Coincidence or trouble.??

[ducati1212]

So tank is 3 months old it has

44 LBS live rock
1 clown
1 green Chromis
14 astrea snails
3 hermits
1 emerald crab
2 shrimp(blood + skunk)

params all good
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
PH 8.2

So Sat I bought a Goby and he died after 2 hours. I thought it was just him. But tonight I came home and my emerald crab is dead. He died with a fist full of algae he was apparently right about to eat. He was very active and ate a tank full of bubble algae until there is none left. He has been eating hair and other algae since. Non stop eating. He was great. Nothing else has died in the tank ever. Everything I put in is still in.

Is it just a Coincidence or is something going wrong.?

 

[troybob333]

Just to be on the safe side I would check all parameters but it might just be a coincidence.

 

[ducati1212]

I checked everything. That crab was super active and healthy. He was eating when he died he had a claw full of hair algae. Strange.. At least the goby looked wrong from the second I put him in the tank..

 

[Fountainhead]

Re: Coincidence or trouble.??

Two questions...

First, how did you acclimate the goby? And second, are you sure the emerald is really dead and you just didn't find a molt? The molt is almost indistinguishable from the actual crab.

If your parameters are all ok, I'd say that it was probably just a coincidence. Especially if the shrimp are OK. I'd think anything amiss would kill the shrimp before the crab.

 

[ducati1212]

I have seen the shrimp molt about 6 times but never the crab. although he is allot bigger than when I bought him so he has molted. It could be a molt but it is 100% intact body. I placed in it a 2 gal holding tank just in case but he is upside down in there. if its a molt it is a absolute perfect crab 100% intact.

The goby I drip acclimated for almost 2 hours with a batch of snails. I put him from the store bag into my hang on tank container with just water from his bag. then slowly every 10 mionutes I used a turkey baster to add some of my water and remove some of his.

 

[ducati1212]

WOW Ha Ha my emerald crab just came out from behind a rock alive and well. I must have a molt in my holding tank. The molt is 100% intact it even looks like it has eyes. There are no breaks at all I picked it up and looked at it. It is almost impossible to tell.

Here I am feeding it and putting it in a holding tank with my powerhead from my water stoarge bin and its a molt..

The tank never stops amazing me

 

[Avi]

So...now we know, it was no coincidence. But, a happy ending.

 

[Fountainhead]

Hey, good news on the crab. Yeah, molts can look amazingly like an actual crab. I have no idea how they can get out of that thing and still leave it almost perfectly intact.

Sorry about your goby though. Sounds like you did everything OK so far as acclimation. Just happens sometimes.