unidentified dead crab! Me again!!

[VickyH]

I've just found this dead crab in my tank! I didn't even know it was in there, could this be related to my chromis deaths?

[Fishieness]

looks like either a rock crab or a gorilla crab judging by the black tips. black tips pretty much always is a bad sign. it could very well be the cause of the chromis deaths.
are you sure it is dead and non just a molt?

[VickyH]

now you're scaring me! I don't know if it's a molt or dead! If there is still a live one in there how do I catch it?

[Reefscape]

easiest way to see if its a molt, is look inside..is the crab still inside the shell or is all hollow?

Niko

[VickyH]

I don't know! It's too small to tell!

[Fishieness]

just flip it over. is there a crack on the bottom or is it whole? also, if you pick it up, is it floppy or does it keep it'ba basic shape?

[VickyH]

can't see a crack and it does sort of keep it's shape, my friend thinks it smeels fishy too

[Riverserver]

Break it in half, if it oozes smelly goo stuff, its a dead crab. :hitting:

[VickyH]

I did that but it is so small it's hard to see, I wouldn't say it oozed anything though, the legs did look quite transparent.
If there is a live one in there still how would I catch it? do those pest traps work?

[salty420]

if it's that small could it really be responsible for the fish deaths? could there be another hitch hiker bigger and more nasty that you don't know about?

[VickyH]

It's body is about 1/2cm, when spread out it is about 1.5cm. The chromis are about2 - 2.5cm. I've just had another prod of crab and there really doesn't seem to be any insides - how do I catch a live one???!

[Fishieness]

with a crab that small, he isnt a harm to anything at the moment. to catch him, i would try the glass trick. if you dont know where he hides out, you can search in the live rock at night with a flashlight. a red one works best because they cannot see red light. then place an empty drinking glass leanign up against a rock right near where he resides and put some type of bait such as a piece of shrimp or krill in the cup. he will slide into the cup to eat it but it will be too slippery for him to get out. you may also catch a variety of hermit crabas and snails too...

[SuperScro]

If the shell broke easily its a molting. You probably would have noticed stuff oozing out despite its small size. It took me a couple months to catch my crab. I got lucky and saw him under a rock, so I crushed him. My crab was waaaaay to big for the glass trick, he could climb ouf of any glass i put in the sand.(only place I could put it where he would be able to enter). Look around at night, you will probably find his spot somewhere.

[Reefkid 07]

You can make a trap from a bottle.