why did my CBS lose his claw?

[lillylegs]

why did my CBS lose his claw? is he stressed? does it just happen from time to time? i've had him for three months now and no problems. molts probably once a month or so.

 

[wamp]

Could have caught a fish, would not let go and got pulled off....??
It will grow back...

 

[ryebread]

I had the same thing happen. I was cleaning the tank and my CBS pinched my arm, when I jumped I took his arm with me. Scared the crap out of me but, at least I still have my arm. I got rid of my CBS because it was a succesful hunter in my tank so I am not sure if Its arm grew back.

 

[lillylegs]

well he lives inside my LR all day and only comes out at night. hes the most unaggressive CBS i've ever seen. it is possible he may have tried to catch a fish in the night but nothing has happened before. i worry it may be something else. all two fish look good.

 

[lillylegs]

or fight with cleaner shrimp? now that i think about it i DID notice the last time he molted it looked like a full arm had come off with the shell... didn't think about it much at the time. again, i hardly ever see him unless i feed or i sneak up w/ flashlight at night.

 

[shadow678]

Did you do any large water changes recently? CBS will drop their arms any time they are stressed, including drastic changes to the water conditions. I gave a large CBS to a friend/customer of mine, and he didn't acclimate it properly. It dropped both arms and looked rather silly for a while, but they grew back within 3 weeks.

 

[lillylegs]

that must be what happened. it must be stress. i did do a 20% water change recently, i had to scrape a significant amount of algae off the glass and it worried me b/c i only use biological filtration and didn't want it floating around. do you guys think that just changing the water in the protein skimmer evey week is enough of a water change? i have a 35 gallon hex. i think perhaps a water change in the main tank may be too stressful.

 

[shadow678]

As long as you make sure the levels(pH, temp) of the water you are adding are the same as that of your tank, then it should not be stressful to the inhabitants. The waste that is picked up by your protein skimmer will not include significant removal of nitrates, so you should continue to do regular water changes. I would suggest changing about 5 gallons every two weeks. Be sure you aerate the water you are going to add for a few hours. Just thought of this, but you are using purified water, correct? Not tap water, I hope. As most have found, tap/well water contain far too many contaminants to be used for such delicate creatures. HTH