Cold Water/ Drowned Crab?

[Kardi]

So I have a 29g with 6 small/medium Es. Planning to upgrade shortly. Did a water change tonight, premake water in advance and store in fridge. Tank has been running for a year and numerous successful molts.

There's nothing wrong with the temp, tank, substrate, salt or fresh water - in short, no issues.

However I think I've made a fatal oversight.

One of my E's stumbled into the water while I was cleaning up the tank, I thought nothing of it as they always get out and go on their way. I finished up in the next 2 minutes and moved on to other household chores. Issue is about an hour later, I came back and noticed a crab curled up in the water bowl....

I immediately pulled him out and felt that the water was still chilly? A - my e's never swim or stay under for more than 30 seconds. So with that said, I'm really worried the water was too cold and when he stumbled in, it shocked him and he couldn't get out and was stuck unable to move!

When I removed him he was rather far back in his shell and he did retract a bit. I spun the shell twice to empty excess water and laid him on the substrate. It's now been about 30 minutes and not much movement, aside from the smallest attenae flicker. Shell is on the side.

I don't think there's much I can do at the moment, and I feel horrid. Has anyone ever run into this issue or heard of anything like this.

Clearly in the future I will let the water come to room temperature.

I'll let everyone know how it goes.

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[Kardi]

Update: getting scratching sounds from inside the shell but still no movement

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[GotButterflies]

Oh man, so sorry to hear this! May I ask why you keep the water in the fridge? I store both types of premade jugs under one of my crabitats. I'm sure you are right about the shock. I sure hope your little guy pulls through!


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[Kardi]

I just had 2 empty pitchers and they were easy to fill. I will be moving to something else and storing elsewhere.

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[Kardi]

Update: after not moving for about 3 hours last night and only a scratching sound coming from inside his shell, this morning the little guy was not where I left him. Either he crawled off or someone, well...let's hope he crawled off. I don't see him now though, so perhaps he went under. I'll keep everyone updated!



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[Renroc]

If you find him I'd put him in a tank close to a heat source. He may well just be trying to warm up.


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[Kardi]

I moved him up on the cork last night, as it was warm. I'm guessing he crawled off after he warmed up and is now destressing. I'll take a closer look tonight, but won't be digging up any sub.

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[Kardi]

No sight of him. Sadly I have 2 crabs in very similar shells, and only 1 is out. I do have many who recently went down to molt. Guess I sit and wait.

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[RebsCritters]

Because our crabs are cold-blooded they are very affected by temperature. If it gets too cold it will slow their metabolism and they will be unable to move. It's lucky you found him and pulled him out when you did.
I've noticed with my crabs while bathing them that they tend to have a small pocket of air inside their shells, so I'd be willing to bet he pulled in so far so he could access that bubble while awaiting rescue.
Hopefully he'll be ok, but if he's moving I think that's a pretty good sign. If another crab had gotten to him you'd know, but they aren't naturally aggressive towards one another.
Waiting is tough. Hope he shows up soon so you can rest easy!

[123AE]

A similar thing has happened to me once before I think it's because they can't regulate their body temps if it happens again (which I doubt it will again now that you know) just warm them up as quickly as possible . Also there is no need to store your water in the fridge you can just put it in a cupboard or somewhere


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[Renroc]

Because our crabs are cold-blooded they are very affected by temperature. If it gets too cold it will slow their metabolism and they will be unable to move. It's lucky you found him and pulled him out when you did.
I've noticed with my crabs while bathing them that they tend to have a small pocket of air inside their shells, so I'd be willing to bet he pulled in so far so he could access that bubble while awaiting rescue.
!

Crabs don't need to be bathed. Provided with fresh and salt water deep enough to totally submerge in they will do this themselves. In fact they very deliberately mix the salt and fresh water to make the water they store in their shells exactly the right salinity level they prefer. Bathing them can disturb this balance and puts undue stress on crabs.


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[RebsCritters]

Because our crabs are cold-blooded they are very affected by temperature. If it gets too cold it will slow their metabolism and they will be unable to move. It's lucky you found him and pulled him out when you did.
I've noticed with my crabs while bathing them that they tend to have a small pocket of air inside their shells, so I'd be willing to bet he pulled in so far so he could access that bubble while awaiting rescue.
!

Crabs don't need to be bathed. Provided with fresh and salt water deep enough to totally submerge in they will do this themselves. In fact they very deliberately mix the salt and fresh water to make the water they store in their shells exactly the right salinity level they prefer. Bathing them can disturb this balance and puts undue stress on crabs.


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I am fully aware. I did not specify that the bathing I did was strictly to help remove mites from my newly acquired crabs so that they did not infect my healthy crabs or their tank. This was irrelevant information to this thread so I did not include it. Thank you for your concern.

[Kardi]

Still no sign of him - but I'll take that as a good thing. The whole "herd" went down about a week ago and have been tunneling like crazy.

I'll let everyone know the outcome!

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[Kardi]

Great news everyone - the drowned god saw fit to save my little E! He resurfaced today and all is well. Seems like I was lucky and fortunate to have noticed the situation.

Thanks all for the input and support *claps*

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[soilentgringa]

Great news everyone - the drowned god saw fit to save my little E! He resurfaced today and all is well. Seems like I was lucky and fortunate to have noticed the situation.

Thanks all for the input and support *claps*

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What is dead my never die.

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