Is this the beginning stages of shell rot?

[Hadla]

Pics are of Rogers tail, the light colored spot is the one in question

[Hadla]

Other side with same spot

[Calappidae]

It's hard to tell, I don't think so personally. Mine looked like that from rolling in the sand a lot.

Could just be dust. Although second opinions would necessary. Meanwhile your best interest is to reduce light a bit and keep water quality top notch incase it's a start.

[nmotz]

It's tough to tell right now. If it is, it's not too bad. I would increase feedings a little bit to induce a quicker molt. If it were my Peacock, I would try to find a way to get a UV sterilizer on the tank. In-line UVs work best, but I'm not sure if your tank is set up to accommodate that. Work some Selcon into his diet if you don't already. Hope it doesn't get worse.

[Hadla]

Thanks for the replies, he's in a biocube so I could put a sterilizer in. Not sure of the cost of one, will have to check Amazon... Thanks again :)

[Kharn]

I would say yes that is the early beginnings of shell rot but should be easy to tackle with the proper approach.

- Increase water changes.
- Decrease lighting.
- Increase food supply with selcon supplement.

UV sterilizers are finicky you really need to know what setting (intensity & flow) is required for them to be effective, else you'll be targeting the wrong thing altogether.

UV sterilizer would be my last point of address specially when its this early on in the shell rot stage.

[Hadla]

Yeah I wasn't sure about getting one... Thanks