crabs are dead!

[prestage3ek]

so within the last 24 hours I have found 6 crabs from my cleaner crew dead. everything in the tank checks out fine, ammonia levels and everything else looks good, I supplement a small square of algae every 2 days or so, I have also seen them eating the food that I use to feed my fish, the blue Formula One container. What could be happening? too many crabs? are they killing eachother or is it something else?

[scrmbld33]

are their any other inhabitants ie fish etc? did you acclimate them? it is possible for hermits to kill eachother, usually for the shells, so having spare shells for them to move into would be good, also they ll attack your snails to steal their shells too

[Wrench]

Could they possibly be the old exoskeletons leftover after they've molted? I was finding what looked like dead crabs every day but the poplulation never dropped. Then I caught one molting one night. He would come out of the shell, molt his exoskeleton then get back in the shell.

[alizarin]

If you're sure they're dead and it's not just their shells after molting...

Then could you tell us
1) Is this a new tank? How often do you do water changes?
2) How long has the cleanupcrew been in the tank?
3) What kind of crabs?
4) What other invertebrates do you have?

[prestage3ek]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8899244#post8899244 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alizarin
If you're sure they're dead and it's not just their shells after molting...

Then could you tell us
1) Is this a new tank? How often do you do water changes?
2) How long has the cleanupcrew been in the tank?
3) What kind of crabs?
4) What other invertebrates do you have?

the tank is fairly new, about a month now, I havent done a water change because I had a ammonia spike and then everything leveled off, all I have done is add more water because the level drops a inch or so every couple days and my skimmer needs constant adjusting when that happens.

my cleanup crew has been in the tank for about 2 1/2 weeks now

crabs are from a cleaner crew from drs f&s, red reef hermits, blue leg hermits and scarlet hermits. I also have 6 trochous snails and an abalone.

only thing else I have in the tank are 2 clowns and a dottyback.

[prestage3ek]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8898839#post8898839 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scrmbld33
are their any other inhabitants ie fish etc? did you acclimate them? it is possible for hermits to kill eachother, usually for the shells, so having spare shells for them to move into would be good, also they ll attack your snails to steal their shells too

a couple of them have already changed shells that were in the sand I had, some of them are now in white shells cause I have carribean reef sand.

[bertoni]

You're probably seeing molts, not dead crabs. I got fooled frequently by molts. You could post all the water parameters, if you're worried. I assume you're topping off with RO-DI water, not saltwater?

The sand also might not have enough appropriate spare shells.

[danch]

Could there be too many crabs for the available food? The packaged cleaner crews are frequently way more critters than experts recommend.

[FullPull]

I agree with bertoni, your probably seeing molts. They are very deceiving. Are you finding what appears to be the legs with their deep color and more hanging off of them? That's what I found, I thought for sure they were dead untill I did a head count.

[prestage3ek]

what im finding is the legs and then some fleshy stuff attached to it, it has eyes and stuff too.

[dcombs44]

Sounds like a hermit molt to me!

[amike5]

They just molted, no worries! Molts are very deceiving, count up your crew to verify. GL

[HBtank]

Fools everyone.

Ive had many roomates etc... come to inform me that my big ol' hermit was dead (my favorite critter) because they had never really seen a molt before.

[rick s]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8898600#post8898600 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by prestage3ek
My Crabs are dead!
CONGRATULATIONS! :celeb1:

OOOps. Wrong forum. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

[SgJsg35]

I used to work at petco, had a ton of freshwater ex. but very little salt,used to write up crabs and shrimp as dead when it was only the exoskeleton,they can fool you.