Pistol shrimp lost both claws

[SilverRanger]

Does anyone know why my pistol shrimp could have lost his claws? He’s left with only his small legs. My stock is two clownfish, yasha goby, fire shrimp, flame scallop, scarlet reef hermits and some various corals. No one seemed to be agressive so I was wondering if there is a deficiency or health issue that causes claw loss

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I received a Randall's pistol shrimp one time and it came in with both claws gone because it molted during shipping. I do know they will grow back throw molting, but I do not know how long it takes.

 

[SilverRanger]

Ok I hope they grow back

 

[dakoop]

 

[Outlaw Corals]

They will grow back my pistol shrimp loses his claws all the time and they come right back

 

[SilverRanger]

Its so sad
dude has to use his little nubs that are left

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Does anyone know why my pistol shrimp could have lost his claws? He’s left with only his small legs. My stock is two clownfish, yasha goby, fire shrimp, flame scallop, scarlet reef hermits and some various corals. No one seemed to be agressive so I was wondering if there is a deficiency or health issue that causes claw loss

Bunch of quotes for this - bear with me - but basically this happens either due to stress, injury (aggression or mechanical), diet, or water quality:

Molting issues can be caused by a number of things, but basically it boils down to either stress, diet, or inadequate water quality. Some crustaceans also have issues with lighting sometimes, so that may be something to look into as well.

here are some things that are commonly associated with bad molts in shrimp:
- Water Quality issues
- Improper diet
- Tank/tankmate issues (aggression, overcrowding, insufficient filtration, etc.)
- Water changes that change the parameters too much/too fast

(While this is implied above, I'll also specifically state a lack of adequate shelter/hiding places for inverts too).

With crustaceans, some parameters you may want to check include:

-Calcium
-pH
-Nitrate
-Phosphate
-Alkalinity would probably be good to test as well.

Sharing info on your water quality; how the other inverts are doing; what, how much, and how often you're feeding, a pic of your tank setup (mostly to show the aquascape), etc. may all be useful here for figuring out what happened.

The good news, as mentioned by others:

They can feed and regrow their claws over a few molts (probably a month or two); I assume they can feed themselves (though likely not very efficiently), and they probably can't burrow. They may develop either two "pistols" (snapper claws), two "small claws" (pincer claws), or a pistol and a snapper when the claws regrow (these should be clearly differentiated by the second molt).

Relevant source:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1542942