Shrimp sheds shell... Good or Bad?

[The_Chad]

Today I looked into my tank to find a second shrimp, or so I thought. After looking closer I found that it was only the shell. What does this mean ? is it normal?

Thanks for any information in advance.

[OneReef]

Normal. They do it regularly. It is called a molt. Your crabs will do it too.

[GiZmo88]

+1 this is normal my cleaner shrimp used to molt once every two or three months. Nothing to worry about.

[Indymann99]

Normal, my cleaner shrimp molt every month.

After a year I am now to lazy to remove the molts... they seem to dissolve / or get handled by the CUC.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/Shrimpmolt.jpg

[T Diddy]

as mentioned...good things. molts = growth

[Korrine]

I have read that it's good to leave the molts in the tank. They can come back and regain nutrients by chowing down on it.

[frankpayne32]

Good. It means it's growing and is likely healthy.

[Dino]

As already mentioned, it's completely normal. Anything with a hard exoskeleton will molt, this includes insects, arachnids, and crustaceans. Their exoskeleton doesn't grow so in order for them to grow they have to regularly shed or molt their old "skins". :)

[scubasteve06]

I also leave the molts in the tank, along with the crab molts. I've seen my snails mainly munching on them, but the crabs seem to leave them alone. Makes no sense really as the crabs are always fighting amongst themselves, they seem to be cannibals, but don't eat the molts. I guess they know that there is nothing good to eat there:)