Grand Wazoo
New member
Well--that is totally outrageous. I wish you luck.
How do I get rid of all the gorilla crabs???
- Thread starter watchdr
- Start date
Well--that is totally outrageous. I wish you luck.
The high salinity does NOT work!
Tried it and nothing happened.
Running out of patience I pulled one rock out of the tank and gave it a 5-10 minute bath in carbonated water.
Plenty of gorilla crabs came out. The great thing is the carbonation floats them to the top of the water for easy removal!
It still didn't get rid of all of them. After doing all the rock in the bath and it taking all day yesterday. within about 2 hours of having the rock back in the tank we saw a few more that escaped the bath.
I wasn't able to catch them when we saw them but they will get thier turn.
I am too tired to do the bath again but will if I start seeing a large number of them again.
The only down side to the bath was the die off os some of the corals and lost about a dozen pistol shrimp.
We haven't counted yet but we got more than 20 gorilla crabs out yesterday.
Will count them tonight and post a picture.
I wouldn't recommend this bath to everyone. but if you have an extreme case of gorilla crabs it does a good job of clearing them out.
I longer bath would probably get them all. Of course then you would also loose everything else on the rock and what's the sense in buying 'live' rock then.
Next 'live' rock I get will not be from Florida. It has nothing to do with the company or the service. It is only because of the gorilla crabs issue. This is too much work and no other rock I have ever purchased has been like this.
Seriously my wife would kill me if I did this again anyway.
The company I got the rock from offered to replace it but I don't see the situation being any better with new rock so I am not going to spend several hundred more on shipping to replace it.
I think I have the number of these crabs down to a small number and will wait awhile to try and remove them. If they get comfortable in the tank again I may be able to eventually get them all.
Thanks for all the help and ideas.
Tried it and nothing happened.
Running out of patience I pulled one rock out of the tank and gave it a 5-10 minute bath in carbonated water.
Plenty of gorilla crabs came out. The great thing is the carbonation floats them to the top of the water for easy removal!
It still didn't get rid of all of them. After doing all the rock in the bath and it taking all day yesterday. within about 2 hours of having the rock back in the tank we saw a few more that escaped the bath.
I wasn't able to catch them when we saw them but they will get thier turn.
I am too tired to do the bath again but will if I start seeing a large number of them again.
The only down side to the bath was the die off os some of the corals and lost about a dozen pistol shrimp.
We haven't counted yet but we got more than 20 gorilla crabs out yesterday.
Will count them tonight and post a picture.
I wouldn't recommend this bath to everyone. but if you have an extreme case of gorilla crabs it does a good job of clearing them out.
I longer bath would probably get them all. Of course then you would also loose everything else on the rock and what's the sense in buying 'live' rock then.
Next 'live' rock I get will not be from Florida. It has nothing to do with the company or the service. It is only because of the gorilla crabs issue. This is too much work and no other rock I have ever purchased has been like this.
Seriously my wife would kill me if I did this again anyway.
The company I got the rock from offered to replace it but I don't see the situation being any better with new rock so I am not going to spend several hundred more on shipping to replace it.
I think I have the number of these crabs down to a small number and will wait awhile to try and remove them. If they get comfortable in the tank again I may be able to eventually get them all.
Thanks for all the help and ideas.
<<< Running out of patience I pulled one rock out of the tank and gave it a 5-10 minute bath in carbonated water.
I wouldn't recommend this bath to everyone. but if you have an extreme case of gorilla crabs it does a good job of clearing them out. >>>
NEVER DO THIS ....immersing entire pieces of live rock in carbonated water for 5-10 minutes is also a surefire way to pretty much kill off most or all the life on live rock and should never be done. The correct way to remove pest hitchhikers from live rock using carbonated water is to fill a 30-50cc long tip syringe with cold carbonated water and quickly inject the hole or tunnel with a couple cc's and they will typically coming charging out of their hiding place, then placing the rock back into the tank. If the rock has sponges on it, it's important to perform this procedure as quickly as possible so as not to expose the sponges to air for an extended period. Many times pest hitchhikers can also be removed by placing the rock into a bucket with tank water and vigorously shaking the rock for a few seconds, or using a long thin wood skewer or thin brush used for cleaning intake tubes and physically extracting the pest from its hole or tunnel.
I wouldn't recommend this bath to everyone. but if you have an extreme case of gorilla crabs it does a good job of clearing them out. >>>
NEVER DO THIS ....immersing entire pieces of live rock in carbonated water for 5-10 minutes is also a surefire way to pretty much kill off most or all the life on live rock and should never be done. The correct way to remove pest hitchhikers from live rock using carbonated water is to fill a 30-50cc long tip syringe with cold carbonated water and quickly inject the hole or tunnel with a couple cc's and they will typically coming charging out of their hiding place, then placing the rock back into the tank. If the rock has sponges on it, it's important to perform this procedure as quickly as possible so as not to expose the sponges to air for an extended period. Many times pest hitchhikers can also be removed by placing the rock into a bucket with tank water and vigorously shaking the rock for a few seconds, or using a long thin wood skewer or thin brush used for cleaning intake tubes and physically extracting the pest from its hole or tunnel.
Howard,
Again you are wrong.
All my sponges are fine and growing.
Your belief of only using a syringe is never going to get rid of all the hitchhikers and using tank water and shaking a rock will NEVER rid any hitchhikers. Maybe some hermit crabs will let go but they don't hold onto anything very strongly in the first place and they are not going in the carbonated water.
It sounds like you have never tried these before. Have you ever tried shaking a rock? No gorilla crab will just jump off because the rock is being shaken. They would just crawl deeper into their hole.
Think logically about it. In the ocean during hurricanes and earthquakes the rocks are shaken and many times move fair distances from their starting location. If all these critters just jumped off most would die from rocks falling on them and the others would end up without a home. Instead they crawl into their holes and wait until the rock stops shaking. This is common sense if you watch them.
Shaking doesn't work. Tried it.
A little syringe with carbonated water won't do anything because it won't get all the way inside the holes in the rock. A little syringe won't hold enough water in it to completely fill the hole and tunnels to begin with and they won't come running out of the hole if the water doesn't get to them. This idea is very short sighted.
The only way to fill the holes and tunnels in a rock is to submerse the rock in the water. Then turn them to let the air out of the holes. This works and will not kill off all the life. I have all the sponges on my rocks that I started with and I have hundreds of barnacles and worms including fan worms that all survived it just fine. They are all out and doing fine.
It appears you want everyone to think of you as an expert but you clearly have not tried the practices you claim don't work or the ones you claim will work.
Since you have never had anything positive to say on this thread which you did not start please leave and go bother someone else.
This forum is to help people. You are not doing that. I would appreciate it if you would back out of this thread and not participate since you don't know what you are talking about. I have actually done this stuff and speak from experience. Have you done what I have?
If you don't quit this I will have to ask the moderators to cut you off.
Again you are wrong.
All my sponges are fine and growing.
Your belief of only using a syringe is never going to get rid of all the hitchhikers and using tank water and shaking a rock will NEVER rid any hitchhikers. Maybe some hermit crabs will let go but they don't hold onto anything very strongly in the first place and they are not going in the carbonated water.
It sounds like you have never tried these before. Have you ever tried shaking a rock? No gorilla crab will just jump off because the rock is being shaken. They would just crawl deeper into their hole.
Think logically about it. In the ocean during hurricanes and earthquakes the rocks are shaken and many times move fair distances from their starting location. If all these critters just jumped off most would die from rocks falling on them and the others would end up without a home. Instead they crawl into their holes and wait until the rock stops shaking. This is common sense if you watch them.
Shaking doesn't work. Tried it.
A little syringe with carbonated water won't do anything because it won't get all the way inside the holes in the rock. A little syringe won't hold enough water in it to completely fill the hole and tunnels to begin with and they won't come running out of the hole if the water doesn't get to them. This idea is very short sighted.
The only way to fill the holes and tunnels in a rock is to submerse the rock in the water. Then turn them to let the air out of the holes. This works and will not kill off all the life. I have all the sponges on my rocks that I started with and I have hundreds of barnacles and worms including fan worms that all survived it just fine. They are all out and doing fine.
It appears you want everyone to think of you as an expert but you clearly have not tried the practices you claim don't work or the ones you claim will work.
Since you have never had anything positive to say on this thread which you did not start please leave and go bother someone else.
This forum is to help people. You are not doing that. I would appreciate it if you would back out of this thread and not participate since you don't know what you are talking about. I have actually done this stuff and speak from experience. Have you done what I have?
If you don't quit this I will have to ask the moderators to cut you off.
Well I was going to get a picture of the crabs liast night when I got home but they had all died and were a nasty mess. I guess they don't like being in such close proximity with each other unless they have someplace to hide.
It looked like some of them attacked each other.
So I don't have a good picture and it was not easy to count the bodies to know how many there were. In the middle of giving the bath to the rocks my wife counted about 20 so there was more than that but we don't know for sure how many we got out.
Another lesson learned. Take the picture right away!
To those that helped thanks a lot.
To the one that had nothing good to say, good luck with your life. Your going to need it.
It looked like some of them attacked each other.
So I don't have a good picture and it was not easy to count the bodies to know how many there were. In the middle of giving the bath to the rocks my wife counted about 20 so there was more than that but we don't know for sure how many we got out.
Another lesson learned. Take the picture right away!
To those that helped thanks a lot.
To the one that had nothing good to say, good luck with your life. Your going to need it.
Actually Mr. watchdr I'm completely correct, and i guess you're frustration and lack of knowledge has led you to your attacking post and constant complaining and badmouthing TBS and lack of success with keeping TBS live rock.
If you actually read what I said, you would need a large 30-50 cc. long tip syringe and cold soda water which does in fact work very well at extracting both pest crabs and mantis shrimps from holes and tunnels in rocks (have done it several times 100% successfully along with others here).
Shaking rocks vigorously in a bucket of tank water has also worked for many people assuming the pest crab is not fully dug in deep into one of the holes or tunnels.
As far as dipping entire rocks in soda water for 5-10 minutes, that's a great way to kill off nearly all the life on the rocks as I'm sure both others here and TBS would agree with, it's a terrible idea for ridding pest hitchhikers.
As far as sponges, it's well known that sponges should not be exposed to air for any period of time as air bubbles can enter the the network of passasges and get trapped in the sponge and prevent it from feeding and kill it. This is well known by everyone but you apparently.
As far as your personal attacks........don't take out your frustrations and lack of skill or experience on me, TBS, or anyone here, it serves no purpose and only makes you look like a fool and a constant immature complaining crybaby. Good luck with your tank!
BTW.......look around at all the numerous pages of threads here concerning TBS, their rock, and peoples experiences with their TBS tanks. It appears that everyone except YOU has been very happy with their rock and has nothing but good things to say about TBS........tell you anything???
If you actually read what I said, you would need a large 30-50 cc. long tip syringe and cold soda water which does in fact work very well at extracting both pest crabs and mantis shrimps from holes and tunnels in rocks (have done it several times 100% successfully along with others here).
Shaking rocks vigorously in a bucket of tank water has also worked for many people assuming the pest crab is not fully dug in deep into one of the holes or tunnels.
As far as dipping entire rocks in soda water for 5-10 minutes, that's a great way to kill off nearly all the life on the rocks as I'm sure both others here and TBS would agree with, it's a terrible idea for ridding pest hitchhikers.
As far as sponges, it's well known that sponges should not be exposed to air for any period of time as air bubbles can enter the the network of passasges and get trapped in the sponge and prevent it from feeding and kill it. This is well known by everyone but you apparently.
As far as your personal attacks........don't take out your frustrations and lack of skill or experience on me, TBS, or anyone here, it serves no purpose and only makes you look like a fool and a constant immature complaining crybaby. Good luck with your tank!
BTW.......look around at all the numerous pages of threads here concerning TBS, their rock, and peoples experiences with their TBS tanks. It appears that everyone except YOU has been very happy with their rock and has nothing but good things to say about TBS........tell you anything???
:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao: My tirade?? Yeah ok, whatever you say. Why address the FACTS when you can just continue to rant and complain that TBS sent you bare rock.....'eh watchdr??
Perhaps you should pick another venue to continue your agenda of complaining and badmouthing Richard and TBS, as you'll get no sympathy here. It is YOU who doesn't deserve the time of anyone here.
drives300
Premium Member
Howard, I dont think hes really trying to rip Richard and TBS just trying to share his experience with his bad case of crabs.
I agree i think he must of got some pieces from an area where the crustaceans were breeding heavily. I had some gulf rock once(not sure if it was TBS) and I had to kill 5-6 crabs on only about 20 lbs of rock. I used a screwdriver and basically crushed them when they went in a hole.
Good luck Watchdr hopefully you will clear them out before they breed again in your tank!!
I agree i think he must of got some pieces from an area where the crustaceans were breeding heavily. I had some gulf rock once(not sure if it was TBS) and I had to kill 5-6 crabs on only about 20 lbs of rock. I used a screwdriver and basically crushed them when they went in a hole.
Good luck Watchdr hopefully you will clear them out before they breed again in your tank!!
BigRedDog1934
New member
just for my .02 worth, i used the baster with a bit of la croix water (berry flavored), which is essentially carbonated water and i got my 2" mantis out in a flash. i think i might have been lucky in that i knew that hole he lived in. this trick can work.
650-IS350
Active member
The biggest gorrila crab I got from my 100lbs shipment was about 3 to 3.25 inches..... I stomped that baby to death..
I dropped the rock once I saw it rear up and put its claws towards my hands... and till now I am still seeing tiny little rock/gorrilla crabs..
I screwered one crab last night about the size of a dime. it was fat with EGGS!!! crused him to pieces and peppermint did the rest.
I dropped the rock once I saw it rear up and put its claws towards my hands... and till now I am still seeing tiny little rock/gorrilla crabs..
I screwered one crab last night about the size of a dime. it was fat with EGGS!!! crused him to pieces and peppermint did the rest.
