Why did my emerald crab die??

[woody189]

I have a 46 gal tank w/ 45 lbs LR. I had an large emerald crab for about 2 months and it seemed to be doing fine. I came home one day and he died and i don't know why. I REALLY dont' think it's molt.
my levels are good-
trites-0
trates 20
ammon 0
the only problem is i don't keep the salinty too consistent but it stays about .022
The only thing i could think of is there wasn't enough algae and he starved.I added a slightly smaller emerald crab about a week or two ago but he killed him the next day. I know sometimes they'll kill other crabs if there is no food, be he wasn't eating the body. He seemed very active, and i didn't notice any weird behavior... I also have about 7 snails and 2 hermits that he didn't touch. Do you think 45 lbs of LR would have enough algae?? I keep my lights usually about 12 hours, sometime even more (1 daylight tube w/ reflector think)
any thoughts?? thanks
i was planning on getting a bigger clean up crew in a few weeks and getting 2small emeralds instead of a big one, but i'm worried they'll starve.
I dont really want to feed algae sheets

 

[bruner54]

crabs have to molt so did u check ur calcium levels? Cause if they cant molt they will die

 

[renogaw]

i'd bet it was a molt. did you take it out and take it apart? if the cavity was hollow, it molted.
BUT, it never hurts to feed your crabs. i give them a nice piece of shrimp/scallop/clam every time i feed my sun corals.

 

[woody189]

No, he's definetley dead. I'm trying to figure out what the cause was though...
I think 45 lbs of LR w/ the lights on 12 hrs+ a day would have enough algae. Would i be okay adding 2 small emeralds to replace him??
and i havn't tested calcium in a while, but whenever i do, it seems to be high (idk exactly, but high enough for good corraline growth).

 

[woody189]

Can anybody help me decide whether or not it's okay to add more emeralds??

 

[bruner54]

wat fish do you have in the tank

 

[pinstripe]

I have a pretty established tank, bought 3 emeralds for $20 at lfs, and they were all dead inside 2 months. Everything else is just fine. I think they are kind of hard to keep, but that's just my experience with them.

 

[woody189]

purple fire fish, 2 perculas, sixline, and a royal gramma.
today i found a turbo snail flipped over, i flipped him back over and he hasn't moved in 4 hours so i'm assuming he's dead too. I never had anything die on me before in the 3 months i had this tank, so i'm thinking it's more than a coincidence that there were 2 deaths in less than a week....
i'm gonna take my water to LFS when i get a chance and post results.

 

[bruner54]

you didnt mention what the Ph is did you check that or no

 

[spiderwoman]

What is the temp in the tank? Turbo's do not like warmer temps (especially Mexican turbo's).

 

[woody189]

Here are MY readings as of right now.
ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-20
ph- 8-8.1
temp-81
salinity- I'm not too consistent, but 1.022-1.023 (hydromter, i know, i know)
alk- 2
i have the fish i said above, i had 5 astrea/turbos, now 4, 2 nass snails, 2 redleg hermits. a cleaner shrimp, fire shrimp, and camelback...
everything seems to be doing find...My turbos have a lot of diatoms to eat off the glass but they barely touch it.

 

[woody189]

LFS readings:
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate- OVER 50
PH- "a little low"
Red Sea test kits are garbage...I have the master kit and everything is wrong
my ammonia kit was messed up, it always read at least .25
my nitrite kit was messed up, always read at least .05
now my nitrate kit is messed up
and yes, i do know what i'm doing, and it's not expired. MAYBE i just got a bad master kit, but i'm never buying it again.
I'm going to do 10% Water change and clean out my canister filter...I'm guessing the filter is the cause of the nitrate problem.
The is most likely the reason for my 2 deaths right??

 

[prime311]

I had the same problem with my Nitrate kit from API. I think most of these test kits are garbage.

 

[woody189]

I don't know what's going on anymore...
my old test kit said my nitrates are -20
my new API kit says i have about 15-20
LFS said they are ABOVE 50
This time i didn't see them test it myself, but the last time they did it, they used the powder kits. I'm assuming they used them this time too.
I'm not sure what to do...my 2 home kits are saying my trates are good, but the LFS said they are high. I also have 2 casualties... The LFS is probably right, right??
are the liquid kits that innacurate??
I know it seems like i'm probably testing wrong, but it's really not that difficult, and i'm shaking them for the whole minute like the instructions say.
what do you suggest?? i already cleaned my filter, and i'm waiting for my SW to heat up so i can do a WC (5 Gals).

 

[prime311]

First thing I'd check is, if you have a dropper, make sure the 5 ml line is actually 5 ml since thats a common problem from what I've read.

 

[ibew41]

did the lfs test salinity ?

 

[brithor]

I have the same tank and similar stocklist and had two emerald crabs for the first three months or so. One was pretty big (called him Cloverfield) and he died unexpectedly one day and I don't know why either. My guess is they may have just run their life cycle. I supplemented their feeding with algae sheets so I don't think he died hungry. I still have the other emerald and have had him for about 6 months now without any problems. He even survived the episode where I accidentally nuked my tank and killed all my fish a couple of months back so he may now have earned the Cloverfield name...

 

[woody189]

My testtube is fine, i have 2 different ones and they both measure 5ml.
I meant to ask them to check my salinity but i completely forgot.
I cleaned out my filter really well, rinsed the bioballs w/ water from a 5 gal water change. I'm still not sure what my nitrates really are or what i should do.
I'm going on vacation on thursday for two weeks and was just going to have someone feed my fish everyday and get a timer for my lights. i'm getting worried now that two weeks maybe too long w/o a water change. I'm going to do another 10% WC the I leave just to be safe.