possible dead surface molter, need help

[_icosa_]

Since you've come to the emergency forum, we know you want a fast answer to your question. In order for us to figure out the problem as quickly as possible, we ask that you answer the following questions as best you can. Some of them may seem odd, but they're all designed to give us the information we need to give you a good solution for your problem. The things in the [ brackets ] are there to make this post easier to read once submitted. Thanks!


1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it?
a mix of beach sand, aragalive and coco coir, dont remember the exact ratio but mostly beach sand. 6 inches on the short side, an inch or two more in a few places


2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read?
yes, i have two thermometers on opposite ends of the tank and one hygrometer. heaters are hooked up to a thermostat. most of the time temp and humidity both read 82.

3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?
external heat pads

4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)?
they have both fresh and salt pools. i use aquaeon dechlorinator or just use spring water

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced?
i feed a balanced diet with plenty of protien and calcium, mostly dry food. i change it every 3 days or as needed

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known?
approximately a year, a purple pincher

7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen?
she came back from a molt at the beginning of september

8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?
a 40 gallon tank, a modified screen lid with seran wrap to keep humidity in

9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they?
2 purple pinchers, one small one mediumish.

10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any?
7 or so per crab, all turbos in various colors.

11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently?
no

12. How often do you clean the tank and how?
i spot clean as neccissary. theyve only been in the tanka month so no deep cleans yet

13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned?
no sponges

14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently?
they entire setup is new, got it set up in late august.

15. Is there any other information you would like to share that might be helpful (anything that is regularly part of your crab care, playtime, bathing, etc.)?
the crab in question has been buried most of the time ive had her, has wildly outgrown her current shell and has refused to even look at any of the other ones i put in there.

16. Please describe the emergency situation in detail.
the crab that i think is dead went into the shell shop 4 days ago, pulled all the way out of her shell and went limp. theres a nasty fishy smell coming fromt hat part of the tank now. i picked her up as gently as i could and shes completely limp but she didnt fall out of the shell so i set her back down carefully. she came up from a molt at the beginning of september right as i got the new tank finished so i moved her over. to my knowledge the conditions are ideal so i dont know why she would surface molt. we had a heat wave about a week ago and it got to be 92 degrees in the tank, im worried it might have been too much for her. shes been acting lethargic since then, and went into the shell shop and started hanging out of her shell about 4 days ago. for the last 3 days shes looked pale and her eyes are touching, ive never seen this before and i dont know what to do. the other crabs in iso and i dont want to leave him there forever. please tell me how long i have to wait before i know for sure, i dont want to disturb her if shes molting but the nasty smell would indicate shes not.

[CrabbyLover77]

Hi! I'll put my suggestions under your answers. Hope this helps!

Since you've come to the emergency forum, we know you want a fast answer to your question. In order for us to figure out the problem as quickly as possible, we ask that you answer the following questions as best you can. Some of them may seem odd, but they're all designed to give us the information we need to give you a good solution for your problem. The things in the [ brackets ] are there to make this post easier to read once submitted. Thanks!


1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it?
a mix of beach sand, aragalive and coco coir, dont remember the exact ratio but mostly beach sand. 6 inches on the short side, an inch or two more in a few places

CL77- Using sand from the beach usually isn't the best idea because of the pollutants and toxins that could be in there. If you can switch out the beach sand to play sand, that would be better.

2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read?
yes, i have two thermometers on opposite ends of the tank and one hygrometer. heaters are hooked up to a thermostat. most of the time temp and humidity both read 82.

3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?
external heat pads

4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)?
they have both fresh and salt pools. i use aquaeon dechlorinator or just use spring water

CL77- What are you using for your salt water? You'll want to use a marine salt, like Instant Ocean. Also, bottled water is pretty unregulated, so you never really know what's in there. Personally, when I was using spring water, I would still treat it with a dechlorinator/heavy metal detoxer. I have well water now, and still use Seachem Prime to treat it.

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced?
i feed a balanced diet with plenty of protien and calcium, mostly dry food. i change it every 3 days or as needed

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known?
approximately a year, a purple pincher

7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen?
she came back from a molt at the beginning of september

8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?
a 40 gallon tank, a modified screen lid with seran wrap to keep humidity in

9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they?
2 purple pinchers, one small one mediumish.

10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any?
7 or so per crab, all turbos in various colors.

11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently?
no

12. How often do you clean the tank and how?
i spot clean as neccissary. theyve only been in the tanka month so no deep cleans yet

13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned?
no sponges

14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently?
they entire setup is new, got it set up in late august.

15. Is there any other information you would like to share that might be helpful (anything that is regularly part of your crab care, playtime, bathing, etc.)?
the crab in question has been buried most of the time ive had her, has wildly outgrown her current shell and has refused to even look at any of the other ones i put in there.

16. Please describe the emergency situation in detail.
the crab that i think is dead went into the shell shop 4 days ago, pulled all the way out of her shell and went limp. theres a nasty fishy smell coming fromt hat part of the tank now. i picked her up as gently as i could and shes completely limp but she didnt fall out of the shell so i set her back down carefully. she came up from a molt at the beginning of september right as i got the new tank finished so i moved her over. to my knowledge the conditions are ideal so i dont know why she would surface molt. we had a heat wave about a week ago and it got to be 92 degrees in the tank, im worried it might have been too much for her. shes been acting lethargic since then, and went into the shell shop and started hanging out of her shell about 4 days ago. for the last 3 days shes looked pale and her eyes are touching, ive never seen this before and i dont know what to do. the other crabs in iso and i dont want to leave him there forever. please tell me how long i have to wait before i know for sure, i dont want to disturb her if shes molting but the nasty smell would indicate shes not.

CL77-Unfortunately, it sounds like she has passed. I'm sorry. You'll want to change the beach sand out and get a marine salt for your saltwater pool if you haven't already. How long was the tank at 90°+? If it was just temporary, I don't think that would be much of a problem, but if it was for an extended period, overheating might be more of an issue.

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[_icosa_]

Hi! I'll put my suggestions under your answers. Hope this helps!





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unfortunately she did pass away. the smell got worse overnight so i went ahead and removed her. also i apologize for not being more clear in my post, i use instant ocean for the saltwater and the beach sand isnt sourced from outside, its flukers brand beach sand (no dyes or chemicals that i know of). also i had no idea that spring / distilled water needed to be dechlorinated, thank you for letting me know. i always thought that spring water was just pure water with no additives.
thankfully my other crab is doing well. he was slightly lethargic after our ac went out during the heat wave but has recovered and is very active and eating well. it only got 90+ for maybe 10 hours at the most, but i think it was the tipping point for her. for whatever reason she hadnt done well since i had her. it seemed like she was in a constant state of PPS even after a year and multiple molts. whereas my other crab was a rescue of sorts, came from god awful conditions and was just fine immediately.
thank you for the response, and ill make sure to dechlorinate all if the water that i get for him from now on.

[CrabbyLover77]

unfortunately she did pass away. the smell got worse overnight so i went ahead and removed her. also i apologize for not being more clear in my post, i use instant ocean for the saltwater and the beach sand isnt sourced from outside, its flukers brand beach sand (no dyes or chemicals that i know of). also i had no idea that spring / distilled water needed to be dechlorinated, thank you for letting me know. i always thought that spring water was just pure water with no additives.
thankfully my other crab is doing well. he was slightly lethargic after our ac went out during the heat wave but has recovered and is very active and eating well. it only got 90+ for maybe 10 hours at the most, but i think it was the tipping point for her. for whatever reason she hadnt done well since i had her. it seemed like she was in a constant state of PPS even after a year and multiple molts. whereas my other crab was a rescue of sorts, came from god awful conditions and was just fine immediately.
thank you for the response, and ill make sure to dechlorinate all if the water that i get for him from now on.

I'm sorry for your loss. It sounds like she wasn't well from the beginning.
Fluker's is safe, sorry about that. I thought you meant outside beach sand. Just a tip if you need to add sand in the future: play sand from a hardware store is also safe, and much much cheaper.
I'm sure your water didn't contribute to her passing, I'm just overly cautious since I took a couple of water/watershed classes in college. Companies can pretty much put whatever they want on their bottled water labels, so I like to treat that water just in case. You want to avoid using distilled water because it lacks the minerals crabs need that is found in spring/tap water.

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