Flaps of Shell...?

jao244 · Post by **jao244** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:15 am

I know that there are a million things on here about molting, even I have posted a question on it before, but this is pretty specific and I couldn't find it pre-posted...

Last night my Bamboo Shrimp molted, sadly while I was asleep, but now he has huge... flaps? bumps? It's like he is all smooth from his tail to about 3/4 of the way up his back but then there are are large, colored (not clear like the skin he took off) flaps hanging off of his back/facial region. I would upload pictures but apparently I can't....

Any ideas?

Lotus · Post by **Lotus** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:28 am

I'm not too sure about what's going on, perhaps an incomplete moult?

You can link to pictures that are remotely hosted (imageshack/photobucket, etc.) but you can't upload images directly on this site.

jao244 · Post by **jao244** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:36 am

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 3:25 pm

Looks like the molt did not go as planned. Water quality issues might a reason for that. Unfortunately, such conditions stick around and don't usually get corrected during the next molt.

jao244 · Post by **jao244** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 3:35 pm

does that mean that he is hurt? is he going to live? is he just... special?

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 3:39 pm

jao244 wrote:does that mean that he is hurt? is he going to live? is he just... special?

It's all up in the air. It'll probably live, but keep us up to date with the shrimp's progress. It for sure won't reach the normal age range for this species, though.

jao244 · Post by **jao244** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 3:47 pm

Ahhh! No! What do I need to fix so this doesn't happen again? Anything I can do to help him?

He's in a 2.5 gallon with a Betta and a snail... which someone already said was too small but living in a dorm doesn't really give me room for anything bigger and it's a little too late to change it... :/

I try to change 20% of the tank every 2 weeks... I use a chlorine killing liquid thing, I keep the tank between 78 and 82 degrees. I feed him algae pellets that he then filters out of the water or sucks off the rocks. There is a pretty good current in the tank, I've only seen him picking off of the rocks a few times. I don't have a pH kit... looking at the overview of Bamboo Shrimp on this site I didn't think he was that fussy...

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:47 pm

Get him a MUCH bigger tank and one with loads of flow. Change the water at least 20% every week, not every 2 weeks. They like hard water.

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:03 pm

badflash wrote:They like hard water.

Actually, they don't like hard water. They just adjust to it and do fine. In their natural habitats they tend to occur in very low conductivity, acid water (PH under 6). In my experience their larvae don't even survive in alkaline water, but die right after hatching, so if one wanted to breed them one would most likely have to keep them in soft, acid water to hatch any larvae.

Neon tetras can live in hard water, too, but they for sure don't like it and their life span is a lot shorter.

Just clarifying...

jao244 · Post by **jao244** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:16 pm

So there is nothing I can do to help little Pepe? He is destinted for an early death and a disfigured little face?

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 8:31 pm

jao244 wrote:So there is nothing I can do to help little Pepe? He is destinted for an early death and a disfigured little face?

He was destined for early death in 2.5 gallons of water with tiny water changes every two weeks, even without the molting accident. The best thing you can do is to get at least a 10 gallon tank (only between $8-$12), better 20 gallon and above, and next time don't buy anything alive without doing research into the subject first. You will just torture and kill any animals you are getting otherwise....

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 9:14 pm

Actually, they don't like hard water.

Thanks for the tip. It is funny how you can read the shrimp varieties page many times and not see what it says. <sigh>
Looks like a 20 gallon Low is in my future. Now I need to figure out how to control acidic water <sigh again>. Just when I thought I had this stuff figured out. Any tip on making acidic water from basic hard water, or from R/O water would be appreciated.

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 9:39 pm

badflash wrote: Thanks for the tip. It is funny how you can read the shrimp varieties page many times and not see what it says. <sigh>

Actually, it's not really your fault as I update the shrimp varieties pages as I go. So, it's a good idea to check the species descriptions once in a while to see of there are any additions or changes.

Now I need to figure out how to control acidic water <sigh again>.

It takes quite a bit more work to produce acid water parameters but the rewards that await you (all those nice acid water species) are worth it.

Just when I thought I had this stuff figured out.

This is what's great about this hobby. There is always more to figure out!

Any tip on making acidic water from basic hard water, or from R/O water would be appreciated.

If you have hard water you will have to use an R/O unit. Some people are lucky enough and get acid water out of their R/O units as there seem to be some naturallly occuring acids still left in the R/O water. If that is not the case with you, then I would highly recommend the use of diluted (2:1 to 3:1 water:acid) hydrochloric acid (also called muriatic acid and available in hardware stores for about 4-5 bucks a gallon). It's a very strong acid and needs to be used very carfully. Very little is needed (just a few drops) to cause dramatic ph moves to the downside. You get a feel for it after using it for a while.

If you are lucky enough to have pretty soft water coming out of your tap and only high PH is an issue, then you can just use the acid directly on your tap water. HCL beats any "ph down" product hands down and does not produce any harmful side effects (such as phosphate) whatsoever. Many people use peat filtration to acidify their water and it seems to work for them. I have made some bad experiences with tannins in the water, but the tannins were different tannins and not peat tannins (there are a huge variety of tannins out there, some very different from others). Hence my experiences might not apply to peat and it will probably work just fine. The drawback with peat is that it will color your water yellowish-brownish.

It would also help to get a good ph meter. The Hanna phep5 is a great product and extremely accurate. Once you get a meter you will see that the ph liquid tests are extremely inaccurate (showing ph 6.8 although the ph is 7.5 in my case) and are part of the reason why people have problems keeping shrimp. For serious breeding (and keeping alive) purposes they are absolutely useless.

Hope this helps. I will have to write an article on keeping acid water species and how to achieve the right parameters soon to shed some light into this topic.

jao244 · Post by **jao244** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 10:40 pm

Well now that all I allegedly do is torture animals I will be glad to keep people like you posted on his progress.

Post by **Mustafa** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 11:11 pm

jao244 wrote:Well now that all I allegedly do is torture animals I will be glad to keep people like you posted on his progress.

Or you could just take offense, build a defensive wall around you, never come back, and not learn a thing. You have a choice. Your shrimp doesn't.