Sick Lobster

[Murphee]

i bought a blue lobster on monday and acclimatised it in the usual manner.It has been very lethargic and spends most of the time lying on one side or another.Any ideas anyone?

 

[Murphee]

Anybody know why it is behaving like this?

You may have seen my other thread about my other Blue Lobster which escaped (and is still in the house somewhere), but i bought another one and this one is nowhere near as active as the other one, it hardly moves, it stays in the flowerpot all day, and at times it will laty on its back or side as if its playing dead. Water quality is not an issue here, all my tanks are pristine and i acclimatized the lobster properly, but im just wondering why this lobster is much less active.

Cheers

 

[lordofthesea]

haveyou tried putting some food in there to tempt him? feeding tends to enliven things if they're not ill.....

 

[Murphee]

haveyou tried putting some food in there to tempt him? feeding tends to enliven things if they're not ill.....

He ate a whole mussel about an hour after me putting him in the tank, and he also eat an algae tablet thing every day no bother, but he will tkae it back into his pot and then just lay there all day, he lays on his side too sometimes, its really weird, when i first saw it i thought he was dying, his tail is always curled up too.

Thanks for the reply

 

[OscarWilde]

Have you read through my pinned topic on them? Assuming you are in the UK Cherax Quad is what you will have.

A whole mussel sounds like a bit too much meat especially if it is small. Make sure you are getting 80%, 90% veg in its diet and that nothings staying in the tank and rotting (they like to hide food and rotting meat will foul the water).

 

[Murphee]

Have you read through my pinned topic on them? Assuming you are in the UK Cherax Quad is what you will have.

A whole mussel sounds like a bit too much meat especially if it is small. Make sure you are getting 80%, 90% veg in its diet and that nothings staying in the tank and rotting (they like to hide food and rotting meat will foul the water).

Hi, thanks for the reply. Sadly he died yesterday, he was found laying on his back in the bubblewall. TBH it loked like he was going to die sooner rather than later. He was not active at all, and half the time i already thought he was dead, but i would come back to see that he had moved so i knew he wasnt dead. But unfortunately, this time he was on his back and his eyes were bright white. I have no clue what happened, he was properly introduced and acclimitized into my tank, the only thing i can think of is that he was already sick when we got him. Because the tank he was in there was another 40-50 in the same tank, which was only 3 foot, and 2 were already dead getting eaten. What do you think?

Thanks for any help.

 

[three-fingers]

Possibly copper contamination from meds, new live plants or hot water pipe?

 

[raptorrex]

Have you read through my pinned topic on them? Assuming you are in the UK Cherax Quad is what you will have.

A whole mussel sounds like a bit too much meat especially if it is small. Make sure you are getting 80%, 90% veg in its diet and that nothings staying in the tank and rotting (they like to hide food and rotting meat will foul the water).

Hi, thanks for the reply. Sadly he died yesterday, he was found laying on his back in the bubblewall. TBH it loked like he was going to die sooner rather than later. He was not active at all, and half the time i already thought he was dead, but i would come back to see that he had moved so i knew he wasnt dead. But unfortunately, this time he was on his back and his eyes were bright white. I have no clue what happened, he was properly introduced and acclimitized into my tank, the only thing i can think of is that he was already sick when we got him. Because the tank he was in there was another 40-50 in the same tank, which was only 3 foot, and 2 were already dead getting eaten. What do you think?

Thanks for any help.

Oh, i'm sorry, its a nasty thing loosing your cray.
changing environment, often, causes a cray to moult. if for any reason things are not right in the new tank, it halts the moult. if the moult is held too long, the cray will die. i would look at the mussel, cray are very sensitive to bacteria. the best way to introduce it to a tank, is via large amounts of rotting meat. that's why so many, experienced, cray keepers don't feed blood worm. a good rule is, no mollusc or arthropod food for crays. and never ever feed shrimp, fresh of frozen.

just to clear up the Veg-meat proportion for cray. as Fry(?) around 50%meat/protein, is fine. after maturity (7-10 months) 20-30% protein is about right. everything, except the meat, should be well passed its best, before its fed to the cray.

hope you decide to get another, have a look at OscarWilde's profile, on cray. any other questions, ask here, i'll help where i can.