Shrimp molting?

I recently purchased a few bamboo shrimp from my LFS and hey we're doing fine up until today I just went and heckled on them and I can't find one only his exoskeleton. Does this mean he molted and can't find him or did my other fish attack him?? Please help

Update: I found him hiding near my driftwood

 

Whenever my shrimp molt I have a really hard time spotting them! I guess they learn to hide really well when they are vulnerable

 

That must be because man he was difficult to find

 

When shrimp moult (which happens often) they will hide while their new exoskeleton hardens.

Keep the moulted exoskeleton in the tank. They'll eat it and it will supply them nutrients they need to have a healthy new skeleton.

Also shrimp will mate right after they moult. So if you see some shrimp running around the tank like mad they're looking for a recently moulted female.

 

When shrimp moult (which happens often) they will hide while their new exoskeleton hardens.

Keep the moulted exoskeleton in the tank. They'll eat it and it will supply them nutrients they need to have a healthy new skeleton.

Also shrimp will mate right after they moult. So if you see some shrimp running around the tank like mad they're looking for a recently moulted female.

Oh I didnt realise I should keep the shells in the tank, ive always removed them. Will keep them in from now on

 

I used to remove them at first too. Seen multiple sources saying to leave them in and to my surprise they're usually gone a day or two later!

The only thing you need to be concerned about is if your shrimp are not doing a full moult and you're only seeing a partial moult. You should see a head and antenna as well as the body, which used to scare me to death. But so far so good for that moult!

 

Awe man I took mine out how often will they shed their exoskeleton ??

 

It depends on their diet and other things that fluctuates how quickly they grow.

As long as you're changing up their food intake (pellets, algae wafers, fresh veggies, flakes) you'll be more than okay.
I want to say that I notice mine moult maybe once a month? Maybe once every 6 weeks? You'll see a pattern eventually.

What's your ph gh and kh?
Do you have any indian almond leaves or leaf litter? What about cuddlebone?

 

It depends on their diet and other things that fluctuates how quickly they grow.

As long as you're changing up their food intake (pellets, algae wafers, fresh veggies, flakes) you'll be more than okay.
I want to say that I notice mine moult maybe once a month? Maybe once every 6 weeks? You'll see a pattern eventually.

What's your ph gh and kh?
Do you have any indian almond leaves or leaf litter? What about cuddlebone?

I unfortunately don't have a test kit for gh and kh yet, but I just put peat granules in my filter along with a piece of driftwood in an attempt to lower ph and soften the water. As I know the area I'm from has hard and very alkaline water. I'm picking up a test kit tomorrow and will get back to you. No almond leaves or cuddlebone, not quite sure what the cuddlebone is even . They also have a diet including flakes,veggies and algae wafers

 

What's your ph at? If its super hard like my water then you can afford it. But with shrimp you'll want a higher ph and harder water. This way they'll have no issues moulting.

Indian almond leaves are giant leaves that can be ripped into pieces and put in the tank. They'll leech tannins like driftwood but supposedly they have special benefits and medical properties. They also are supposed to help moulting shrimp and act like a food source for any baby shrimp. I rip 1 leaf into pieces and add about 1/2 or 1/4 to my 5 gallon tank and replace as the leaves break down.

Cuddlebone is the backbone of a fish. Captive birds use it to trim their beaks. As long as it has no additives or flavors, it's safe to put in your tank. It will release calcium that inverts including shrimp and snails use to have better shells. But it also slowly raises kh and maybe gh. I have a small piece in my 5 gallon shrimp tank and will be adding some to my other tanks once I get my snails.

This is why I asked what your levels were

 

What's your ph at? If its super hard like my water then you can afford it. But with shrimp you'll want a higher ph and harder water. This way they'll have no issues moulting.

Indian almond leaves are giant leaves that can be ripped into pieces and put in the tank. They'll leech tannins like driftwood but supposedly they have special benefits and medical properties. They also are supposed to help moulting shrimp and act like a food source for any baby shrimp. I rip 1 leaf into pieces and add about 1/2 or 1/4 to my 5 gallon tank and replace as the leaves break down.

Cuddlebone is the backbone of a fish. Captive birds use it to trim their beaks. As long as it has no additives or flavors, it's safe to put in your tank. It will release calcium that inverts including shrimp and snails use to have better shells. But it also slowly raises kh and maybe gh. I have a small piece in my 5 gallon shrimp tank and will be adding some to my other tanks once I get my snails.

This is why I asked what your levels were

Not that this is relevant, but cuttlefish actually use the cuttlebone for buoyancy, it isn't a backbone that supports their body shape. Why it floats in tanks for a good bit. It has more of an effect on gh than it does on kh. Gh is a measure calcium magnesium and other minerals, kh is carbonate hardness. Also agreeing with Tokio on gettin that gh kh kit

 

I'm actually on my way to go get the test kit and some plants for my tank right now will post the test results when I get home!

 

Hmmm... fun facts on those cuddlefish bones. I was told it was their backbone. Guess that's what I get for not fact checking...

Yeah it will float for a few days but then it sinks

 

Hmmm... fun facts on those cuddlefish bones. I was told it was their backbone. Guess that's what I get for not fact checking...

Yeah it will float for a few days but then it sinks

Haha. I'm constantly checking my facts. I actually stopped in the middle of writing that post, and Googled it to make sure I wasn't lying about it xD. Isn't always a few days. Can take weeks. I have decently hard water, but a lot of inverts, so keep cuttlebone in the tank to replace deh calcium as they use it. Have had one floating in my 20 gallon for about a month now, is still buoyant at the top xD. I can see it slowly dissolving though, and somehow snails can still get on top of it xD.


Did you test the kh gh yet?

 

Sorry for the late reply, I totally forgot to comment my levels. Right now it takes 9 drops for the Gh, and then 7 drops for Kh. Would like to lower these for my angels would this negatively impact my shrimp??

 

So I see in my tank what looks like shedding from my ghost shrimp. Iv never owned shrimp before and I'm wondering if I should get it out of the tank, or leave it for my snails. I'm not sure if It has a good amount of calcium for them, as my dad had said.

 

It has all the materials that make up the shell, so it's good to leave in there. The shrimp will also eat bits off of it. You should only remove it when you have a shell parasite on the shrimp, so it doesn't infect other shrimp.

 

Thank you, no parasites!!

 

Your Dad is correct. Just leave it in. It will eventually disappear.

 

HI Everyone,

I am new to keeping cherry shrimp, and they are having molting issues. Most of the molt is successful, but the molt keeps getting stuck on their legs and antennas.

Temp 73 degrees
PH - over 7.6, I haven't gotten the test for high PH yet, it is on its way
GH -7
KH - 3
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20 ( I have added duckweed and water sprite to help bring this down, I didn't want to do too many water changes and make more molting problems)
Substrate - Tahitian moon sand
Filtration - 2 sponge filters
Tank size - 10 gallons
Age of tank - about 2 months
How long I've had the shrimp - about 2 weeks - they were drip acclimated for 2 1/2 hours
Tankmates - 2 (at the moment) MTS

I have a montmorillonite stone in the tank, and I supplement their foraging with Shrimp King mineral and Shrimp King complete food. I also gave them some blanched zucchinI once.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what could be the problem?

 

It looks like you have really low gh and kh, meaning you don't have a lot of the minerals in your water that the shrimp need to grow their new shells.
You need to artificially add these minerals then. At the minimum I would do calcium. Out of curiosity, what type of water are you using? Or is your tap water just that low in gh?

 

I am using tap water. I use Prime to condition water, but I just tested untreated tap water and the results were KH 5, GH 5. I have a large piece of Malaysian driftwood, as well as an Indian Almond leaf, Anubias and Java Moss. Do you recommend a supplement like Salty Shrimp: Shrimp Mineral GH/KH+ ?

 

I am using tap water. I use Prime to condition water, but I just tested untreated tap water and the results were KH 5, GH 5. I have a large piece of Malaysian driftwood, as well as an Indian Almond leaf, Anubias and Java Moss. Do you recommend a supplement like Salty Shrimp: Shrimp Mineral GH/KH+ ?

I suppose you could use that.

I tend to look for cheaper/home remedies though, so in different tanks I have cuttlebone, (dead) live rock (my fish love to hide in this as well), and add (dissolved) mixture of calcium and baking soda. Using a product would probably be easier though

 

What is your TDS? Shrimp are usually okay in softer water, so that isn't necessarily the issue. High TDS can affect their ability to molt, though. Also, is there any iodine in the food you're giving them? I haven't needed to supplement iodine in my shrimp tanks (here's hoping I never do) but it can be an issue.

 

The TDS in my untreated tap water is 195, and in my tank it is 328. I do not see Iodine listed as an ingredient in either of the Shrimp King foods I use.

 

328 in your tank is really high, especially considering how moderate it is out of the tap. Can you do a series of 25% water changes over the next few days to get it down?

Also, I don't know what you use for topoffs, but I would use RO water or distilled water for that, not your tap water.

 

I don't do topoffs, I usually just do 10% water changes every 2 weeks. I wonder what is making the TDS go so high? Thank you, I will do the water changes as you have suggested.

 

10% water changes every 2 weeks is only going to raise TDS, as you're taking out less than you're putting in.

 

But I only put 10% back in? I have a glass top so there really isn't much in the way of evaporation. That will change come summertime (I live in Florida). I must be understanding this wrong, thank you for your patience with me.

What do you recommend as a water change regimen for Red Cherry Shrimp?

 

Right but TDS in the water increases, because you feed, and the shrimp poop. I would do 25% weekly personally.

 

Got it, thank you so much Junebug

 

It looks like you have really low gh and kh, meaning you don't have a lot of the minerals in your water that the shrimp need to grow their new shells.
You need to artificially add these minerals then. At the minimum I would do calcium. Out of curiosity, what type of water are you using? Or is your tap water just that low in gh?

Are you sure you're not thinking in ppm? 7 degrees GH is about 125 ppm, which is medium hardness IMO.

 

HI guys I have a 12 gallon set up with a betta and some ember tetras along with 4 Alamo shrimp.

3 have been doing fine and seen around the aquarium with one being very skittish of other fish.
All had been fine for a week and they are eating a lot of algae which I am starting to notice.

However there is a body in my aquarium and it is an Amano shrimp.
I’ve never had shrimp so I don’t know if this is the molt or if my betta has decided to kill the shrimp.

Please help I don’t know what it is, I will have a picture provided.

If it is a molt do I remove it? Does it create ammonia or?

Thank you.

 

Definitely remove it ASAP. Do you still see 4 shrimp or just 3? Sometimes betta’s do fine with fish but not shrimp/snails and vis versus.

 

It looks like a molt to me. Dead shrimp will turn opaque white.

I've only kept ghost shrimp so someone please correct me if it is different for amanos but the molt will usually be gone in a day or two because it gets eaten by the shrimp. If none eat it then I take it out.

 

Looks like a molt. Dead ones, as mentioned before, turn white, even pinkish and you can see "meat". In this case, it looks like just the exoskeleton. I never remove them. They get eaten. If not, I don't think they affect the parameters at all.

 

Definitely a molt. Keep it in there for a bit. They might eat some of it

 

Definitely remove it ASAP. Do you still see 4 shrimp or just 3? Sometimes betta’s do fine with fish but not shrimp/snails and vis versus.

Okay will do. I see 2 but I have heaps of hiding places which they can hide in so I’m not sure.
Betta does not chase them so I think it’s molt.

Thank

It looks like a molt to me. Dead shrimp will turn opaque white.

I've only kept ghost shrimp so someone please correct me if it is different for amanos but the molt will usually be gone in a day or two because it gets eaten by the shrimp. If none eat it then I take it out.

you for reply. I agree it looks like molt because I see no eyes or anything.

Looks like a molt. Dead ones, as mentioned before, turn white, even pinkish and you can see "meat". In this case, it looks like just the exoskeleton. I never remove them. They get eaten. If not, I don't think they affect the parameters at all.

Thank you for you reply. It is still very transparent which makes me think it’s molt. Helped a lot mate. Cheers.

 

Hi, yes that's definitely a molt-a sign that your shrimp are healthy as they molt in order to grow.
As everyone's mentioned, leave it in the tank as they will eat it as the molts contain calcium and other 'goodies'.
Just a final way to reassure you that it's not a body, use aquascaping tweezers/a stick to created a bit of turbulence near it, a molt is as light as a feather and will float around.

 

I bought 20 blue velvet with 19 arrived alive. Today when I try to do a head count, there’s only 10ish. I do have driftwood, Moss etc for them to hide. Are they just good hiders? My ammonia/nitrate and nitrite are 0. Cycled tank. GH KH both around 120-180. TDS is around 200.

Also is this a molt or dead shrimp. I’ve noticed at least 3 things like this. Do shrimps molt this often? Like within 2 days of transfer to a new tank?

Thank you all.