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Why did my emerald crab die?


ps2cho

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I have had one single emerald crab for 5 days now...I came back today and he was upside down in the tank and the snails were on him.

There was definitely some leftover flakes he could have gotten.

Ammonia: 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 4 Salinity 1.024...temp 79f.

 

Any ideas why he could have died? One of his arms was severed off, but that could have been from the snails after-the-fact...

 

I have 2 clowns, snails, 4 tiny hermits and a sand sifting starfish.

 

RIP :(

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AFellowReefer

Emerald crabs can be susceptible to salinity/water parameter swings. How new were your crabs, did you just add them? They may not have been acclimated correctly to the tank.

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Definitely was not a molt. I mean...I've never seen a molt -- but it wasn't a shell. Definitely dead :(

 

Molts look exactly like the crab, not at all shell looking. 90% of these crab death threads end up being molts.

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Learn to read OP Fellow :P

Emerald crabs can be susceptible to salinity/water parameter swings. How new were your crabs, did you just add them? They may not have been acclimated correctly to the tank.

 

I have had one single emerald crab for 5 days now...

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Definitely was not a molt. I mean...I've never seen a molt -- but it wasn't a shell. Definitely dead :(

 

Check your tank at night with a RED LED and see whether you can locate him as indeed what you see could just be the exoskeleton or carapace ...

 

Check my sig for the Red LED that really works well for checking your tank at night seeing what "really" is in there ... and you may find your crab but maybe other life forms a s well

 

FWIW

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llama roadkill

I had thought mine was just molting, but two months later, no sign of him. I guess time will tell for the both of us, but I bet mine is dead. :(

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pick up the molt and take it apart. then you will know. emeralds go crazy over pellets. they will eat any food. when my emerald dies, i replace him. they're they coolest crab. most emeralds won't make it to 6 months in a tank.

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most emeralds won't make it to 6 months in a tank.

 

Any idea why? This has been my experience also, but I'd really like to know why and make sure that it's not something that I could correct. What's their normal lifespan in the wild?

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Any idea why? This has been my experience also, but I'd really like to know why and make sure that it's not something that I could correct. What's their normal lifespan in the wild?

 

It is said that in captivity they will live up to 3 years + . Mine is over a year old . ... but you have to make sure that they do not run out of food and are not getting harassed or attacked by aggressive fish you may have in the tank.

 

I do not see mine during the day, or rarely, but when I use my Red LED light (see my signature) I can find the Emerald during the night crawling on the rocks and picking off algae bits ....

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I've had 3 crabs. 2 emeralds and a sally lightfoot.

The emeralds died within 2-3 weeks. I'm thinking fluctuations did them in.

Sally Lightfoot has been going strong for 2+ months now.
Even molted. I took the molt out and made sure it was a molt.

You can definitely tell the difference. 2 cents. W-

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It is said that in captivity they will live up to 3 years + . Mine is over a year old . ... but you have to make sure that they do not run out of food and are not getting harassed or attacked by aggressive fish you may have in the tank.

 

I do not see mine during the day, or rarely, but when I use my Red LED light (see my signature) I can find the Emerald during the night crawling on the rocks and picking off algae bits ....

 

I believe that my first one probably ran out of food. I had him for close to 6 months, but when I was gone the tank sitter was just feeding flake food and not the frozen I had been using. His replacement only lived a few days. I'm thinking (and hoping) that was just bad luck and he just didn't handle the stress of shipping to the LFS and then to my tank. EverytHing else in the tank has been healthy. Only 2 fish: a clown and a yellow watchman goby paired with a pistol shrimp. Snails, hermits, and corals are all good.

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I believe that my first one probably ran out of food. I had him for close to 6 months, but when I was gone the tank sitter was just feeding flake food and not the frozen I had been using. His replacement only lived a few days. I'm thinking (and hoping) that was just bad luck and he just didn't handle the stress of shipping to the LFS and then to my tank. EverytHing else in the tank has been healthy. Only 2 fish: a clown and a yellow watchman goby paired with a pistol shrimp. Snails, hermits, and corals are all good.

 

Yes that could be ... good luck with your reef

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I'll be damned...it was a molt.

 

I was convinced too. I come to the tank today and there he is, bigger than before, sitting on a rock just hanging out LOL.

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I'll be damned...it was a molt.

 

I was convinced too. I come to the tank today and there he is, bigger than before, sitting on a rock just hanging out LOL.

 

Make that 91%

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  • 5 years later...

Make that 92%. This morning I discovered my five-day old crab belly up on the rocks. Pulled it out. Quite dead. Tossed the carcass. Held a small silent funeral. Stared longingly at the tank, remembering the good times with the deceased. And there he was, staring out at me from a gap in the rock work. 

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  • Haha 1
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  • 1 month later...
On 9/16/2018 at 7:06 AM, RickyMcG said:

Make that 92%. This morning I discovered my five-day old crab belly up on the rocks. Pulled it out. Quite dead. Tossed the carcass. Held a small silent funeral. Stared longingly at the tank, remembering the good times with the deceased. And there he was, staring out at me from a gap in the rock work. 

That made me actually LOL

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bwahaha.  I think every reefer has had this happen at some point.  Some of our critters have molts that are damn convincing.  Hermit molts have fooled me more than once and my porcelain crab got me once too.

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My emerald just died too. Pretty sure it was actually dead though. Nassarius snail was all over it. I pulled it out of the water and it was pretty rank. That's pretty definitive, right? I think I had a salinity swing. Water level in 10g had fallen by maybe 3/8 inch. Of course, I had just added him to the tank the day before. He was hanging out under a rock, and happily ate some frozen food.

 

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