newbies at "Greg & Renee's House O' Scorps"

[Just_Greg]

here's the new frondosa, about ready to molt, so there's a brown tinge of dinos:

[Learner]

OMG!!! They moult??
Having never researched the species, I'm rather gobsmacked.....thought they just grew larger!!
I love this site, you learn something every day.
 Thanks.   :0)

[Just_Greg]

Tania,

being sedentary fish, things tend to settle and/or grow on scorps, so many of them periodically shed their cuticle, which is a thin "outer skin".  here's what the cuticle looks like (note the BW cleaning it up):

[Learner]

Thanks for the info Greg, I find it fascinating.
Had visions of a molt as in tarantula...lol

[pinkorchid]

Interesting!!! I also thought "huh?" when i read molt.  Caught me by surprise!
Cool...

[Just_Greg]

here's what our volitans tank looks like when the fish has shed.  what lions do is give a quick dart or two after they've loosened their cuticle by yawning, stretching, and sitting in front of the return so the water blast loosens the cuticle.

Lionfish shedding cuticle.	powered by Aeva

[Learner]

Eeeeuuuwww...fascinating.
I assume they get uncomfy, and possibly feel rather restricted by the cuticle?
Hence the shedding?
Feel free to enlighten me, thanks. :0)

[Just_Greg]

it's really more of a defense against critters/junk settling on their bodies (as opposed to growth), and is one big reason why this family of fishes is fairly resistant to ectoparasites such as crypto.

poor water quality or stress can result in an inordinate amount of shedding, and this can be used to flag a possible problem in the system. 

for instance, after its stay in the hypo tank, the volitans just didn't seem "at ease", and was shedding a bit too often.  i traced the trouble down to the main return pump imparting too much vibration to the tank via the stand (apparently the rubber washers i used to mount it weren't isolating it as much as i thought.  i added some Sorbathane feet to the mounting board, and the fish calmed right down.

[Bergy]

ok, i know you are probably expecting me to ask, but how exactly did you trace it down to THAT???


was everything else perfect???

seems like a reach to get to the vibration as the cause or the sole cause???

but knowing you guys maybe you did rule out everything else???

[Just_Greg]

we were banging our heads trying to figure it out, and finally asked ourselves what could be stressing the fish if everything else was OK?  basically tossing things out there and evaluating them...if not the water quality, what in the setup isn't "right"?

heck, the vibe may have been the stressor that caused the crypto in the first place...

[Learner]

we were banging our heads trying to figure it out,
heck, the vibe may have been the stressor that caused the crypto in the first place...

LOL :0)

[Just_Greg]

just a follow-up...the volitans is definitely back to "normal".  i feel kinda dumb not thinking of this before, but just like everything else, you never stop learning...

[psykokid]

here's my leaf fish shedding his cuticle..

[Just_Greg]

yeppers...that's what they do.  did the sally eat the cuticle?

it looks to be doing quite well for you.

[RandyFolds]

Well poo poo, for the price of the meals he has been eating...