Crab went from normal to nearly dead in 2 hours.

[Ganji&Bongo]

I apologize for not being on here much recently, I'm about to graduate from college so it's been pretty busy.Anyway, when I came home for lunch today all of my crabs were fine, and they have been for about 8 months. But when I just came home I found a crab on her back sticking out of her shell with quite a bit of dirt on her. I don't smell anything, so I slowly picked her up and turned her over. She is still attached in her shell, and she will move her legs and antennae ever so slightly when I touched her, but she is still out of her shell up to before her eyes. She's unresponsive and I'm 90% sure she's going to pass soon. My question is what happened? There's no mold in the tank, no shell fights, always protein available and plenty of shells to choose from. Should I be worried or prepared that this could happen again? Also what should I do for her in the meantime? I don't see a sign on a struggle or fight, but I can only view her legs. All of my crabs are purple pinchers if that helps.Here's my tank:1) How long have you had your crabs and how long have you been caring for this particular crab in distress? I have had all of these crabs for about 14 months.2) What size is your tank and what kind of lid do you have? 55 gallon tank, with a screen closed off with a plastic sheeting and magnets.3) What are you using for heat? Please be specific and include fixture type, watt or mat size and where the heat source is mounted. An over the head light, 75 watt red bulb at night and 75 watt day bulb during the day, Zilla brand. Also three zilla heating pads in one corner side mounted.4) What kind of substrate do you use in your tank and at what depth? Is it dry or damp and sand castle consistency? I use about a 80% EE and 20% play sand mixture, it's damp at about sand castle consistency. 5) Do you dechlorinate your fresh water and if so, with what product? Do you offer aquarium salt water in addition to fresh water? Again, what product? Yes I use API, and I use Instant Ocean for the salt water.6) What do you normally feed your crabs? I feed them a mix of organic vegetables, fruits, peanut butter, honey, multiple forms of protein like krill, shrimp, blood worms, meal worms, crickets, I also give them nuts, coconut treats, a variety of cellulose, supplements like anasthaxin and spirulina, and they have constant access to things like worm castings, oyster shells, protein powder blend, cuttle bone, and mineral powder.7) Do you bathe, mist or handle your crabs at all? I do not bathe or mist them or the tank, the humidity stays correct without misting. I will hold one every now and then, but it's not an every day thing or for very long. What are the temperature and humidity readings? Please be specific and include high low fluctuations if you're aware of them. During the day it's around 85% humidity and 83 degrees, at night the humidity is constant at 85% but the temperature drops to about 79-81 degrees.

[Crabber85]

First I would like to so how sorry I am that your going through this as it's not easy to have a hermitcrab suddenly become sick or acting ill after so long a time especially when you know your care has been the best it can be and believe me we have all been where you at now questioning ourselves, our setups and even if we should get anymore hermits and it stinks.You shouldn't blame yourself hermitcrabs get sick/ill for lots of reasons most of them stemming back to stress which is why we attribute sudden illness and subsequent deaths to PPS as it can effect hermitcrabs well after their first molt with us, as issues that cause PPS have lingering effects that stay with the crab for the rest of it's life.Hermitcrabs will only ever lay on their backs when they are too weak to move, they typically end up on their backs when they have tried to stretch forth from the shell in an effort to crawl to another location and only succeed at flipping themselves at which point they have exhausted their limited resources and are in no shape to attempt to move again.They'll stay on their backs until they either regain enough energy to right themselves or they pass the latter being the more prominent.It's unnatural for a hermitcrab to be on it's back as it can not fight to protect itself in this position and some believe that due to the looseness of the position itself that it allows the shell water to evaporate at a much higher rate causing the crab to dry out faster as a result.When the shell water is completely evaporated the hermitcrab looses it's ability to keep itself cooled down and this also impacts it's ability to breath which just adds more stress.Hermitcrabs will typically exhibit this behavior once they have become too ill to treat which unfortunately makes it hard for us to save them.I've had a couple of hermitcrabs do this shortly after bringing them home from the store and it's always because they were suffering from PPS and were just too stressed to hang on.Since your not doing anything wrong care wise according to the info you supplied us I would tend to lean towards something internal as the culprit.Has she taken any recent falls that could have possibly injured her internally?When was her last molt?How long did she take to complete the molt cycle?Hermitcrabs who are attacked be it for their shells or over space or food are usually ripped from their shells and torn apart but since she is whole and still in her shell I don't think this is a result of aggression.The only thing I recommend doing is moving her to iso and just keeping her comfortable.Make sure to have both fresh and salt water available for her and if you can try to get her to eat some raw or organic honey it is loaded with vital nutrients and is an easy to digest high energy food that sick or weak hermits will really appreciate not to mention it's also a natural anti-bacterial/anti-microbial agent so if she has anything going on internally like a bacterial infection it will also help with that.Hope this helps.

[Ganji&Bongo]

I put her in ISO with some water and honey, and she hasn't moved since 3. I think she's gone but she doesn't smell, I don't want to dispose unless until I know for sure. She hasn't fallen to my knowledge, or hurt herself in any way I can imagine. Her last molt was 2 months ago, it was her 4th molt with us and it lasted roughly 5 weeks. Thank you for your response and concern, it is very appreciated.

[Geranium]

It is always so difficult when a crab is in distress and/or dies especially when you can't figure what happened and how to prevent it in the future. It looks like everything was the best you could do for her. I'm sorry you're going through this. I had a couple go without obvious cause too. In my case, I think I have it figured out. I knew not to feed them food cooked in non-stick pans but once I stopped cooking altogether in non-stick, I have not lost another crab. (Fingers crossed). One of my tanks is in the eat in kitchen, the other in the connecting living room. All of those odd losses, the not likely PPS ones, were in the tank in the kitchen. Juliet was shocking. She was digging and acting completely normal, I wondered if she was getting ready to molt again. When I woke up the next morning, she was naked in the opposite corner from her shell, stone still, looking like she was watching me, not slumped or looking distressed aside from the lack of shell but she didn't move, even when I moved her. She never moved again. She never had an odor but did eventually star to fall apart. I put her in ISO that morning and left her there for a couple months, watching, waiting, hoping she'd move.

[Ganji&Bongo]

Poor thing, that had to have been hard to watch, I'm sorry. Well, as of right now she's still alive, but she moves very slow. I've only seen her eat honey, so I'm not sure if she has an appetite. I put her in the main tank to watch how she would do and she was instantly attacked by a much larger crab. I'm not sure why she's the only one being attacked, but she's back in ISO.

[jenok]

I would assume because your crab was vulnerable so the big one thought it would have a free meal. Have you been feeding plenty of proteins and other crustaceans (shrimp and stuff)?

[Ganji&Bongo]

I have, they have a constant supply of a protein mix and I still feel them krill and shrimp twice a week each then crickets, meal worms and blood worms each once a week. They always have plenty of protein and calcium.

[jenok]

I don't know then. By the way did your crab survive?

[Ganji&Bongo]

She did not, she was gone Saturday night when we came home.

[jenok]

So sorry