possible bacterial bloom

[hayhay528]

hey guys i think i may have a bloom in my 55 gal tank. today i noticed a rusty colored line along the bottom of the tank (about an inch and a half up).
i inserted a chopstick and i don't smell anything but there is a small amount of water build up in the hole i made (maybe about a centimeter of water)

anyways i set up a temporary tank (and i mean TEMPORARY!) for all the crabs above sand, i thought 3 were up but my littlest mustve went digging last night.
i used one of our old ten gallon tanks, about 3 inches of eco earth and sand, lots of hideys, shells, climbeys, salt water and fresh water and food.
I put our E who is the our biggest crab, probably a very small medium size, and our smaller PP who is a small size in there.

Im heading to work in 20 minutes and don't have another tank set up yet so i figured i would cover the 55 and deal with that when i get home tonight.

please leave any advice you have, or questions, i will try to fill out the emergency questions at work if i can.
thank so much!!!

[GotButterflies]

If you don't have one, you will get one with standing water at the bottom. Good luck changing your substrate!

[hayhay528]

do you think i should dig up my other crabs?(3)
i dont know if this changes anything but one of the crabs who is in the temporary tank had just come up last week, and one of them whose down, comes up(two days ago) and down(yesterday) all the time. not sure if this matters but it makes me feel like my babies are ok down there!

anyways I've been putting off setting up my new 75 gallon so i guess this is the opportunity. just not sure when i should dig up the others

[GotButterflies]

1cm of water isn't going to harm them, but if it is a bacterial bloom that could. PM Wodesorel about it and ask her. Can you post a picture?

[wodesorel]

If they are sitting in the water at the bottom they won't make it through the molt. The discoloration would also make me nervous that something was growing down there that shouldn't be. If it were me, I'd test dig a corner and get hands on to see how much pooling water there is. Like GB said, with floods it's only a matter of time before the substrate goes bad.

[PinchersAndShells]

I personally would go ahead and carefully dig them up, and if they're molting using a spoon to lift the crab as well as the substrate around it, then putting it in an ISO container. When I had to deal with a really bad bacterial bloom around a month ago the first sign I saw (before I realized what was happening) was patches of rust colored substrate.

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[hayhay528]

thank you everyone! i just got home from work and its almost 11pm, my littlest who just dug down yesterday was back above ground and i was able to move her to the temporary habitat!!! yay!
now for the other two.... i think i have to start digging tonight I'm just nervous about finding them not alive
wish me luck... i will update once its done

[fandt94]

thank you everyone! i just got home from work and its almost 11pm, my littlest who just dug down yesterday was back above ground and i was able to move her to the temporary habitat!!! yay!
now for the other two.... i think i have to start digging tonight I'm just nervous about finding them not alive
wish me luck... i will update once its done

Best of luck!!!

[hayhay528]

so I've been digging..slow and steady... i would hate for my digging to be what hurts one of them...
and WOW i cannot believe how low they get shells and food pieces.. lol
my digging method is to softly scrape the top layer of sand, run my fingers thru it, and move it to a bucket.

anyway about 3-4 inches down on the right side (under the water dishes) i ran into a molter. not sure which of my two it is, because they both love babylon areolas.
i started to notice a tunnel first- the first i have found in the tank so far- before i saw her. i placed the mug on top of the hole i made, and prepared her a place to stay.

i have two 10 gallons that i keep for emergencies and one is the temporary tat for the other 3, and then i turned the other into a home for molter #1. about 3 inches of sub which i took off the top of my current bloom tank -- i threw away about an inch or two of the top sand because i felt like there was a bunch of food in it and didn't want to reuse so this is what was under that
i added a small uth to the side, put my crab into a mug, rescued her exoskeleton, rinsed it with filtered water, and put it in front of her. then i covered the top of the tank and then covered the sides for darkness. please let me know if theres anything i can do besides that- i want to make sure I'm doing it right because i have a feeling I'm going to find my other molter.

i have only had crabs in my adult life for about a year and have had a flood during that year. i had to dig up 3 crabs, only one was "molting" but was basically done. anyway between that and all the pictures I've seen on this site, this is the BIGGEST exoskeleton I've ever seen!!! its like a real crab, with eyes and all!!! holy crap!!!


i hope i got this image to work, and i apologize for the quality, I'm one of the last humans without a smart phone..

[hayhay528]

i found my other crab on the other side of the tank, a few more inches down, and drown. clearly just molted. super pale pink and soft. i will post pictures after my camera charges. when i found her she was in solid sand, had it pressed all over her and her legs pressed to the front of her... i could tell she had passed but shook her shell a lil to make sure and her body fell out... i feel so sad. especially because it was my fault. what to do now, with my molter and my 3 who aren't? should i feed them her exo or will they know it was her? what can i do better in the future? do you guys mix your sub and if so how do you do that with so many crabs and at least one molting at a time???

[PinchersAndShells]

Oh no. Are you sure the crab died? Did it smell like dead fish? You could feed it to the other crabs if that isn't too painful for you to do.
Usually people who churn the substrate wait until all the crabs are up by chance.

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[hayhay528]

Oh no. Are you sure the crab died? Did it smell like dead fish? You could feed it to the other crabs if that isn't too painful for you to do.
Usually people who churn the substrate wait until all the crabs are up by chance.

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yes i'm sure she was dead, she fell out of the shell and her body like broke apart. and she had no tunnel i think since the sand was so wet it packed down all around her..
i buried her in the back yard where we buried the other one we had who passed.

do you guys know how long until the molting crab in iso will need before it needs food and water and light again?

[fandt94]

Oh no. Are you sure the crab died? Did it smell like dead fish? You could feed it to the other crabs if that isn't too painful for you to do.
Usually people who churn the substrate wait until all the crabs are up by chance.

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yes i'm sure she was dead, she fell out of the shell and her body like broke apart. and she had no tunnel i think since the sand was so wet it packed down all around her..
i buried her in the back yard where we buried the other one we had who passed.

do you guys know how long until the molting crab in iso will need before it needs food and water and light again?

Oh no! So sorry for your loss...I know the feeling. I’m not experienced like so many others but my response is based upon what I’ve read here...I’m not sure about how long for your crab in ISO but just to be on the safer side I’d still keep providing small amounts of proteins, calcium and other healing items like honey for it in close proximity in case ts weak. Also provide both waters, salt and fresh...even if just small capfuls. Never know when he/she may come up while You are sleeping. I’ve even gone as far as sprinkling crushed oyster into the substrate nearby.

[PinchersAndShells]

Oh no. Are you sure the crab died? Did it smell like dead fish? You could feed it to the other crabs if that isn't too painful for you to do.
Usually people who churn the substrate wait until all the crabs are up by chance.

Sent from my SM-J327V using Tapatalk

yes i'm sure she was dead, she fell out of the shell and her body like broke apart. and she had no tunnel i think since the sand was so wet it packed down all around her..
i buried her in the back yard where we buried the other one we had who passed.

do you guys know how long until the molting crab in iso will need before it needs food and water and light again?

When the crab has finished eating most of its exo, appears to have hardened back up, and is active it can be dipped in the freshwater pool (to get rid of the molting smell) and returned to the tank with the rest of the crabs.

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[hayhay528]

Oh no. Are you sure the crab died? Did it smell like dead fish? You could feed it to the other crabs if that isn't too painful for you to do.
Usually people who churn the substrate wait until all the crabs are up by chance.

Sent from my SM-J327V using Tapatalk

yes i'm sure she was dead, she fell out of the shell and her body like broke apart. and she had no tunnel i think since the sand was so wet it packed down all around her..
i buried her in the back yard where we buried the other one we had who passed.

do you guys know how long until the molting crab in iso will need before it needs food and water and light again?

When the crab has finished eating most of its exo, appears to have hardened back up, and is active it can be dipped in the freshwater pool (to get rid of the molting smell) and returned to the tank with the rest of the crabs.

Sent from my SM-J327V using Tapatalk

i just checked on it and he dug down in the sand and left his ego on top!!! should i just leave it??