Can someone tell me if this is a molting?

myswtsins

myswtsins

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Jun 15, 2008
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Hello again. This morning I saw my snails munching on what kinda looks like the remains of my female or a very colorful molting. All the photos I have seen of moltings are very light colored or clear so I am and kinda leaning towards remains :(

I previously thought my female dropped all her eggs but 2 days ago I saw she still had 3. My other female also "disappeared" while holding eggs (I found a colored shell which I was told was just a molting). Both "shells" did not seem completely empty either but I always find them after the snails find them.

What do you guys think? I tried to get decent pictures but my camera does not like close-ups.

100_1130.JPG 100_1131.JPG 100_1132.JPG
 
Looks like a molted exoskeleton to me. Shrimp generally turn bright pink when they pass away.
 
Thanks for your response. I sure hope it is because if I lost another female that leaves me with just 1 female left. I have not seen the female in question yet today but they are good hiders!

Took some tests...

Ph-8.0
Kh - 12
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - less than 5ppm

Is there anything else I should test for that would affect the shrimp? (My API Gh test kit doesn't work for some reason)
 
Thanks evelyn! I meant to state in my last post that there was some sort of pink stuff inside the molt but by the time I got it out to examine it, it was all gone. Snails are fast workers! :)

I am sure it is a molt now too. I was just worried because it had so much color to it, all the previous molts were clear.
 
It's really hard to tell from those pictures, but molts are clear. The thing that bothers me is I never saw my snails go after a molt. Also given the choice the shrimp generally won't molt on the ground. I usually find molts in a plant off the substrate.
 
i find molts all over, andmy shrimp do eat them. But i agree, molts are always white/clear...no redness/pinkish quality to them.
 
It did have a lot of color to it, even more than visible in the photo & still no sign of my other female yet. :(

Is there any reason why only the berried/holding females would be dying? I am still hoping it was just a molt but I have seen this before and that female never reappeared afterwards.

*EDIT* And my snails were all over it, I had to throw in an algae wafer just to get them off.
 
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