Deep Clean

[Shana]

I haven't been on this forum for a really long time, but I have a problem I just can't solve.How do I do a deep clean without killing molters? I've tried everything and there is always at least one molter, and they always die after they are disturbed. I can't wait until they are all up, that NEVER happens. When I have done deep cleans in the past I have set up a 10 gallon ISO tank and moved my molters there. My ISO has everything my big tank has:heat, humidity, fresh and salt water, shelter. During the last deep clean I found three molters. I made a little hollow in the coco fiber for each crab, placed him inside, covered him with a coconut hut, and put a bit of sphagnum moss over the entrance to block light. I covered the whole tank with a towel to shut out the light, and only disturbed them to change their food and water. They lived for a few weeks, but never recovered from their molts and one by one died.This happens EVERY TIME I do a deep clean. So I quit doing them about a year and a half ago. I just do surface cleanings every few months. But now I think I need to dig the tank out and start over. I'm not even sure how many crabs I have right now because I don't know who is just down for a long molt and who died during a molt. What do I do? Any suggestions?

[JediMasterThrash]

My first step is timing the deep clean. As you monitor crab activity and % crabs above ground over the year, you'll see that theres two cycles of "molt season" as I call it.You can time your deep leans for one of the troughs when most of the crabs are up. This will reduce the chances of catching a crab mid-molt, or reduce the number of crabs you do find molting.Typically with this method, and having ~30 crabs, I usually never have more than 1 mid-mold crab during a deep clean, and sometimes find none.Now there's three stages of molting you will encounter.1. Premolt2. Mid-molt3. Post-moltFirst I want to note that less than 1/3rd of buried crabs you dig up during a deep clean are likely in one of those stages of molting. Most are just buried for fun.1. PremoltThese crabs will be found buried and lethargic. They are probably a few days away from a molt. They are now too week to dig new tunnels. When placed back into the tank, they will likely surface molt, so you'll need to be prepared, either to identify their condition before putting them into the tank, or catching them quickly after a surface molt.2. Mid-molt. This is obvious, a pile of legs exploding out of the crab shell. These need to be ISO'd immediately.3. Post-molt. There may still be leg tips there, but most has been eaten already. The crab is still soft/pale and light with sharp pointies, but comes out of his shell and walks freely. Depending on how soft they appear, a little ISO may be necessary, but if they appear hard enough, even if still pale, they can usually safely be put back into the main tank.Now on to the ISO!I used to move to a dedicated ISO tank for this. But I didn't have much luck. I switched my plan now to a dedicated ISO cave. I use a small half-gallon plastic critter-cage, filled with 6 inches of sand (2/3rds full). I add water and microwave a cup of wet sand and then mix it in until the sand is moist and feels around 80 degrees. With fingers I mold a hole 4 inches deep into the sand and big enough for the crab to safely set with all the exo-legs around him and a little pile of food. Then place some papertowel ontop for shade.Then I place the whole critter cage into the main tank. This way I never have to worry about maintaining the same conditions in two tanks at a time.In about two weeks or less the crab should finish molting and start crawling. Once the crab has started walking about, it's safe to put them back into the main. You might not see them crawl. But if all the leg exo is eaten, and you see food missing, they are probably walking at night.

[Shana]

Thanks for the quick reply!I believe that most of the crabs I find are immediately post-molt. Pink and soft looking with bits of exo scattered around. That's what the last three I ISOed looked like. After about two weeks all three were walking around the tank and eating, but they were lethargic and and pale and eventually died. I also have a critter carrier that I use inside the tank if I need to ISO one crab, but I don't feel like it's big enough for three. I get the same results: a week or two of weakly dragging themselves around, then death. Perhaps there is another problem besides my disturbing their molt?If my crabs have a molting schedule then I have no idea what it is. I have a strong suspicion that at least two are down right now, but that is all I know. Do you think it might be worth it to go ahead and clean it all out right now and try to ISO those two if they are indeed molting? I know they have been down for at least two weeks.Thank you again for your reply. It was very informative and helpful. I remember from my old days on this site that your posts were some of the most educational writing on crabs that I could find.

[JediMasterThrash]

I'd give at least 4 weeks for a downed crab to return, under the assumption they are molting.There are a number of factors that could affect a post-molt. It's possible they were unable to harden properly. This can be caused by too little salt water. They use the osmotic pressure to "inflate" themselves. Too little moisture can cause them to dry out. Too much moisture can cause shell rot.Do you notice that their legs or carapace looks either deformed, shrunken/crinkly, soft, or spotted with color patterns?The next is food. They need to eat all their old exo to build the new one. If they haven't finished eating and are separated, they might need some supplements, try some dried shrimp and calcium.

[beka]

if you can keep a dry erase marker near your tank you can write right on the glass and make date notes for each crab. this could help you keep up with who's up, under, molting, playing, shell changing maybe, lol!