from recurring. But, who knows how long that will be! I don't know how long she's been in captivity or if she developed the disease before or after being captured, but she was being kept in a livestock cube at a LFS...probably under MH lights, but I didn't pay any attention to that. The lighting in her tank now is fairly dim.

 

[mattyice]

well my peacock went for about 10-11 months before she started to molt, she has been in her burrow for a few days now and its all sealed up, so i bet for another week and a half she will be in there and she is 4.5" long

 

[IDESONE]

Ms. K how is your peacock doing? Do you have any recent pics

 

[Ms. K]

She seems to be doing well. She hasn't molted and her holes haven't changed at all. Here are some pics from my gallery:

 

[Gonodactylus]

Looks like a wound to me.

Roy