Emerald near death...what to do

[Twostepper4041]

Woke up this morning and it was cold as hell in my house... 64 deg... Forgot to turn heat on last night. I have a heater in my biocube 14, it's a 50w, set at 78-79. So the tank was at 76-77 when I woke up... Heater is on and it's about back to 79. Saw my emerald just chilling on my blue Zoe's, so I put my tweezers in to move him off, and he just floated to the sand. Did not really move.... Lost a lot of the green color he had... Legs were just barely moving.... I would say he's almost dead... I should remove him ASAP right?

[chrssprngs]

Yes. Your tank temps were fine. My tank runs between 75 and 77 with no issues. Tank temp didn't kill it.

[seabass]

The temp drop might not have been ideal; but during shipping, temps can drop a lot. I don't think that would have affected it much. Watch it; if it does die, sure take it out.

 

 

Edit:

I initially read it as your forgot to turn your tank heater on. Yeah, the actual temp swing wasn't much at all.

[Chew_Magna]

I'm a big invertebrate guy. Tarantulas and scorpions are kinda my thing. It sounds to me like it's getting ready to molt. If this is the case you need to leave it alone. Messing with it will most likely kill it.

[Twostepper4041]

Ok, I feel like a dumb ass! 10 hours later, I see my emeral crab... That's after I thought I took his body out and flushed it. I've never seen a molt that looked so real... It has some mass to it as well... Everything is safe and sound

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Emerald crabs can be dropped into a 55 degree temperature attacked and almost swallowed whole by a green surf anemone and then dropped back into a 78 degree tank and live!

 

They are resilient as can be for a crab!

[Chew_Magna]

[Pseudocheilinus hexataenia]

I'm glad this had an educational, as well as, a happy ending.

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Yeah,

 

It wasn't the temp that threw him off his clock. These bad boys are as tough as nails....

[Chew_Magna]

We had a similar situation at work not long ago. One of our T's was getting ready to molt (mind you, this was a $130 spider), and one of the guys threw it away on my day off because he thought it was dead.

 

/facepalm

[Twostepper4041]

Here's a new one for you.... Saw my emerald today, and its missing its left claw??? Wtf? Is it true they can loose them when they molt, but it will re grow?

[doppelganger]

yes it will grow it's limbs back

[jersey]

yes it will grow it's limbs back

 

I had to read this post to my wife..

 

So, I went on a trip for work, and she was in charge of the tank for the week I was gone.. She knows NOTHING about this stuff, and was in a panic that it was left in her hands.. I told her to do nothing but give a tiny pinch of food every other day.

 

So day 2.. she calls me all freaked out.. Your shrimp thingie has cloned itself!

 

After explaining to her that it was fine, and assuring her that they often shed their entire bodies in one piece and it was just his old shell, she calls me back to let me know that the shrimp is eating itself, and wanting to know if she should remove the old shrimp and put it in the freezer so I can make sure it was the right one...

 

At that point I told her to not touch the tank ever again. lol