Allright, so i did some digging with the oracle (also known as google) and found some interesting info on the whole shrimp molting in reef aquariums subject. I thought I'd post it up for comment to see what ya'll thought.
Before I begin, i thought i'd give everyone an update on my shrimp. It appears that during his molt, all of the legs on his left side just didn't grow back. 3 of the legs on his right side did come back, but seem to have limited mobility. He seems to be doing ok for now, but i'm going to make some changes to se if i can ensure he pulls through in the end. My thoughts are to get him into isolation and feed him by hand until he regains mobility.
Now, on to what I found..
First off, apparently when a shrimp molts it is a good idea to leave the old exoskeleton in the tank. Apparently the shrimp itself will later eat and process the skeleton and use the nutrients held within it to replenish the new exoskeletal structure when the next molting occurs. I didn't do this with his previous molting, so maybe that contributed to his problems. I also read that due to the chemical makeup of the skeleton itself, it presents no consequence as it degrades and is processed by the shrimp (or so i read). So for this go at it, i'm going to let the skeleton remain.
Secondly, and probably most interesting, I found a lot of information on the chemical makeup of the Shrimp skeleton along with nutrients available in nature vs. the nutrients available in the tank. Apparently, in the wild, shrimp require a certain degree of Iodine to survive, however this is a dietary need only. Ideally, the shrimp needs 0.005% iodine to grow at its optimum (or natural) rate. So that's something to keep in mind.
Also, The shrimp itself contains some trace elements of iodine. It looks like shrimp iodine content for its fleshy meat can range between 0.05 to 2 ppm. Thats a pretty big range, and i've been unable to find anything specific to Fire Shrimp. I'll keep looking though. During mating or reproduction, the iodine content of shrimp almost doubles and that doubling of iodine is then passed to the young. When shrimp are fist born (if thats the right term) they have almost 4 ppm of iodine in their flesh which they later convert to the hard shell.
Speaking of the shell, i found that the shell itself contains up to 15ppm of iodine (again, i couldn't find anything species specific), which has a lot to do with its "hard" structure. If this is true, I can see why leaving the old shell in the tank would be a good idea since it will inevitably help to replenish the iodine content of the water for later moldings.
The only cautionary tale I found, was that algae apparently loves iodine. So if a supplement is used excessively, it can promote an excess of algae growth which will in turn absorb the iodine and not allow it to go to the intended recipient, the shrimp (if that's your goal). Just something to keep in mind.
So, in summation, i don't know if any of this may (or may not) have contributed to the problems i had with my shrimp, but I thought i would at least regurgitate the information I dug up during my digging in case anyone else has any interest. This may be common knowledge to ya'll, but I thought it proved to be some interested reads on the "inter webs".
I will certainly be keeping an eye on my iodine levels after your experiance. Good work, glad your fire shrimp survived
