horseshoe crab

[spkdtch]

so ive had this horseshoe crab for about a month now and he has spent all but the past 2-3 days sifting through the sand, going unseen. Recently he has surfaced and continuously flips himself onto its back, so i flip him back gently and within 5minutes he flips back onto his back. It's not like it is falling and getting stuck, it is intentionally flipping itself onto its back, it kicks its legs for awhile when the lights are on, but otherwise when its dark, it just lies there. Is this normal? why is it doing this? is it dying?
anytime i flip it back over, it scurries away, but doesnt burrow, just flips himself back over(assuming its a male )
thanks for any and all advice, water conditions are pristine

 

[salt life]

Originally Posted by spkdtch
http:///forum/post/2965796
so ive had this horseshoe crab for about a month now and he has spent all but the past 2-3 days sifting through the sand, going unseen. Recently he has surfaced and continuously flips himself onto its back, so i flip him back gently and within 5minutes he flips back onto his back. It's not like it is falling and getting stuck, it is intentionally flipping itself onto its back, it kicks its legs for awhile when the lights are on, but otherwise when its dark, it just lies there. Is this normal? why is it doing this? is it dying?
anytime i flip it back over, it scurries away, but doesnt burrow, just flips himself back over(assuming its a male )
thanks for any and all advice, water conditions are pristine
When I had one of those it did the same thing and man was it annoying, I really don't know why they do that but you should just take him out if he gets on your nerves, when I went diving this morning I saw one that was 7" across and probably a foot long, they get ugly in a cool way but im sure you won't want it when it gets that big unless you have a huge tank.

 

[spkdtch]

only reason i got nervous is i have a small eel in the tank and i didnt want him loosing his legs while on his back, but i put him in my other tank(30gal) for now just to watch him, and im building a 250gal and he can go in there so hell have plenty of room then, thanks for the speedy reply

 

[spkdtch]

so an update, after moving him to the other tank, he had moved during the night to the complete other side of the tank, but when i got home from class, he was still in the same position, so i gave him a nudge and there was very little movement, he did kick his legs, but very slowly and only for a split second, thinking maybe he was hungry and thats why he surfaced, i placed a small piece of shrimp basically on his face since he had flipped himself onto his back once again, im in class right now and will update either later tonight or tomorrow, but within the past 3-4 days, i added the recommended amount of some tap water conditioner which also aids in the healing of fish and addeds a slime coat( i cant think of the name right now, ill get the specifics later tonight)to the tank water he was in since my sailfin tang had a small tear in its fin, i read some articles suggesting additives can be harmful to inverts, and that reminded me that my urchin also seemed a little weird and lost 2-3 spines in the past few days
sadly it looks as if the horseshoe crab may be dying, but tonight i will put him in a QT and keep a close eye on him, any advice would be appreciated

 

[spkdtch]

the condition was API(aquarium phamaceuticals) stress coat +, im starting to worry if this is bad for iverts since my anemone now looks dead, just drouped over and uninflated, not pulled in

 

[braydonosu]

I used to use that stuff in fresh water tanks, but have never in my sw. Is it even supposed to be used for SW let alone reef tanks? In the future I wouldn't add anything chemical wise to your DT.

 

[spkdtch]

ya its a saltwater horseshoe, hes lived in the tank for awhile without problems until now, and the chemicals were just water conditioner, removes chlorine and metals and adds a slime coat to heal fish, i looked it up and says its safe for use on inverts, i think it was just his time because hes not moving any more, everything else seems fine again so who knows, hes in a QT tank now, but i doubt he'll recover, ill give him one more day, but hes steadily gotten worse

 

[spkdtch]

and it says on the bottle :
Compatibility:
Stress Coat can be used with freshwater tropical fish, marine fish, invertebrates and coldwater species including koi and goldfish. Stress Coat will not harm aquatic plants. Stress Coat may cause foaming in marine aquariums using a protein skimmer. Stress Coat will not interfere with water test kits.
so yes, its fine for marine i would believe