Crab molting problems - HELP!

[crabkeeper]

Hey all, I've had 8 strawberry crabs that I purchased from SWF a couple of years ago. They were all doing fine up until this passed year, 3 of them died already 2 in the same month. The way they have died has been a result of bad molting. They either don't complete the molting process or lose most of their limbs shortly after the molting process is finished.
This one crab grew back most of it's limbs then like a few days later after I released him from the temporary cage isolated for protection, I found him behind the tank with no claws no legs NOTHING, all his limbs completely gone which is a mystery to me. He eventually died after I noticed it's gills rapidly moving, like it was gasping for oxygen.
Now another crab just molted in the same month and I found it stuck to it's old shell all deformed with only 2 legs, one crooked and the others were soft tissue just hanging or missing, looked like a mess. I saw it struggling to remove itself from the old shell and I had to assist in removing it. I know your not supposed to disturb them during molting but this was long after and it needed help. It's alive and well at the moment. So whatever damaged and deformed limbs it had I took it off, now it's moving around as best as it can. It just has 2 claws and one leg now.
Now I was wondering, the next time it molts if it even makes it that far, will all the limbs grow back to normal? What can I do to prevent this problem, any special addatives I could add, like calcium or iodine? I'm wondering if something is wrong with the chemistry of my water which is causing this. It's a 38 gallon tank with about 40lbs of live rock and 15lbs of live sand and crushed coral. I only have an Emperor filter running with 2 powerheads. I perform monthly water changes. It's a crab only tank. If there is someone out there with enough experience and knowledge on marine crabs, I'd appreciate any advice.
Thank you,
CrabKeeper

 

[maurice]

I would test all your water parameters and post them and we can start there and try to figure out your problem.What all are you testing for also?

 

[crabkeeper]

Hi Maurice, thanks for the reply. See the problem is I can't provide the water parameters at this time, since I have no test kits. I was only testing for Ph and Nitrate at the time, but I lost all my test kit tools and haven't replaced anything since. So I just continued using whatever I have now which is the salt, and filter material. Thinking that if I just continue with my routine which was working, testing wouldn't be necessary since there were no problems.
I noticed I was more successful when I used to do weekly water changes, now since I have gone to monthly water changes and used less addatives such as Calcium, Ph, and Alkalinity buffers, things have gone downhill. But I don't feed them that much, they mostly eat whatever algae they can scrape of the live rock. The water remains pretty clean for the most part. So it looks like I have to get a new test kit as soon as possible, until then there's not much you could help me with I'm assuming.
One other thing, I have noticed on other boards, various hobbyists claiming that foods such as crab pellets that contain "Ethoxyquin" (preservative) is too toxic, and can kill crabs over time. Do you know if there is any truth to this? I sometimes feed them HBH crab and lobster bites which has this ingredient added, but I have not fed them this food in quite some time now. You think this is possible why my crabs are becoming deformed and dying, aside from water conditions?
CrabKeeper

 

[maurice]

Well i change my water bi-weekly and that way i don't have to add to much as far as additives,the once monthly scares me :scared: that is alot of time for a problem to occur IMO i would drop back to bi-weekly water changes of 15-20% and if your not dosing any iodine,i would reccomend that also,but slowly,don't go wild with it.And last and to me the most important,get some good test kits.ASAP I hope this helps you out.

 

[crabkeeper]

I like your bi-weekly routine, perhaps I should try that. Makes sense replacing water that often will save me the trouble of using addatives, since fresh seawater replenishes whatever has been depleted. I used to take about 10-15% of water out and replace it on a weekly basis, but I got lazy. I had hardly any algae problems either, now it gets to the point I have to keep the lights off to prevent algae blooms from all the nitrate build up. As a result all the plants that used to grow on the live rock have died as well and no longer grow back. The live rock looks more like dead rock now with a few dusters. I will go ahead and get myself some new test kits as you suggested.
The crab is doing just fine now, as a matter of fact Maurice, it's hanging upside down on a peice of live rock with just one leg LOL. Strong lil sucker, he's sticking to that rock like a spider I don't know how they do it. I'm sure the next time it molts will be months from now. But I wanted to know, if I get the water conditions corrected and give it proper feeding, will it regenerate all it's lost limbs back to normal or will it still remain deformed? Oh and if you read up top I mentioned something about the crab pellets, did you catch that?
Crabkeeper

 

[maurice]

Yes he will regenerate all his limbs again when he molts,they usually molt about every 4 to 6 weeks.As for the crab pellets i can't help much there,i have never used them nor do i know anyone that uses them,sorry.If your having high nitrates you can do a large 30% water change and they should drop some also,then if they don't come down much do a smaller change about 2 days later and that should help you out.Do you have any cleanup crew to assist in the excess waste foods?

 

[crabkeeper]

Well it appears I have some hope then. Hopefully this time all limbs will grow back and not just a few in some areas which has been the case. For some reason these crabs seem to take forever to molt, I wish it were as often as 4-6 weeks. I'll just feed them peices of shellfish to stay safe. Besides, I don't like the thought of feeding any animals foods that contain chemical preservatives. They put most of that junk in commercial dog and cat foods as well. As far as the clean up crew goes, yeah I have those crabs and 2 snails to answer your question. I've had this one snail for 3 years now, it's the only one remaining out of 6 of them that I purchased. For it to survive this long I must be getting something right, ya think? Should I stock up on more clean up inverts? I'm just curious Maurice, what type of setup do you have, equipment, bedding material, etc.? Maybe I could use some of your ideas that would be helpful.
Crabkeeper

 

[mudplayerx]

Adding supplements that you have no test kits for is probably killing your crabs

 

[crabkeeper]

I don't add supplements too often though, I'm not sure if I'm making it worse. I just go by my own judgment based on experience and only added anything when I thought it was needed. For example the marine salt mix I use doesn't buffer up the Ph enough at an acceptable range, so occassionally I add a buffer to raise it. I know this from testing it in the past.
Crabkeeper

 

[mudplayerx]

Addind any supplement you don't test for is worse than not adding it at all. I think everyone will agree.

 

[maurice]

I'm just curious Maurice, what type of setup do you have, equipment, bedding material, etc.? Maybe I could use some of your ideas that would be helpful.
Well i have a long list of things,but i will try to give you an idea of basic setup.I have a 55g a 190g and i am in the process of ordering a 225g.Equipment on my 55 i am running a 30g fuge with macro algae with a 6" DSB with 80w 6500k lighting,in the tank i have a 4" SB with 260w PC lighting i have over 100lbs LR in the tank and about 20 lbsLR in the fuge as well.I have 3 maxi-jet PH in the tank for water movement.Forgot to mention i use a filter bag on my intake side of my fuge and my skimmer is also in my fuge as well.Ithink i covered most of it,but the list on my 190 is a mile long,but if you need ideas on that let me know and i will tell you that list as well.If you have any other questions,i will try to help.

 

[maurice]

Originally Posted by mudplayerx
Addind any supplement you don't test for is worse than not adding it at all. I think everyone will agree.

YES i agree 100% on that one,i learned the hard way once!

 

[crabkeeper]

ok i guess for now i'll just do more frequent water changes and not add supplements, until I could test for water. Thanks for the advice Mud. However, this molting problem started long before I was using supplements.
Maurice that's one helluva setup ya got there, I'm jealous heh. I could never even afford what you have. I have basically a beginners setup nothing special. If i ever have the money I'd like to invest in something like what you have. What I'd like to know is if it's necessary to have a protein skimmer, even if I'm doing water changes regularly and livestock numbers are low? Also my Live rock looks completely dead, is there any way I could help restore life on it like all those plants I used to have, or do i need to buy new Live rock all over again?
Crabkeeper

 

[maurice]

If your livestock is low,then in my opinion you can do without a skimmer,but on the other hand,they are very nice and one of the best additions for your tank,along with lighting of coarse.

As for the acclimaying fish,i use a drip acclimation of 3 hours then put them in a QT tank awhile and watch them for up to 2 weeks,then add them to your main tank.You sure don't want one fish to bring a disease into your tank and possibly kill all other fish,or at least i don't,not when some of the fish are 100+ dollars. :scared: I agree with doing your water changes every other week and not adding anything else til you can test for it,you don't have any bio-load eating up calcium and such anyway,but good water changes add everything you really need back.If i missed anything let me know or if you have other questions i will try to help.

Here is a few pics of the tank i was telling you about.

 

[maurice]

A few more.

 

[crabkeeper]

Yeah that's what i thought as far as the skimmer and acclimating fish. I just wanted to get your opinion on it to be sure.

The other thing i wanted to know was if there's any way i could help restore some life to my live rock, such as plants? I hope i don't have to replace all the live rock again and throw out whatever i have. It looks lifeless. I used to get these calerpa grape looking plants growing, and now they don't grow anymore even with consistent use of lighting. This happened ever since i cut down on lighting everything died off.

I have one each 20watt daylight bulb and actinic if my memory does not fail me. Hey, where are your tank pics? I don't see them. :notsure:
Crabkeeper

 

[crabkeeper]

Oh nevermind I see them now.

They just popped up. Well what can i say, stunningly gorgeous!!!

Keep up the good work Maurice!

 

[maurice]

Once your water get's back stable your rock should start to thrive again,but just about everything revolves around water quality in this hobby,that is why your test kits are so very important.As for your plants dieing,that is due to lighting,i run my lighting on my fuge where i keep my plants and macro algaes on 24/7 other than when replacing the bulbs.How old are your bulbs,that makes some difference with plants also.I don't know why you can't see the pics,i can see them.Check and see exactly what lights you have and let me know if you can.What k rating are they and wattage too,and age.

 

[crabkeeper]

My bulbs are 18watts each, one blue triton 600mm / 24" and one coralife magtinic (actinic 03). I'm not sure what you mean by k rating? They have been used on and off for about a year or so. They are fairly new i guess you could say. I have them set on a timer they go on and off automatically at a certain time. I noticed the die off once i started reducing the amount of hours the light stayed on until i shut it off completely, to control algae outbursts. Now even with consistent lighting nothing ever grows back for some reason. That green stuff starts forming all over the sand and gravel, and changes the color of the live rock, and some brown algae on the glass that's it. I understand the importance of water quality completely. But since the tank has been well established for some time now and i don't need to monitor ammonia or nitrite, which test kits do you recommend, Ph, Calcium, Alkalinity, Nitrate? By the way, my crab still has some tissue hanging off from his deformed limb area, is that anything to be concerned about or will it shed off during next molt? I saw your pics Maurice it came through afterwards, very nice thanks for showing me.

Crabkeeper