Molting and mold

[Foxysj7]

Hello! So my golfball sized crab has been molting since the week before Christmas. I don't smell anything fishy but there is a good bit of mold growing on the bottom of the tank. I don't know whether to go crab hunting or leave it alone till I smell something? All advice is awesome! Thanks all! Would love to post a pic but I have no idea how!

[landlubber]

Mold on the bottoms sounds like a bacterial bloom, which would not be good for soft molting bodies vulnerable to bacteria. I would dig down where you see the mold and see if it smells terrible-that's a bacterial bloom. Then you can possibly dig out just the gross stuff and replace it if it's not too bad. You know where he's buried?

[Foxysj7]

The mold is growing on my heat lamp side where there is also a heat pad near too. I think he is somewhere in the general area but I don't know for sure bc I haven't wanted to mess with him. It's greenish and then it just recently started turning blackish. I can post a pic if you can tell me how lol.

[landlubber]

There is a tutorial on adding pics in the picture forum which is stickied, however from what you describe I'm pretty darn sure it's a bacterial bloom. Take out a bit of the colored stuff out and you should smell rotten eggs. If he's in the general area of the rot it's even more important to move him, but I hope he's finished up and resting, or almost finished up. Since he's in the vicinity and you're not sure just where you'll have to dig very carefully (if you decided to-but I would).

[Foxysj7]

Ok pulled some of it up and it just smells like algea...not fishy.

[landlubber]

Okay-I supposed it could be? Still seems like the bottom should not be wet enough to grow algae or for it to be turning black-but that might just be it dying off. At this point I think pics would be helpful. Did you find that sticky on adding pics? It's kind of a lot of steps to try and explain, especially w/o visuals to go with the instructions.