Blue crayfish appeared healthy and strong...until this morning

[Ethereal]

I have a 5.5 gallon tank with LED lighting overhead that I only turn on at night for 3-4 hours max. It is not a heated tank and there is an air pump, filter, two plastic plants in the back of the tank. I also have 1 WWII plane decoration and 1 giant triceratops skull for hiding (both decorations were purchased from Petco).

I've had my Blue Cray for a little over a week (got him from Petco) and he is always so lively until I found him on his side this morning. He looked as if his back shell was starting to come off, but he was in the middle of the tank, not in his normal hiding place. I fed him algae wafers in the beginning, but I had to clean the tank pretty quickly so I switched to shrimp pellets and had just gotten some small feeder fish for him only a couple days ago (he didn't eat the fish).

In addition to the cray I also had two snails living with him, one large and one really tiny one, but my cray didn't seem to mind them either.

Does anyone know the cause of my cray's death and can help me out with keeping my next one safe and healthy?

My cray was so lively and always seemed to be aggressive. He would bow up on my brother and I as we walked by the tank. He would mostly hide in the skull during the day and come out to hang in the open at night.

Thank you so much for the help or any advice!!!!! I can include pictures of my poor little guy post death if that helps at all....

 

[Coryluv]

I have no clue about crayfish, but I would like to offer my condolences. I'm so sorry for your loss. Even at only a week I can tell you cared for him.

 

[DocOck]

Could be a lack of calcium... When that happens they have trouble molting and can die in the process. All crustaceans need a source of calcium. You can be specialty crab food, grind up a cuddle bone, or figure something else out.

Hope that helps


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[CoryCats101]

First of all, I would definitely put a cray in a 10 gallon with LOTS of hides. I would also not have heating, or light in the tank. They also need an air-stone (they do breath from them), a safe environment to molt (don't remove the molted exo-skeleton btw, they eat them), and a big source of calcium. I hope this helps, I have had crays for 6 months now, I know how it feels to have a death. One last thing, don't buy you fish, crays, snails, etc from pet-stores. They are often unhealthy, and disease ridden. I just ended up finding a really good mom and pop fish factory near my home. Oh, and don't forget about REALLY GOOD filtration, they need extremely good water quality.

 

[CoryCats101]

This is my current cray setup.