Shell rot

[seahorsedreams]

This is how it kills the critter. The little black area you see on the shell is just the tip of the iceberg. It adheres to the shell and grows inward into his "meat", so that he wouldn't be able to drop the shell without ripping the rot out of his flesh.... nice....

My poor guy.
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/40g%20mantis/IMG_9936.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/40g%20mantis/IMG_9942.jpg

This is with the top of the shell removed looking down the "tube".
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/40g%20mantis/IMG_9945.jpg

From the side....
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/40g%20mantis/IMG_9946.jpg

From the top.
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/40g%20mantis/IMG_9953.jpg

[Mentat]

Sorry for the Mantis and thanks for posting the pictures. Interesting how similar it looks to some forms of human cancers.

[ladyonyx]

Really sorry about your mantis; what a drag. Very informative pics though. Thanks

[Tangalong]

So very sorry...but hopefully a learning experience for all of us here. Can you tell us what his habitat was like? What lighting? Anything that you think is pertinent so we can make this tragedy meaningfull if that is possible. He will be remembered. What was his name? And will you have another soon?

Again, Renee, my sympathies.

----------------------

Curly

[seahorsedreams]

I'm going to look through my harddrive and find some pics of his setup. I'm not good with full tank shots so I don't have any that I was proud enough to post.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/40g%20mantis/mantis.jpg

This front pic shows the diameter of his PVC cave/tunnel. This opening showed under the front of the rock, ran down under the sand, and took a right turn out of the right side of the rock. When he molted he would cover the holes with sand, shells and cheato and he was in complete darkness. I'm trying to find the PVC to take a picture of it.

There's PC bulbs over the tank. It's a 40g standard type. I think there's 55w bulbs on there so that would be 55w 10k and 55w actinic. I have 12 tanks, that's why I'm a little uncertain. I just lifted up the hood to take a peek, yelled "HOLY MOTHER OF PEARL!!!" as my pupils slammed shut, and humbly came back to the computer blinded and none the wiser.

He didn't have a name. I'm one of those that lost all my named fish 10 years ago... all the unnamed lived and I never named again.

I can't imagine not having another mantis, but right now we have a scorp tank and a volitan/frondosa tank we are working on getting up. It will change out tank numbers from 12 to something like 6!! After that I am sure we will look again.

I will look for those tank pictures so y'all can give them a look over.

There will be no further photos of the rot. It seems when I took that "top down" pic I left the molt on the floor on the paper... it seems my beagle thinks it tastes mighty good. Ew!

[seahorsedreams]

Okay, in looking through old photos I came across something that occurred with his tank in August 2008.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/fire/smoke.jpg

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/fire/timer.jpg

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/fire/outlet.jpg

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/fire/gang.jpg

We thought he would die then. The soot was everywhere inside the stand and we had to empty the sump and massively go through the tank. He lived through it.....

Some more info about his environment.

His tank had a chiller. It was 75/76 when he shared it with a seahorses, 76/78 when he shared it with a frondosa.

There is a ATO on there so there were no sudden changes in salinity.

He ate Mon. Wed and Friday with the rest of the preds. A mixture of EVERYTHING,

[Tangalong]

Going to take a while for your pic to develope on my wonderful dial-up so will post you now. You are very brave to got through this Renee...I don't know if I would have the guts to. The poor thing..how old was he? And he was handsome too. I try not to think what my Wolfhounds eat while they are out cruising alone. We have rabbits, squirrels, racoons, groundhogs, snakes, just about anything you find in a river valley. I just wash their faces when they come in before they can kiss. lol. Did you brush your beagles teeth????

Did he allow the seahorses without trying to eat them? I have 2 Blue-fin damels in with my O. Scyllarus and she doesn't try to have them for lunch. She is molting now and crabby. Your set-up sounds great...can't wait to see the pics.

Thank you so much for sharing...going to look at pics.

--------------

Curly

[seahorsedreams]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14993362#post14993362 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tangalong
Did he allow the seahorses without trying to eat them? I have 2 Blue-fin damels in with my O. Scyllarus and she doesn't try to have them for lunch.

It was a custom divided tank....

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/40g%20mantis/dividerbluearrow.jpg

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/40g%20mantis/oneside.jpg

The ciliata to the right and the seahorse/frondosa to the left. It was originally suppose to be the peacock/ciliata tank. But a split 40 was just not big enough, in my eyes. He would be downgrading real estate, so he stayed in his custom.

[Tangalong]

WoW!!! Pretty neat in my books. No guy can surpass you can they? LOL. I really love to see a lady that really gets into the construction of the hobby. Wish I had that talent.

I've never tried seahorses. Do you have pics of them?

[seahorsedreams]

Quick Detour.....

Mantis people, pretend this is a commercial. Now is the time to make popcorn.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/50g%20seahorse/swfthree.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/50g%20seahorse/erectus700.jpg

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/50g%20seahorse/mreidiswf.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/50g%20seahorse/maleorangeorg.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/50g%20seahorse/pairorg.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/50g%20seahorse/maleorg.jpg

Now back to your regular scheduled mantis thread :-)

Oh, sorry about the dialup... you better go make some popcorn too.

[Tangalong]

Thank you so much Renee...they are simply beautiful. I keep seeing these Avatars that look like seahorses/dragons...any such thing?

I hope everyone gets to see this thread...it is so important to those just getting into the hobby and wanting a stomatopod without even being educated well on water chemistry, etc. They think the MH lighting and corals are so important for show-off rights. I don't think they realize the disastrous effects it can have on them. Do you think it possible it is a form of cancer akin to skin-cancer from the sun? It makes me sick to think of the poor thing going through a molt. He must have been in agony.

Thanks gang, for not complaining about me seeing the pics. I even have a camera (Mom's Day) now...but don't know the first step to use it or what to do with it after the pics are taken. LOL.

Thanks again, Renee...I hope Dr. Roy can make some comments on these pics and give advice as to exactly which lights are undesirable.


---------------

Curly

[micstarz]

Very nice seahorses. I love the tank and the aquascaping. Sorry that your P. ciliata passed. He looked good. And so did that coralline.

[seahorsedreams]

Thanks!

This isn't a good picture... but here's his house. The tube made a "U" and a kindda right angle out the right side of that rock. I don't know if I even have a picture of that side.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/40g%20mantis/mantis-1.jpg

[Tangalong]

Neat..looks like one of those cabins in the Swiss Alps..the way the roof slants way down...very pretty...I really love his color. Did you like him best of all of those you had? I wanted to ask you also, but with all of your corals you may have not seen....the LR gets a brownish coating on it from their waste that doesn't get picked up from the skimmer....I wondered if that is unhealthy for them if it builds up over time and if the LR should periodically be taken out and scrubbed well. At least the really bad ones. I just recently noticed this in Bree's house as I moved the skimmer to the other side so she "goes" on the other side...she doesn't do the hand stand...just looks like she is running in place..funny!!!

[KingDiamond]

O.K. I am not sure that these two "diseases" are related but here ya go. I take care of Giant Spider Crabs (Macrochiara keampferi) (not sure if I spelled that right). Years ago it was discovered that one of the main reasons for the death of these large arthropods was a disease call "black spot disease". I don't believe that a true cause has been determined but either bacteria or (believe it or not) fungus were implicated in the cause of this disease. The crabs would develop small very dark black spots on their exoskeleton. The facility I work for has had great sucess in keeping these crab because "ours" would molt sucessfully and the sevarity of the black spot disease would decrease with every molt. I had made an observation it the past that the female crabs would "seem" to get the disease "faster" then the males. It became apparent that the "onset" of the disease was cause by mechanical damage to the crabs exoskeleton. When the females became gravid the male crabs would get very aggressive and damage the female crabs and the disease would always seem to start there. We have since changed to same sex tanks for our crabs and the frequency of the disease has decreased. Maybe your mantis shrimp was wounded some how allowing the black spot disease to start. I know mantis shrimp are not giant spider crabs but black spot has been reported in other crustacea.

[Tangalong]

KingDiamond...any input is appreciated...thank you for your interest and contribution..I don't know about Shell Rot, but can understand about fungus...look at our poor honey bees.

[kgbower]

My peacock has a small scratch on the top of his shell I think he got it digging in between the rocks it isn't near the cuticle does this sound normal or does it sound like rot

[KingDiamond]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15019689#post15019689 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kgbower
My peacock has a small scratch on the top of his shell I think he got it digging in between the rocks it isn't near the cuticle does this sound normal or does it sound like rot
As long as the scratch does not turn black it should be fine. I would keep an eye on it. Maybe write it down some were so if it takes along time to develop you will remember when this injury is located.

[kgbower]

Ok thank you for the info