Saturday, March 03, 2007

The Case of the Upside-Down Crabs

Dear Blue Lobster:

We have 12 tropical red crabs 6 of whom have in the last 24hrs taken to living UPSIDE DOWN. They twitch and stretch and my poor girlfriend is convinced that they are going to die. Please can you reassure her that they are fine and just looking for a different perspective on life?

Thanks for your help.

Sam

Dear Gentle Sir:

While crustaceans sometimes strive to see the world from a different point of view than they are accustomed to, crabs are more likely to just remain cantankerous or "crabby," as their name befits them. I will be both blunt and honest: Your crabs are either molting or dying.

In the case of the former, keep the water temperature and chemistry as they are now. If the other crabs seem aggressive toward them, introduce a tank divider to keep the molting crabs safe while they are soft, or as the crabbing industry calls them, "turds."

If the latter is the case and your crabs are expiring, by the time this response is published it may be too late and for that I am deeply sorry. I will include your crabs in my vigils.

If they yet live, check healthy crabs for odd behavior. If it's a tank chemistry problem, all of the crabs are likely to die at some point. If there are high levels of nitrids in the water or the pH is more than a few tenths of a point away from neutral, fix these problems immediately! Remove any pennies from your aquarium and turn your tank filter up to eleven.

I also point you to the case of the upside-down crayfish, a similar but ultimately tragic situation.

By trollaxor@gmail.com at 18:30

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1 comments:

  1. Dear Blue
    A few hours ago I checked ths site looking for some information about my son's 2 1/2 inch blue lobster that we had become attached to.
    I did mention that we need to get a tank cover because the little guy was quite active.
    This evening, I was watching tv but called away for a few minutes, when I returned I found the (dead) blue lobster on my living room floor. Some how he had survived the fall from at least 4 feet and crawled across the kitchen and half way through the living room. We don't know if the rug dried him out or he was otherwise injured. But he died right there on the rug. I will have nightmares about this for a long time, but especially reproach myself for not putting a screen on the tank after reading that advice this afternoon.

    great site!

    My son bought the blue lobster at an auction in Brooklyn, New York. He was a great entertainer, climbing thru the rocks and up on the plants (at night) I thought he would be with us for a long time. Well unless we get another one, this is probably good bye. Tks for letting me tell this story. Everyone else should cover their tank!
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