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Panchlora turns pink and dies!


MantisMan

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Dead Panchlora and Lobsters commonly turn pink after they die, possibly related to moisture. I've seen a few other species turn pink but these guys regularly do it. Many animals can change to various colors when they decompose.

Good to know. Mine must be eaten by the nymphs and isopods before I notice it.

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Hi

I've noticed it years ago in my Blaberus craniifer colony. I tought it was due to the food (some pond sticks I used were pink), but I began to use yellow sticks, and the colour remained... I use a really dry tank to breed them (I never put water into it), so I found it strange: the roaches beacame pink just after death (not enough time to be degraded) and sometime, I noticed this on dying roaches!

A freind of mine told me the he has the same matter in some colonies, it's a sickness, probably due to some fungi... It spreads because the roaches cometimes eat the dead one, or fruit flies and Phoridae move from tank to tank, sometime expanding the fungi on food...

So beware, take the dead roaches out of your tank to avoid contamination ;)

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.... it's a sickness, probably due to some fungi...

I'm going to say from experience that healthy animals are never affected. There is no proof of bacteria or fungi, that's just a guess. However, you may notice a lot of pink roaches if you're killing a lot of animals so the conditions may need to be adjusted.

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I have found crickets and a glowspot roach in the last year that have turned pink after death. I assumed it was due to the colour in the dry food i feed, but the humidity makes more sense. I havnt had the pink/death effect more than a single critter at a time so i assume its not contagious.

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I've seen this happen to some of the Blaptica dubia nymphs that I pre-kill to feed to immature centipedes that go uneaten, though I promptly remove them once I start to notice it or any mold. I keep the centipedes rather humid with low ventilation, and I always just assumed it was some sort of fungus/bacteria/other by-product of decomposition. And, I haven't seen it with any dead dubias in dryer enclosures, so I would assume the humidity has something to do with it.

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I think it is a fungal disease, aspergillosis, caused by Aspergillus fungi.

Aspergillus are widespread in the environment, mainly infecting plants, but also opportunistic, infecting animals, including insects and people!

I've seen small numbers in cultures. They tend to be a problem when roaches are stressed, e.g cold. I have received roaches in the post which i think had an aspergillus infection, most with partial paralysis and usually, ultimately death, However, I've had a few which made a near full recovery.

There are a few scientific papers recording aspergillus in roaches: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9549100

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I think it is a fungal disease, aspergillosis, caused by Aspergillus fungi.

There are a few scientific papers recording aspergillus in roaches: http://www.ncbi.nlm..../pubmed/9549100

You have no real reason to believe the roaches you had die were infected with anything. Roaches can become infected with fungi and the pink coloration may result from bacteria breaking down an already dead animal but the pink coloration is an effect, not a cause. The only reason it matters is new keepers might hear your advice and try to treat a symptom rather than find the cause and lose their culture in the process.
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Adult Panchlora are somewhat ephemeral. If there are plenty of nymphs and none are dying there is a good chance the adults expired.

i've had the adults for many months

there seem to be plenty of nymphs in the soil

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