Dead Emerald Crab

[brittonv]

I just got 3 Emerald crabs from my LFS on Saturday and woke up to a Dead crab. I am pretty sure it is dead opposed to molted as it is pretty heavy for it's size (I Presume molted crabs are light) has no hole anywhere on its body and I still see it's eyes. I can't say it smells great, but not good for sure.

What can Kill them?

Now i did notice on fist sized piece of live rock fell and it was in the vicinity of where I saw a emerald crab working yesterday... the dead crab was about 6" from where the rock landed but had no obvious signs of Injury (all legs and claws attached)

PH 8.0 (apex)
Salt 35ppm (Milwakee)
Temp 80-81F (apex)
Alk 9.46 (Hanna)
Calcium 351 (hanna)
Phosphate 0.0 (ULR Hanna)

 

[chimmike]

another hungry emerald?

 

[brittonv]

Lots to eat in this tankat the moment :-( These guys went right to work cleaning the algae off my rock. I have 3 towers in my tank and I put 1 on each tower.

If it were another emerald crab, legs and Arms would be missing, no?

 

[chimmike]

I dunno. I had emeralds disappear, could've been a glory kill, who knows. Crabs are ruthless.

 

[sixpackgarage]

could be a mantis or pistol shrimp that killed it.

 

[rffanat1c]

^my emerald is MIA. Pretty sure my pistol got it

 

[South City]

Unless I see some direct evidence otherwise, anytime something dies within the first week of bringing it home from the LFS, I always assume it is from the accumulated stress of transportation from his little spot in the ocean to your tank and the likely half dozen stops in between.

 

[brittonv]

How would I tell if I had a Mantis or Pistol shrimp?

 

[sixpackgarage]

You would hear an odd clicking noise usually after lights out. I have one myself and have not seen him ever

 

[rffanat1c]

Yup. You'd think your tank is cracking for a minute

 

[Buzz1329]

If it is well and truly dead, congrats. You have one less pest to worry about.

Not trying to make light of your loss, but I truly believe that Mithrax do more harm than good.

Mike

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I agree with you Mike, they're killers once they get to a decent size and their main diet gets to be less. They will eat fish while they're sleeping. Mine ate two Royal Grammas. The first I though just died as it was a Petco fish. The second one was doing awesome and I found the crab eating it in the RG's sleeping place when the lights came on. :hammer: so it is living in my sump with the murderous bastards the blue legged hermits. The only good crab or hermit IMO and IME is a scarlet legged.

 

[sixpackgarage]

I just caught my emerald chomping on stylo polyps. His new permanent home is the sump.

 

[brittonv]

Thanks for you insights!

I got these guys to solve a problem in my currently fishless tank. I will be adding fish shortly however.

Is there a recommended way to trap them when I want to relocate them to the sump?