Are spinners doomed?

[Molch]

In my batch of apuanus larvae (now at least 50) there are 5 or 6 spinners. They're eating and growing for now, but when you nudge them they go off in spirals and circles like a fire cracker, and usually come to rest upside down.

After a brine shrimp feeding they're all lying flat on their backs, with their orange bellies pointing up, looking like a bunch of freshmen after Bloody Marys 101.:wacko:

Are they doomed? I'm keeping them going as a sort-of experiment; as long as they feed, they probably have a chance, but I fully expect them to snuff out eventually.

What do you do when you have spinners?

 

[Azhael]

I think it´s possible to raise them, at least in some species, but that they do very poorly. I´d personally cull them, and should you choose to raise them, definitely not breed them in the future (or allow others to).

The pressence of spinners could be just because the females are young. You´ll have to see if future breedings also show the problem.

 

[eldaldo]

every spinner I've ever had died. I tried to see if they would recover like you are. But that's just my experience.

 

[Jennewt]

All the spinners that I didn't euthanize eventually died. At some point they are unable to eat due to their lack of coordination. I had one spinner Pleurodele that lived (and grew normally) until it reached metamorphosis, but then it died (I think it drowned). That one spun like a corkscrew, not around in circles.

A friend of mine told me that he raised a spinner Pleurodele to adulthood, and it still swam in circles as an adult.

My advice is to euthanize them when they are small, but I don't always find it easy to follow my own advice.

 

[Molch]

thanks all,
yeah, I have no intention trying to raise them. I'll probably recycle them by feeding them to the adults or to my fish.

 

[Molch]

by the way, is it lnown why spinners are like that? Is it a genetic defect or a problem that comes during development?

My neighbors used to run a salmon hatchery, and they said that they had spinners among their salmon fry too and they would all die eventually. They usually culled them. Some of them would have bizarre colors too.

 

[Jennewt]

I can imagine a number of different defects that could cause a larva or fish to swim in circles - any imbalance in the muscles or nerves between the two sides of the body might do it. I expect that it could be a mutation, or it could be a random mishap in early development (like a nerve that grows into the wrong position).