Manuka Honey as a medicine for ill crabs?

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 10:18 pm

I'm going to soon be starting a trial using Manuka honey(it has excellent healing powers for infections both internal and external) as a supplemental food for my crabs which are dying off one by one by a mysterious virus/fungal or bacterial infection.
Below is a quote from BBC News.

"It works on bacteria, fungi, protozoa. We haven't found anything it doesn't work on among infectious organisms."

Am wondering if anyone else here has used this particular honey for their crabs,as I haven't found any thread on medicinal honey being used for this purpose. I guess in the end anything is worth a try.

This is a link for one site with useful information on Manuka honey;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3787867.stm

Willow · Post by **Willow** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 11:26 pm

Honey is excellent in any case, it's definitely worth a try! I hope it works.

HERMEZ · Post by **HERMEZ** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 5:17 am

Great idea!!!!! Good luck with it

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 5:46 pm

Well I bought some yesterday afternoon for $9

,the things I do for my crabbies.
Have placed some Manuka honey mixed with cuttlebone in front of my recent molter,Eeyore and he tried a little bit,but he may be too far gone now to recover,as it's been going on 5 days now since he molted,and he hasn't touched a thing.
Have been supplementing the other crabs food with Manuka honey and spirulina powder from the health food shop. In the end,I guess time will tell how well this works against infections and diseases that are caused by bacteria/fungi. If it can work for humans and other animals,then hopefully it'll work for crabbies too.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 1:53 pm

How are things in your tank?

Have things started to improve yet?

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 4:45 pm

Hi Featherscrabs

I'm still not entirely sure whether Eeyore is going to survive,but what I've found is crabs with this disease die within a week and if they molt they die a few days afterwards. Eeyore molted on the 26th and he appears to have become better as his exo's slowly hardening up even more and has become a better colour. He's eating the honey and I think small amounts of crushed cuttlebone too,he has a long way to go.
I haven't had anymore disease related deaths,the crabs in the tank appear to be becoming healthier with all the added manuka honey,vitamin C foods,spirulina,seaweed and ocean water. Did have another crab die yesterday morning though from a failed molt,but that may have been because he'd been disturbed just beforehand,as he didn't have any disease symptoms.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 6:54 am

I am happy to hear that things are turning around for the better.

Eeyore is one of the crabs in your avatar... right? I am pulling for him. He's so cute in that picture.

troppo · Post by **troppo** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 1:56 am

Yes that's Eeyore in my avatar sitting next to Spike.
Eeyore was adopted around this time last year,from a store where the tank had wet pebbles with a layer of dirty water on bottom of tank,no gauges,a dead nakey crab that was rotting,and he was sitting there by himself. I just couldn't stand to see such a beautiful crab live in such appalling conditions,so I brought him home,and he's a real good crab,he never bullies other crabs or pinches me. It's hard to have a new crab die,but it'd be real bad to have a favourite die,I hope he gets better too.