Dead Crabs!!!

[new2u]

Ok first to clear everything up here are my prameters
Amonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 15
Now here is my problem today I found not one but BOTH of my emrald crabs dead. Well I hadent seen them in forever and i had suspected they were dead for a while but are crabs canaries in the coal mine? Could something be wrong in my tank. All I know is that I have two cleaner shrimp that are doing awesome and the a brittle star thats thriving. If something was wrong wouldn't the star go first? Could it be that I had insuffecient amounts of bubble algea??

 

[bigarn]

They don't survive on bubble algae alone. Some emeralds don't even touch the stuff. Just a thought--they didn't molt did they? The molt looks like the entire crab, except no meat inside.

 

[new2u]

well it could be a mold i guess i already took them out of the tank and I think the meat was in there but theres no way of really knowing i guess... ill go check...

 

[new2u]

this might be a stupid question but what does the meat look like?

 

[bigarn]

The body will be empty....nothing really solid inside. If you press on it, it should be somewhat "squishy".

 

[new2u]

well when i pressed on one it exploded and there was like nothing inside and the second one did too but there was some white fuzz on the inside was that one dead?