Shrimp Molt Questions

[Slakker]

So...I've never experienced a molt before...and I looked in the tank today to see that my peppermint shrimp had molted last night. That empty shell scared the crap out of me when I caught it in the corner of my eye. When you've got a 12g tank, something THAT big that wasn't there previously is terrifying.

This may be common sense, but I should remove the old exoskeleton, right? I have no fish in the tank currently (two clowns in QT for another couple weeks), three hermits and two turbo snails. I wanted to double check that nothing would eat it or something crazy like that before I removed it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Bubbashrimp]

You can remove it if that would make you happy or if you do not what to see the molt anymore. However, you can leave it in as well and eventually it will disappear.

 

[Slakker]

Thanks for the answer. I left it in and left for a while and came back and it had mostly dissolved. I removed the last of it, but I think in the future I'll just leave it be.

 

[Bubbashrimp]

No problem.

Happy shrimping!

 

[graveyardworm]

The shrimp also may eat their old skeleton for the minerals to help with building the new one.