emerald crabs turning white

[ridomart]

I just received my reef pkg from this sight last week, Everything was great. This week my emeralds are turning white & ones dead. My traites & tritesa are 0, ph 8.3, salt 1.025. the only problem I seem to have is hair algae, comming from my overflow I think. Never cleaned it. Any idea's?

 

[bigarn]

It could be getting ready to molt .... what's the salinity at?

 

[ridomart]

Bigarn, 1.025

 

[wax32]

The important thing would be ammonia, but since your pH is good I would think your ammonia is OK. Is your alk really high or low?

 

[ridomart]

Alk is on the high side of normal on my red sea test kit, but I thought I need high alk for my acropora?

 

[uberlink]

Are you 100% sure they're dying? I thought my emerald was dead not long after I got him, because he was all pale and laying out in the open for hours without moving. Then he walked by on the other side of the tank. It was just a molt. I really couldn't believe how much the molt looked like the real crab!
Oh, and the real crab will tend to hide for a while after leaving his molt out in the open. Same deal with hermits.
Just a thought...

 

[mudplayerx]

:notsure: My emeralds are all whitish and they never molt.

 

[ridomart]

Maybe its normal then. They eat & are active, must be ok. Thanks

 

[wangotango]

mine are kind whitish too, and i havent seen them mult yet. could them turning whitish be a sign that they are getting ready to mult?

 

[wieselspor]

my emerald is a little bit whiter than i normally see at the stores, but he's been alive for a while.
A little off topic but how often do your cleaner shrimp molt. mine does it ever 3 weeks or so

 

[brainrush]

All my emeralds turned white also, but they have all been alive and kicking for more than a year...so I guess it is normal. I was kind of wondering why it happened myself.

 

[ckehl]

whenever my emeralds would turn white, they would die within the next few days

 

[lubeck]

I have had emeralds for about 4 months now and they are whitish color, they do molt to though. I don't think anything is wrong with them.
I was told, it could be calcium build up just like on Live rock that does'nt get any of your lighting it is white, i don't know if that is true though.

 

[clownfish4]

He is not dead that is his outershell that he sheds once in while I thought the same when i saw my crab outer shell. he is going to hide until his other shell hardens.

 

[chipmaker]

My emeralds are also whitish. I think its normal myself. At first I had thought they was probably going to start molting, but I have yet to find any signs of a molt, and thats been like months ago.