Mantis acting weird

[Based]

Lately she has become really sluggish and just about a hour ago she was swimming at the top, also she has not been that active that lately. My thought is shes getting ready to molt. Could this be whats going on?

[Based]

?

[Dark_ice]

is he wanting to kill live food?

 

sometimes they have a hard time molting. i believe keeping the lights off is something to do here.

[Based]

Umm all the hermits hide until its dark, there's one snail but he seems to not care for it as he did with the other snails, but then again he accepts krill everyday

[Dark_ice]

sounds like a hard time molting if he is going slow. just make sure he dose not go on his back

[Based]

When she's in her cave she always goes on her back and holds up on the rocks with her legs because of the little space, I do see the last snail in her den so I think she killed it some time last night

[Based]

Right now she's kinda on her side looks like she's hitting herself, I'm going to keep the lights off for the day and check on her every chance I can

[Based]

Should I black off the sides with aquarium tape or something for no light goes into the tank? I've been reading up on this and does appear she's having a hard time to molt, she is on her side curled up, just noticed there is iodide in the salt I use. Did I cause her to molt early?

[Based]

She's acting all fine right now I can see her pushing sand

[Dark_ice]

shes still working up the molt

[namxas]

Good to hear.

 

Typically, when a mantis has a "bad molt", they have trouble getting it off, as the shell rot can actually grow down into the mantis. You'll normally see a brown spot developing in the bad area, and the mantis will often lay on its back on the substrate. If you can bump up the feedings a bit (assuming its eatng at that point), you might be able to "force" a molt if the rot isn't too bad.

 

Shell rot is generally associated with excessive lighting, and tends to happen more often in mature males, esp. O. scyllarus.

 

We lost our P. ciliata to a bad case of shell rot. Here's what it looked like:

 

 

 

 

 

Not pretty...we had that mantis several years, too.

[Dark_ice]

sadly bad molt leads to a lot of mantis deaths

[Islandoftiki]

Molting is the Achilles heel of the mantis shrimp. It's a difficult process and is probably the most common cause of death in an aquarium where they are sheltered from predation. Both my O. Scyllarus and my G. Ternatensis have had issues with their raptorial appendages not coming out right after a molt.

 

There's not a whole heck of a lot you can do if your mantis is sick aside from making sure your water parameters are good. You don't have any ammonia/nitirite/nitrate spikes going on, do you?

[Based]

Sorry about your mantis, but I don't think mine had shell rot, mainly because I don't see any spots and plus she's an N. Wennerae. She's really sensitive to light right now. She's walking around the tank but gets scared easily.

[Islandoftiki]

Just before a molt, their behavior can change pretty drastically. They're also pretty reclusive for a few days to a week after a molt.

[Based]

Molting is the Achilles heel of the mantis shrimp. It's a difficult process and is probably the most common cause of death in an aquarium where they are sheltered from predation. Both my O. Scyllarus and my G. Ternatensis have had issues with their raptorial appendages not coming out right after a molt.

 

There's not a whole heck of a lot you can do if your mantis is sick aside from making sure your water parameters are good. You don't have any ammonia/nitirite/nitrate spikes going on, do you?

I checked last night and I don't have any ammonia from what i can tell my kit said 0 and my ammonia badge was yellow, I have to check the others as I didn't have time to check the nitrites and nitrates

[Based]

All my levels appear to be fine

[Islandoftiki]

Not much you can do except monitor it. Hopefully it will get through whatever it is. My guess would be it's having some issues molting, but there's not much you can do for that.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

[Based]

Not much you can do except monitor it. Hopefully it will get through whatever it is. My guess would be it's having some issues molting, but there's not much you can do for that.

 

 

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

. Thanks tiki, quick question I have been using salinity salt in the mantises tank which has iodide in it, and I believe iodide is the solid form of iodine, well i know ide means negative, but it's been 2 years since I took chem so I'm probably wrong, so my question is should I use a different salt?

[Islandoftiki]

Any good quality reef salt should be fine.

[Based]

She keeps opening her smashers like spreading them apart, she also seems to be afraid of the rocks

 

Also should I be feeding her?

[Islandoftiki]

I'd be feeding her every other day as usual unless she won't take food.

 

She doing this?

 

 

If that's what she's doing, it's threat posturing. It's an aggressive posture to ward off would-be attackers. They will often do that more just before a molt. Right after a molt, while their shell is still soft, they will do that as a bluff.

 

Also, a day or two before the molt, they'll often stop eating.

[Based]

I'd be feeding her every other day as usual unless she won't take food.

 

She doing this?

 

 

If that's what she's doing, it's threat posturing. It's an aggressive posture to ward off would-be attackers. They will often do that more just before a molt. Right after a molt, while their shell is still soft, they will do that as a bluff.

 

Also, a day or two before the molt, they'll often stop eating.

Yep that's exactly what she's doing, she just accepted a piece of krill, and that's your mantis right? Crazy colors! I still need to pick up some selcon

[Islandoftiki]

No worries then. That's normal behavior. She's just trying to look tough.

 

Yes, that's my boy, Chuck. Betty will do the same thing if you show her something unfamiliar. I showed her a shiny bag of cough drops the other day and she flared up really big... then a little while later she realized it wasn't a threat and came up to the front of the tank to get a closer look. She gets fascinated by the oddest things... Velcro wire straps, for example. Car keys were very interesting for a while, but she's used to them now.

 

You've had yours how long now? A week or two? All of my mantis shrimp took about a month to settle in and start recognizing me as the giver of food. It takes them about that long to get comfortable in the weird alien world of humans. They can see everything outside of the tank. I'm sure it's overwhelming for a while.

 

My little G. Viridis used to watch TV whenever it was on.

 

 

Oh yeah, also, all four mantis that I've had have molted within a week of being put into their new home. And when I gave that little baby mantis I had to a friend, it molted two days after going into his tank.

[Based]

I think I have had for 2 weeks, she keeps coming to the glass to look at me, I think she thinks it the apocalypse because I haven't turned the lights on, and I actually feed her by hand she also seems to wobble like she's drunk, she's been using the rocks for support when she walks.