emerald crab dieing?

[BCreefmaker]

my emrald crab is looking near the brink of doom, hes been moving around and eating. but he is white in places, pale green in others. he wa sreally close to the glass in the light feeding on some algea today and i noticed hes covered in tiny little bugs, smaller then pods, they almost look like brownish black specs moving around. and there were some small holes in his exoskeleton. could this be the cause of his decline? can he be treated or shold he be removed? any advice would be great.

 

[Paintbug]

sounds like the crab may be in need of a molt, or getting ready to molt. keeping up the water changes will help him. adding some iodine (which i normally never recommend) may encourage him to molt as well.

the little bugs seem to be on a lot of emeralds. im not sure of their name, but they are not harming the crab.