HELP (crab possibly dead, refractometer is complete garbage)

[PETRIXXX]

Ok, I don't know if the crab was injured when the lady at the store put him in the bag, but there's a chance that Shrek (my emerald crab I got 2 days ago) is dead. I woke up & saw him on his back & it wasn't moving, so I presumed he molted. I looked around & lifted up the live rock & couldn't find nothing other than algae & the nori my fish barely ate. For all I know he did molt & is just hiding in my the giant skull with my angel but I haven't seen him. So I presume that the salinity was 1.022 or something, so I finally use my imagitarium refractometer. I put a few drops of the water & it says 1.005-1.007. I'm pretty sure this is cap because the fish wouldn't have made it to day 3, let alone 3 weeks. Then I just dip the refractometer into the tank & for some reason the view is BLOCKED??? I've cleaned it, taken out the lens, changed angles, dipped it like 4 times, NOTHING. There is no one talking about this issue on the internet. Is it broken? Is shrek alive? Can clownfish, blennies, & dwarf angels live in brackish water? Oh btw I got a bit of the water in my mouth and it tasted salty but I spit it out for obvious reasons & it landed in the water so there's saliva in the tank, is that a major problem?

Tank Size: 29 gallons

Livestock:

Ocerallis Clownfish (Nemo IV) (the first 3 were freshwater fish from years ago)

Red-Lip Blenny (Beef)

Bicolor Angelfish (Knuckles)

Emerald Crab (Shrek) (66% chance he's dead)

[PETRIXXX]

update: apparently when a crab dies there's an odor so there's a chance he's not dead

[seabass]

Sure, there's a chance that your crab isn't dead.  But if it did die in the water, you probably wouldn't smell it.

 

Sounds like your refractometer might be toast.  But you really need to figure out the specific gravity of your tank's water.  Even a swing arm hydrometer will get you in the ballpark:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Coralife-Energy-Savers-ACLAF877-Hydrometer/dp/B0002566DS/

[PETRIXXX]

2 hours ago, seabass said:

Sure, there's a chance that your crab isn't dead.  But if it did die in the water, you probably wouldn't smell it.

 

Sounds like your refractometer might be toast.  But you really need to figure out the specific gravity of your tank's water.  Even a swing arm hydrometer will get you in the ballpark:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Coralife-Energy-Savers-ACLAF877-Hydrometer/dp/B0002566DS/

Yeah I tried the one from fluval, it's really inaccurate & constantly changes (sometimes it's at the bottom, sometimes it's off the charts, sometimes is 1.019, sometimes it's 1.023)

here's 2 pictures, one of shrek after addition & one of shrek's molt/corpse i just took (the lighting is identical because both were taken around night)

[seabass]

2 hours ago, PETRIXXX said:

I tried the one from fluval, it's really inaccurate & constantly changes

You'll have to figure something out, even if it means bringing samples into your local fish store to test.

 

 

If you are having problems with swing arm hydrometers and refractometers, you might try one of the following.

 

A floating hydrometer:

https://www.amazon.com/marine-Glass-saltwater-Hydrometer-Thermometer/dp/B016KG42U6/

 

Or a Hanna Salinity Tester:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/153939682078?msclkid=00185b04e07e11ec9b0f621640439417

[PETRIXXX]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

You'll have to figure something out, even if it means bringing samples in to your local fish store to test.

 

 

If you are having problems with swing arm hydrometers and refractometers, you might try one of the following.

 

A floating hydrometer:

https://www.amazon.com/marine-Glass-saltwater-Hydrometer-Thermometer/dp/B016KG42U6/

 

Or a Hanna Salinity Tester:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/153939682078?msclkid=00185b04e07e11ec9b0f621640439417

maybe, but is shrek in pic 2 look more dead or more molt? (please be molt i love(d) him)

[seabass]

Pick it up.  If it's meaty inside, then he's dead.  If empty, then a molt.

[PETRIXXX]

3 hours ago, seabass said:

Pick it up.  If it's meaty inside, then he's dead.  If empty, then a molt.

i picked him up with a net and he looked alot less hollow ;-;

[Tamberav]

I would just buy a new refractometer because it looks like something might be broken inside of it??? You also want to buy calibration fluid for it. 

 

Saliva isn't an issue.

 

Fish can survive in 1.009 salinity but I have had some survive in 1.006 for 24 hours-ish due to a shipping error. 

 

 

[seabass]

On 5/30/2022 at 1:21 PM, PETRIXXX said:

Then I just dip the refractometer into the tank & for some reason the view is BLOCKED??? I've cleaned it, taken out the lens, changed angles, dipped it like 4 times, NOTHING.

[DevilDuck]

The Hanna digital one has served me well.

Peering into a tube to try to guess at some tiny numbers just seems anachronous.