Main cause of death

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:15 am

Since i started crabbing again 2 months again, I have had 2 successful molts, no bad molts, and no deaths.

However, with my first set up last year, I lost 1 to a bad molt, only 1 good molt, and 2 deaths.

1 I ruled out to PPS
the other death was after the first good molt, and I think it was because he didn't have enough protein/calcium since I wasn't feeding them that great, so he resorted to cannibalism
The bad molt, again, bad nutrition. I wasn't using a good salt water mixture, so he had either not enough calcium, or not the right saline balance, or whatever, so he died mid-molt.

So now I give them a balanced diet, randomly scraping off cuttlebone, to see how fast they eat it. At the moment I may have a possible mass-molt on my hands. 6/7 have been down for about 3 days, and this was after they were eating cuttlebone and drinking salt water like it was going out of style..

So I think my biggest problem was getting their right dietary needs down, because now I haven't really had any problems, except for an incredibly empty 55 gallon tank, and 1 crab that is starting to think he owns the place (He has been rolling shells around the tank all morning)

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:32 pm

Well, just to forwarn you all the gravel can get mixed up in the substrate. Now I had 5 or so good molts in this set up, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the drainage system if crabs can pull the rocks and the bacteria up into the substrate. Also one member of the HCA who tried this had a molter right up aginst a rock and there was a dent in the exo. I didn't have any deaths that I attribuated to this combo, and I had a crab with a hole in the exo that didn't get infected, so it did help, just please know IT HAS SOME FLAWS.

I actually am trying the plastic idea now. There are enough holes and the EE is directly under the holes that I think enough water can get through the holes and the EE is somewhat exposed to the plastic to break down that bacteria. The only problem with this is the possibility that the crabs can get stuck under the plastic, but I have it weighed down on the side with smooth river rocks, so we'll see how that goes. Already I have had 3 sucessful molts in this set up.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 4:03 pm

have you tried that plastic mesh stuff that is sold at the craft and fabric stores? The stuff that people weave yarn throug... can't remember what is is called... That might work well as a layer in your mix.

the stuff that JMT used in his/her tank
viewtopic.php?t=41543

If you look through all of the pics the one in the other link you can see it...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:26 pm

I thought about using it, but I figured with three tanks, and since I couldn't find one peice of that stuff that to cover the hole bottom, it sounded like a pain to overlap the peices to make them fit, and also more expensive, it was like a couple of bucks to use the plastic for all three tanks.

It was HUGE pain cutting holes in that thing though. They had to be close enough to eachother to let water through, but far away enough so they couldn't be ripped into a large, crab sized opening very easily. Another nice thing about the plastic is that being pliable I could tuck it under the substrate to make sure crabs didn't get under it, and then I weighed down the sides smooth pebles for even more security.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:47 pm

JMT used fishing line to sew it together to make the right sized pieces ... just in case next deep clean you find you need to switch to it.

You'll have to let us know how the plasic works out.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 8:28 pm

Hi everyone, interesting forum. I was wondering, when you say that the crabs die of PPS - how long after you had them can they still die of PPS? I am just asking, because I purchased a cutie 2 weeks and 3 days ago. And from the beginning she was very shy and rarely came out, but after ten days or so I saw her a few times. But now she is very withdrawn and when I pick her up she comes out, but moves very slowly. I am very worried about her and I don't know what I can do.
Fimo

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 8:49 pm

http://www.coenobita.org/modules.php?na ... page&pid=5

Here is a good start in understanding PPS.