PikminWorld
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2021
- Messages
- 7
Hello, I've had a female red claw crab for about 1.5-2 months now. She seemed to be pretty healthy and active up until this morning when I found her upside down and barely moving.
I freaked out a little and tried to help her thinking maybe she fell which in retrospect was foolish since crabs are pretty good at up-righting themselves. I consulted the Internet and most signs pointed to molting, which I had not seen her do before, so she must have been long overdue.
The issue, however, is that molting seems to be a process that should only last a few minutes, at most 15 according to some sites I read. She has been acting like this for hours now and I don't notice any cracks in her shell.
A few things about my aquarium:
It's 20G long, with a lot of rocks and plants providing hiding spots for the crab which I know they need for molting and feeling comfortable. The substrate is sand and I tested the water. No nitrites, no ammonia, and the nitrates were at most 5.0 ppm, which I read should be safe for crabs and other fish. The specific gravity of the water is around 1.004, slightly under the recommended 1.005, but hasn't seemed to bother her before. The pH is around 7.8 and the water temperature is in the optimal range, 77 degrees Fahrenheit. There is also a land platform on top of the rocks with some driftwood that provides her land to settle on, as I know they need more of a paludarium due to their semi-terrestrial nature.
Her diet consists of Hikari crab cuisine and occasionally frozen peas, which I admit should be a little more diversified, but there is also java ferns, java moss, and an anubias plant that she has been picking from before.
Her tank mates are all passive and were what I saw as recommended tank mates (at least in terms of fish):
1 Dalmatian molly
1 American flagfish
4 Nerite snails and A LOT of Malaysian trumpet snails for cleaning up the algae.
None of them try to attack her and have not been a source of stress for her in the past.
I am out of ideas and trying to research potential bacterial, fungal, or parasitic diseases for my crab (or any crab really) has proven fruitless. I have some medicine, but none that are designed for crabs specifically (I haven't been able to find any): ParaCleanse, Maracyn, and Ich-X. I believe ParaCleanse should not harm invertebrates and was thinking of using this if her condition does not improve by the morning.
Does anyone have any ideas what may be causing this? I apologize for how long this post is, but I didn't want to leave out any details that may help. Thank you so much for your time and any advice you can offer.
I freaked out a little and tried to help her thinking maybe she fell which in retrospect was foolish since crabs are pretty good at up-righting themselves. I consulted the Internet and most signs pointed to molting, which I had not seen her do before, so she must have been long overdue.
The issue, however, is that molting seems to be a process that should only last a few minutes, at most 15 according to some sites I read. She has been acting like this for hours now and I don't notice any cracks in her shell.
A few things about my aquarium:
It's 20G long, with a lot of rocks and plants providing hiding spots for the crab which I know they need for molting and feeling comfortable. The substrate is sand and I tested the water. No nitrites, no ammonia, and the nitrates were at most 5.0 ppm, which I read should be safe for crabs and other fish. The specific gravity of the water is around 1.004, slightly under the recommended 1.005, but hasn't seemed to bother her before. The pH is around 7.8 and the water temperature is in the optimal range, 77 degrees Fahrenheit. There is also a land platform on top of the rocks with some driftwood that provides her land to settle on, as I know they need more of a paludarium due to their semi-terrestrial nature.
Her diet consists of Hikari crab cuisine and occasionally frozen peas, which I admit should be a little more diversified, but there is also java ferns, java moss, and an anubias plant that she has been picking from before.
Her tank mates are all passive and were what I saw as recommended tank mates (at least in terms of fish):
1 Dalmatian molly
1 American flagfish
4 Nerite snails and A LOT of Malaysian trumpet snails for cleaning up the algae.
None of them try to attack her and have not been a source of stress for her in the past.
I am out of ideas and trying to research potential bacterial, fungal, or parasitic diseases for my crab (or any crab really) has proven fruitless. I have some medicine, but none that are designed for crabs specifically (I haven't been able to find any): ParaCleanse, Maracyn, and Ich-X. I believe ParaCleanse should not harm invertebrates and was thinking of using this if her condition does not improve by the morning.
Does anyone have any ideas what may be causing this? I apologize for how long this post is, but I didn't want to leave out any details that may help. Thank you so much for your time and any advice you can offer.