Preventing PPS?

[Guest]

Hi! I kinda stay in the background and do a lot of reading, and I enjoy all the information on this site and have used it to learn a lot about my crabs, especially when I first started out over a year ago.I just read your article on PPS prevention and have always used those methods as my own. I have a question....This article coenobita.org - Articles goes against a lot of things I have learned over the years. Is there truth in the "don't let them bury" or have "dry sand" (as opposed to moist, I assume) statements. And what about the comment "Inevitably there will be a time that one of the crabs you acquire may need to molt. If they do, it will be a surface molt". Why? Unless you are forcing them to surface molt - which I thought we didn't want to happen.I know everyone has thier own opinions, but it gets kinda confusing at times.Thanks for your time!

[JediMasterThrash]

Different experienced crabbers have differing methods of crab care. It's not to say that one method is wrong and one is right, just that different methods are more right depending on the type of crabarium you have and the amount of effort you can put into crabbing.I've heard of a crabber having good success with a completely dry substrate, and I've heard of crabbers having good success by ISOing all of their molters. But in general, there is a practice that is easiest to adopt by new crabbers, and the easiest to acheive good success with. This is the practice I've tried to lay out in my basic care guides.However, once you've become experienced at crabbing, I encourage people to branch out and try new things.Coenobita Research conducts a lot of experiments and collects research on crab care. I don't know the details of the all the research, but I respect the work, and the articles generally hold a lot of good information, even if it may not be exactly what I would recommend to all crabbers, and some of it is contrary to my personal experience.So, anyway, that's my statement. I recommend researching all the info out there, to know what all the different methods of care are, and what the facts about each method are, and you're always free to choose your own methods of crab care. But if you want to raise crabs the JMT way, follow my care guides and advice on these forums. But I'm just one of many successful crabbers out there.Eventually, you'll have tried enough different ways to save PPS crabs, and come up with your own best method, and then we'll all be following the Christine way!

[Crabby Abby]

Christine typically for newly purchased crabs we advocate here a method of one month ISO that requires substrate deep enough for them to bury so they can destress, hands off practice, dim/quiet tank, and gradually raising humidity 5% each week until it's in proper range. We also point out that they will have little to no appetite and that some but not all will eat. While these claims are true, failing to address the lack of adjustment and lack of nutrition for some post purchase stress crabs puts them at a disadvantage and decreases their chance of survival.We do know that the worse their conditions or time in them the harder it is for all to come through successfully. Coenobita.org's research appears to indicate that the gradual increases in humidity for this special needs group do not guarantee adjustment. Rather than a time table it calls on visual observation of behavior to confirm that they've adjusted before proceeding to the next increase. In this method, confirmation can only be achieved if you can see them which requires shallow or dry substate to prevent them from digging under. This removes the possibility that they will reach the final step before they're adequately prepared or dig down without first receiving proper nutrition which may improve their chance of survival. Yes you're right that these steps unfortunately carry a risk that a crab may have an untimely topside molt but I don't see that you can ever completely eliminate that risk no matter which method you employ. Some crabs are just too stressed or too weak to dig under.I can't quite decide which side of the fence I'm on but I understand this is research and not a guaranteed practice. I can certainly understand the logic of the theory - if you're increasing in 5% increments but your hermits are not keeping pace then it's not doing them any benefit. I'd be interested to know what the percentages are regarding both methods. Of those from poor conditions who are permitted to dig down, what percentage doesn't survive and does preventing them from doing so decrease these numbers or could it exacerbate their stress? IMO if they're highly stresse then they're not likely to eat no matter the time frame so I wonder if it has the potential to go the other way and make a bad problem worse.

[JediMasterThrash]

I just remember the time I bought 20 tiny crabs and put them in my ISO, and followed my PPS guide to the word (well, I wrote it based off that!) 3/4ths of the crabs buried, and half of those molted that first month in my ISO!The only crabs that died were on the surface the whole time, and they died because I had a vent that I thought was closed, but it popped open at night and blew cold air on the tank. So the crabs on the surface got cold (60 degrees) while the buried crabs were insulated (and also has UTH heat).I had a jumbo crab (mall kiosk) that stayed on the surface the first day, ate a huge meal, and then started digging a pit, and ended up dieing the next day while starting to dig.So usually, in my experience, signs that a crab will survive the PPS period have been the crab buring down right away and staying there for a few weeks, or the crab streaking (I know it sounds weird, but truthfully, an active streaker has always made it for me).

[JediMasterThrash]

PPS can take effect up to a month after purchase.To provide the highest chance of survival for new crabs, do the following:ISO them for at least 2 weeks (if they came from a particularly bad environment, and you're worried they could bring disease into your main tank, ISO for a full month).The ISO needs to be a full-fledged crabitat to supply all their needs. It should definitely have deep (4-6in) sand/FB that's kept moist and humid, and definitely have decent hidey spot (like a cave or tunnel or something they can crawl into/under and hide). I have a 10g with 4in of sand, 2 hamster water bowls (fresh & salt, each with a sponge so they don't drown), a plastic cave they can crawl into and hide, and a piece of cholla incase they feel like climbing.The Crabs should not be disturbed for the first two weeks. Except to feed/water and re-moisten the substrate. Definitely don't be giving them baths, not only until after they are out of the ISO, but only after they show signs that they've fully acclimated (they are regularly seen above-ground walking/eating, as opposed to still mostly hiding/burying).Moisten the substrate in the ISO by fingering holes into the corners, and then pour 1/4 cup water (saltwater better) down the hole. It will soak into the lower substrate and keep the ISO sufficiently humid for a while, and provide good substrate for burying.New crabs need to bury to de-stress. You'll know that your new crabs are doing well in ISO if they bury, and stay down (disappeared) for several days to several weeks. This is the best thing that can happen to your crabs. Don't dig them up until it's time to move them to the maintank. In order to accomplish this burying, the substrate needs to be moist. They might not be healthy or have enough shell-water to wet it on their own like they normally would, so that's why it's good to start out with moist substrate so they can just bury and keep their shell water.Also keep the ISO away from regular traffic/noise.Even with perfect new-crab isolation, some will still die of PPS. It's not your fault. But a good ISO can give them the best chance of surviving.After you move them to the maintank, sometimes they'll bury again, and you won't see them for weeks. Again, don't dig them up. They still need time to destress. Once you see them up and active, then you'll know they've acclimated.Also, I don't recommend doing deep-cleans of the maintank more than once every 3 months. It's very stressful to dig up buried crabs. If you have new crabs close to a deep-clean, keep them in the ISO until after the clean. That way they only have to be re-homed once instead of twice.And on the other extreme, sometimes you'll get crabs that are so active and healthy, that they don't require any ISOing or destressing (though we still recommend ISOing to prevent the spread of disease that might not have shown symptoms in the crab yet).