crayfish trouble

[azolla]

Hi guys and girls. I have a question about a troubled crayfish. Last week, one of my blue P. clarkii's molted, but it has a weird feathery growth coming from its left side. I have it in a 150 gallon tank that gets 50% water changes weekly. All parameters are in good order and none of the other crays show this problem. The affected cray still eats well, it just looks bad. Here is a pic. Anyone ever see or here of this before? Please help.

 

[Drunkenbushman]

Looks like a bad moult to me.

Its a it bit hard to tell cause the pic isnt that clear and I havnt got best eyes.

Im going to have a guess that the old exo skeleton didnt quite come away from the body fully like it should have and that is what you are seeing.

 

[pixl8r]

I think it's a fairly common crayfish parasite, though your case is larger than I've seen before. If it is indeed the parasite, there is a fairly easy, but lengthy, way to get rid of it. As soon as the crayfish molts, remove the discarded carapace. Keep doing this until the white forms are no longer visible. You may need to supplement the crayfish's diet with calcium rich foods, to compensate for the calcium lost from shell removal.