bdmiller Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 My poor emerald crab died. I only had him for a week. I think he may have died over the weekend. My tank is at work so, I'm wondering if the SG was too high. I came in on Monday and I had pretty much evaporation. How sensitive are these guys to salinity? Can anyone recommend any good algae eaters? Thanks Link to comment
chufa Posted October 22, 2002 Share Posted October 22, 2002 are you sure it's dead? it could have molted and left its carapace. It will look like a dead crab. Check the tank and see if it is not hiding somewhere. Link to comment
karlas Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 dont be in such a hurry asumming hes dead they are great hiders and some u may never know they are there. take a look in your tank at night with a light u may find him i have one and he seems to lurk more at night when the light hits em he backs into the shadows. Link to comment
Physh1 Posted October 23, 2002 Share Posted October 23, 2002 I agree iwth thse guys....don't be so quick to assume he is dead. New shrimps and crabs have a good chance of molting in new tanks. It happend frequently and often scares the tank owners. Give it time....newly molted critters go hide for a while until there shell hardens again. He is likely still there....did you find just a shell or a full crab? Cameron Link to comment
SteveC Posted October 24, 2002 Share Posted October 24, 2002 One thing that got me the first time one of my blue legs molted was that the shell was colored just like the crab. I was used to freshwater crustaceans, whose molted shells are always (as far as I know) translucent white regardless of the color of the critter, so I was absolutely sure I had a dead crab! Then I counted them, and concluded I must have had a hitchhiker that subsequently died. Then it happened again the next day, and I still had the same number of crabs. That's when I realized that saltwater critters are just a little different in that regard. Steve Link to comment
bdmiller Posted October 24, 2002 Author Share Posted October 24, 2002 phyish1, I found a full crab. Minus one of his arms tho. It may have fell off when I pulled him out. When they molt is it just their shell or their whole body? Like I said, I pulled out a whole crab, legs and all. Link to comment
Physh1 Posted October 24, 2002 Share Posted October 24, 2002 I guess I should have asked if it was a hollow shell or full. When they shed you will find a whole empty shell (it's very cool to watch them shed by the way). If it is dead you will find a whole shell with crab meat in it. You'd be able to tell pretty easy cuz the empty shell should crush pretty easy. Cameron Link to comment
kovu Posted October 27, 2002 Share Posted October 27, 2002 wow i thought ive been finding dead hitchiking hermits this whole time! Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.