Empty shell just under surface

[CrabbySquirrel]

Woke up this morning to another surprise...

background: several days ago, we came upon a crab fight where a crab in pearly white shell was attacking another one for the shell. We dunked them in freshwater, separated them, and let it be. The attacked crab went up high and has sought refuge from the surface ever since (only coming down for drinks of water). The attacker crab went under the surface and I didn't see him for days.

Well this morning I woke up to find a brown shelled crab on top of the pearly white one (they were both in the crater in the sand - visible from the surface)! I tried to separate and was going to dunk in the water, but brown guy got off pearly white only to reveal that pearly white shell is empty. Since it wasn't near the shell shop, I'm not assuming he changed shells. But I've never had this happen before and I don't know what to do next. I've never dug for a crab and am not sure I should since we have at least 3 others down. No bad smell in the tank, either...

advice?

BTW, Happy Thanksgiving all!

[CrabbySquirrel]

Well, looking at another similar thread, I used a soft brush and dug down in the area I found the empty shell. I thought I saw something an inch or two down that "could' have been a naked crab - but I reached the area and found nothing. . I have no idea where this crab could be right now -- and I can't just go digging around because I have other molters.....is this just going to end up as the "waiting game" - for the smell, and then the molters to come up so I can inspect the tank thoroughly? If that's the case, this would be my first crab casualty...

[CallaLily]

Are you sure the crab didn't change shells?

If s/he is definitely without a shell, they do not do well at all without one for long. It is a life or death emergency for them. I would personally look for this crab (if he's for sure naked) and have ISOs ready for any molters. I know it's not ideal to disturb them but if this crab is naked, he will die. That's certain. It's less likely disturbing the molters will result in any significant damage. Go carefully and slowly. Good luck.

[CrabbySquirrel]

That's just it -- I'm not sure he just didn't change shells. He obviously wanted to change - that's why he attacked the first one. Then I cleaned the entire shell shop and washed them all in warm salt water and put them back....so I can't be sure that he just didn't find a new shell and change into it. It's certainly a decent possibility.....although that still doesn't explain an abandoned shell in the middle of the tank with nothing else around it.....but crabs are strange and can do plenty of crazy stuff.

I'm going to search around in the general area a little more and see if I can find anything.

[me n my hermikids]

My crabs will dig holes and drag shells down into them. Dont know why, but maybe your crabbie is a part of the same olympic crabbie sport. Shell burrying.

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[CrabbySquirrel]

Update: I think it's like me-n-my-hermikids said and perhaps someone just dragged a shell down with them and buried it part way. I notice that those 2 were at it again today :roll: .....not sure what's up with that. There are newly washed shells, plenty of food, and we've never, ever had a problem with fights before -- so I'm not sure why all of a sudden these 2 are at it like that. Guess we'll have to wait and see....they've both been dunked (again) and I'll keep an eye on them for the next couple of days. They seem to be the only 2 up from molts, so unfortunately they are the only company they have in the tank...

[CallaLily]

So glad you didn't have a naked crab on your hands and no disturbing molters, yay! Yep, they certainly do move shells all around, bury them, etc.