emerald crabs and watchman goby dead!! =(

[madstyle1]

hey guys just wonderin if you can help me out on why my crabs and goby died. I had my crabs over a week a go and got my goby two days ago and when I got home earlier today they the two crabs and the goby were dead. I was gone out of town for two days. My turbo snails and my two clowns are fine. I just checked my water parameters just now and all looks good Ammonia - 0, Nitrate - 0, Nitrite- 0, PH @ 8.4, SG is at 1.027 and water is @ 76 degrees. Im assuming that my crabs didnt have enough food source to eat from. but before I left they were picking the rocks really well. And as for the Goby Im not to sure what happen there.

Hopefully someone can help me figure why this happen. Thanks in advance.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Is this the first time you've had crabs? (Gee... that kind of sounds rude now, doesn't it!) I'm just wondering if you've seen a crab molt, because the shells they leave behind when they molt make you think it's the actual crabs you're seeing. Are you sure your crabs aren't hiding out for a day or so (they'll do that after a molt) and they're still alive in your tank? Molts can look pretty darn real.

Regarding the goby... if you just put it in two days ago, but were gone for the last two days, I'm guessing you acclimated it and then left the next morning? If fish aren't going to make it due to a bad acclimation, then it'll happen pretty quick. I'm thinking the stress from acclimation didn't go over well and it died shortly after it was put in the tank.

 

[madstyle1]

im pretty sure the crabs were dead. unless the molt of the crabs have eyes too? i looked pretty closely. If its still alive i havent seen it yet.. and ive moved the rocks around.

as far as the goby i honestly dont know what happened. i acclimated the goby the same way i did the clowns. the goby had decayed pretty bad cuz when i tried removing it from the tank it broke down into small little pieces..

 

[melosu58]

The molt of a crab looks like the real thing. Eyes, legs and everything. You would not be able to tell by looking at it. Sorry about the Goby. I`m thinking acclimation also. And even though you have done it the same as other times the water from your LFS might have been way off from yours requiring extra acclimation time. JMO

 

[austinsdad]

I also wouldn't recommend adding new fish just before going out of town FWIW.