My crayfish: Good news and bad news.

[QTOFFER]

Bad news: My blue crayfish, Elwood died during a molt. He molted twice for me in the past with no problems. His former tankmate, Jake suffered the same fate a few months ago. Grrr. I guess the commercially available blues, being so inbred, have a genetic predisposition for this.

The good news: Ebirah, my red crayfish molted last night right before my eyes! This is his second molt since I got him exactly one month ago. The molt took place right after I transferred him to the 10 gal that previously housed Jake and Elwood.

The molt was an amazing sight to watch! First the dorsal joint between the thorax and the abdomen split open, and the thorax popped up like the hood on a sports car. Then the ventral midline from mouth to tail split apart. Some white fibrous material oozed out of these splits. Ebirah struggled a bit to slide his claws, walking legs, and antennae out of the old exoskeleton. Once this was done, he used a powerful flick of his tail to shed the remaining exoskeleton. This took all of a minute or so.

The new exoskeleton was misshapen and dark. The claws were droopy like a Salvadore Dali painting! I watched Ebirah for a few minutes as he pumped blood into his appendages - swelling them so that the new exoskeleton would be bigger than the old one when it eventually hardened. I turned off the lights and let Ebirah complete his molt in peace and privacy.

Today, he is noticeably bigger than yesterday and very active. I'm leaving the old exoskeleton in the tank for him to eat (crays recover valuable nutrients by eating their shed exoskeletons).

Here are some pics - the claws from Ebirah's first molt, the exoskeleton shed last night, and Ebirah this morning - fully recovered.

 

[Jchillin]

Wow...that is amazing. I would have just freaked out if I had seen it 8O Sorry to hear that now both Jake and Elwood will be singing with the band in crustacean heaven.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Sorry to hear about your crayfish

What about dosing with iodine? Or do the crayfish not like that? Or am I way off base? 8) I thought it helped in the molt process, and helped keep the exoskeleton healthy.

 

[lmw80]

i am so sorry to hear about the blue. Did u get them both from the same place?

great pictures!

 

[QTOFFER]

Devilish, I never heard of dosing with iodine. Do you have any other info about this? I feed the crays high quality foods from Ocean Nutrition, and Hikari supplemented with frozen veggies. They get the same nutrition as my fish, but maybe they are lacking something?

Lori, I got the blues together at the same time at the same place (a very reputable lfs). I really think that these guys are just a genetically weaker strain. I'd try them again, but at $18 apiece, they're a bit risky.

 

[Veneer]

Devilish, I never heard of dosing with iodine. Do you have any other info about this?

To my knowledge, that claim - as put forward by dealers of such supplements - possesses no scientific backing. If you wish to provide iodine to your crayfish, you should look into foodstuffs rich in that element.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Devilish, I never heard of dosing with iodine. Do you have any other info about this? I feed the crays high quality foods from Ocean Nutrition, and Hikari supplemented with frozen veggies. They get the same nutrition as my fish, but maybe they are lacking something?

QTOFFER, I did a google search for it's use, but could find no scientific evidence as to what it does. I have heard and heard and heard however, of iodine being a gread additive for inverts, and espeically shrimp.

I did a search on AA, and found a few cool links.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=7484&highlight=iodine

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=25823&highlight=iodine

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=30712&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Apparently, from what I've read, this is as much a debated issue as salt in FW tanks! Interesting none the less. If I come across a site or article that explains the biological advantages of iodine, I'll pass it along. 8)

 

[Meredith]

That would be a cool thing to see! The more I hear about these guys the more interested I am in trying to keep some myself.

 

[An t-iasg]

QTOFFER, sorry to hear about Elwood That must have been something to see with the molt! I hope Ebirah is ok!

I have also heard/read about iodine. I had some ghost shrimp that didn't live for more than a week once. I think my water was too soft for their shell, so I did some research and read about iodine additives. Yes, it does seem to be as debated as UGFs or aquarium salt in a FW tank! The idea that I got from my reading was: Does the iodine actually facilitate, or just force, the molting process? Since my tanks have other fish besides the ghost shrimp I decided not to try the iodine. Well, it doesn't matter now that the ghost shrimp died and I didn't get any more -- but I was undecided on the benefits of iodine as well.

 

[Blizzard]

Yeah sorry about loosing Elwood.......It's good to hear that Ebirah is doing well!
-Blizzard