Cleaner shrimp hole in head during molt

Discussion in 'Inverts' started by DeeBee, Jul 20, 2014.

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  1. DeeBee

    DeeBee Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2012
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    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    I apologize in advance for not getting pics before flushing the fellow. So my skunk cleaner shrimp molted yesterday morning. Post molt I noticed a greyish white lump of mass stuck to his head directly behind his left eye and assumed this was just a clump of old shell that hadn't detached. As the day went on the shrimp didn't seem quite right in his appearance and actions (he has molted many times before).

    Anyway, long story short this morning the mass finally detached and shortly thereafter the shrimp died. When I removed him from the tank and inspected the carcass there was a perfectly round 1/8" hole in his shell where the mass was. When I inspected his head area it was basically empty... no organs in it.

    I have to conclude that his brain and other head organs somehow leaked out during the molt.

    So my question is has any ever experienced anything like this? Could it be the result of a fish attack/parasite during the molt or just a malfunction in the molting process?

    Appreciate any input.
     
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  3. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !
    There are parasitic isopods that infect cleaner shrimp. Just google it and you can compare images. Molting is extremely stressful to inverts so if this was not an isopod, do a water change to make sure your display water is not deficient on a trace element such as Iodine.

    http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/rs/index.php
     
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  4. DeeBee

    DeeBee Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Sep 4, 2012
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    Location:
    Charlotte, NC

    Good gosh! That appears to be exactly what happened based on the images I found. Now I really regret not trying to remove the parasitic isopod from the shrimp before it was too late.

    Thank you for the info Corailline! Now I have to figure out how to get rid of that thing before I purchase any other shrimp. Hopefully my Labouts wrasse will take care of it if given the opportunity.
     
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  5. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !
    Well that was easy, sorry about the shrimp. Those isopod might only be parasitic to cleaner shrimp so they might die off in the absence of a host.
     
    Mr. Bill likes this.