Is my shrimp molting?

[demodiki]

So I woke up this morning and found something red on a piece of rock that wasn't there before. I fished it out of the tank and it looked exactly like a shrimp tail. :oI have a fire shrimp and a peppermint shrimp. Both were running around like normal, so i took off for they day. Got home this evening and there were a bunch of different shrimp pieces all around the tank, all bright red. So I have to believe it's my fire shrimp.

There was one long whisker, some pieces of what looked like legs, and some other scaly pieces that I was able to get out of the tank. But my shrimp looks fine. For the most part he has been hanging out in his favorite spot under a rock (but in plain view), but he did come out to catch food when I fed my fish.

So is my shrimp falling apart on me,:cry or is he molting? :w00t

BTW, my emerald crab has been MIA since Sunday - plenty of places for him to hide, but up until then he'd been sticking close to his favorite spot. We're wondering if he just got sick of looking at us and went to hide, or if maybe he's molting, too.

So when a crustacean molts, do you generally find pieces all over the place, or an intact shell?

Thanks :D

[Reef69]

...It molted..You wont find an intact shell, since they make an opening to get out, in some cases you will, some crabs like the anemone crabs (Neopetrolisthes maculatus) leave an intact shell, although sometimes you will only find pieces after some fish or hermits scavange around the skeleton..

[monica]

my blue spiny lobster leaves an intact shell, really cool, I have kept each one to watch his growth.

[Reef69]

I once watched my harlequin shrimp female while she molted, it was....weird....she sort of, extended herself, flat on the sand bed and started to pull back, she left the skeleton laying perfectly in the sand..pretty cool.

[CD]

A healthy cleaner shrimp will generally molt about once a month. I've read that it is recommended that you leave the shed (molted exoskeleton) in the tank, as it will be eaten by the shrimp themselves *or* other creatures in the tank (very nutritious). Foods rich in iodine (like krill) will help them achieve successful molts. ;)

Wendy

[Reef69]

Yeah, leaving the "molt"...lol..is good (so ive heard.)

[::pete::]

I pull them out because everyone that sees it has to tell me I have a dead shrimp!! :D

[Voodoo]

My Coral Banded & Pepermint shrimps have always left whole shells. Same with my emeralds.
I leave them in the tank, mostly because I'm lazy though. :roll

[demodiki]

It looks like our shrimp exploded...there are pieces everywhere. On rocks, in the sand, in the PH, in the filter....

[Reef69]

do you see the shrimp anywhere? :skeezy

[djmc7300]

that's normal, but i leave the old skin there for like 2-3 days cuz sometimes they like to pick at the leftover of it for nutrients and stuff. but as for my freshwater blue crawfish, he comes out of one piece, but my 2 saltwater shrimps (golden coral banded and fire shrimps) "explode" out of their skins.

[Reef69]

Thought this would help..Pics arent that good, but caught her in the act :skeezy