My fiddler crab has turned a darker color and in the last 24 hours has lost his large claw and a leg. He is very still and keeps moving his legs oddly when he does move. Last night he was picking at his large claw and I found it at the bottom this morning. Now he's been sitting on top of a rock out of the water and one of his legs popped off and he was bubbling from the mouth a bit. Is this molting? I'm semi new to fiddlers. I've had him in my new crabitat for about 2 weeks now (was in a fresh water aquarium before). There's plenty of space to get out of the water and the water is brakish between .006 and .0012. Temp is about 75. I introduced a female about 3 days ago. Try don't seen to bother each other at All and she was nowhere near when the limbs fell off. She seems to be doing fine.
Help! Fiddler Crab Losing Limbs!
- Thread starter Amyleax3
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- fiddler crab
Although I'm not familiar with this particular species, picking/pulling at limbs and dropping un-injured limbs is common in other crabs and related Crustaceans when experiencing problems leading up to a bad molt. The color change also suggests a molting issue.
3 more legs fell off. It's just laying barely moving. He's pretty much a goner. I'm scared my other crab is going to die. They don't spend much time on the beach I made. They mainly hang out in the water which worries me.
Tongue_Flicker
Fish Herder
Crabs usually drop legs during a bad molt or severe stress
Are you sure it's a fiddler because the fiddler I had never left the water and was in freshwater not brackish?
Tongue_Flicker
Fish Herder
They leave the water if the tank is unaerated and yes they should be in brackish water. They rarely survive for too long if kept in freshwater
iliveinazoo
Fish Crazy
Fiddlers require brackish water to survive and need to be able to leave the water - they inhabit the same type of environment as mudskippers. Mine would tend to hide in the water in crevices most of the time just after a moult but would then spend most of their time out of the water once the shell had time to harden.
My guess agrees with most of the others that this is a bad moult and/or under stress probably because it has been kept in freshwater and hasn't been able to take in the necessary elements from its environment/diet. Some swear to adding iodine to the water to aid moults but unfortunately it sounds like this may be too late for your little guy.
That's a big difference in your salinity are you sure that your hydrometer works or do you purposely swing between those values? Because they tend to inhabit coastal zones I used to keep my fiddlers above SG1.010@25DegC. I think that your water is a little cool also and would maybe up from 23 to 25DegC.
My guess agrees with most of the others that this is a bad moult and/or under stress probably because it has been kept in freshwater and hasn't been able to take in the necessary elements from its environment/diet. Some swear to adding iodine to the water to aid moults but unfortunately it sounds like this may be too late for your little guy.
That's a big difference in your salinity are you sure that your hydrometer works or do you purposely swing between those values? Because they tend to inhabit coastal zones I used to keep my fiddlers above SG1.010@25DegC. I think that your water is a little cool also and would maybe up from 23 to 25DegC.
He died this morning. I don't purposely keep it at that salinity. I've hard so many things about what it's supposed to be at for brakish water that I decided to start off lower and slowly increase it. Especially since they had been kept at the pets tore for god knows how long in fresh water. The female still seems okay.
I had just heard that they spent more time out of water than in so that's why it concerned me that maybe they weren't drying out, but after the responses I've read this seems normal to hide in the water.
I had just heard that they spent more time out of water than in so that's why it concerned me that maybe they weren't drying out, but after the responses I've read this seems normal to hide in the water.
iliveinazoo
Fish Crazy
I'm sorry to hear that.
Once their shells harden after a moult they do spend most of their time out of water unless spooked about something. I also played with large swings in salinity in my tank adjusting by no more than SG0.002 each water change to avoid a bacteria crash and I think this probably benefits them since they are generally from tidal regions.
I know what you mean about conflicting information because with brackish species you rarely get given an optimum SG figure, probably due to the fact that it's hard to pin down because brackish species will be exposed to different figures in their natural environment due to the tides and their own movement.
I suspect that fiddlers would do well at marine conditions and I considered keeping them with live rock and a skimmer just to experiment and to cut down on water changes but never got around to it. I must say that I never really noticed a difference in their behaviour when at SG1.010 compared to SG1.015 though.
If your female has been kept in freshwater consider adding an iodine supplement to aid her through her first moult. Beware though because there is a difference between normal iodine and fish tank safe iodine. Have a look at this thread for information, especially the posts by Neale Monks: For some reason I can't copy the link but if you do a Brackish Forum search titled 'salt controversy brackish water' you should find it.
Once their shells harden after a moult they do spend most of their time out of water unless spooked about something. I also played with large swings in salinity in my tank adjusting by no more than SG0.002 each water change to avoid a bacteria crash and I think this probably benefits them since they are generally from tidal regions.
I know what you mean about conflicting information because with brackish species you rarely get given an optimum SG figure, probably due to the fact that it's hard to pin down because brackish species will be exposed to different figures in their natural environment due to the tides and their own movement.
I suspect that fiddlers would do well at marine conditions and I considered keeping them with live rock and a skimmer just to experiment and to cut down on water changes but never got around to it. I must say that I never really noticed a difference in their behaviour when at SG1.010 compared to SG1.015 though.
If your female has been kept in freshwater consider adding an iodine supplement to aid her through her first moult. Beware though because there is a difference between normal iodine and fish tank safe iodine. Have a look at this thread for information, especially the posts by Neale Monks: For some reason I can't copy the link but if you do a Brackish Forum search titled 'salt controversy brackish water' you should find it.
Tongue_Flicker
Fish Herder
Oh that was a quickie.
Congrats!
Congrats!
So I found the male dead this morning. I don't know what's going wrong! The female still seems fine. The tank smells sort of odd. I'm thinking it's from uneaten blood worms. I do my best to scoop out all the uneaten food. I've also been giving them algae chips but they don't seem to eat anything
Tongue_Flicker
Fish Herder
What is your water and air temp for them? Do they have a basking area?
I believe a decoration I had was poisoning them. It had an odd smell to it and made the tank smell foul. I got rid of it and cleaned the whole tank really well and took everything out and cleaned it too. The smell is gone and I've let the tank cycle for a week and a half. I introduced 2 new crabs today so we'll see how this goes. Water temp is 76
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