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| FAQs on Freshwater (and Terrestrial)
Crustaceans, Health Related
Articles: Freshwater Crustaceans, Invertebrates
for Freshwater Aquariums by Neale Monks,
Forget
Crawfish Pie, Let's Make a Crawfish Tank! By Gage Harford
Related FAQs: FW Crustaceans 1, FW
Crustaceans 2, FW Crustaceans 3,
FW Crustaceans 4,
&
& FAQs on: FW Crustacean
Identification,
FW Crustacean Behavior,
FW Crustacean Compatibility,
FW Crustacean Selection,
FW Crustacean Systems,
FW Crustacean Feeding,
FW Crustacean Reproduction &
Crustacean Selection,
Crustacean Behavior,
Crustacean Compatibility,
Crustacean Systems,
Crustacean Feeding,
Crustacean Disease,
Crustacean Reproduction,
Freshwater Shrimp,
FW Crabs,
Terrestrial
Hermit Crabs, & Marine
Hermit ID,
Hermit Behavior, Hermit
Compatibility, Hermit Selection,
Hermit Systems, Hermit Feeding,
Hermit Reproduction, Hermit
Disease/Health, &
Crayfish FAQs,
Crayfish 2,
Crayfish ID,
Crayfish Behavior,
Crayfish Compatibility,
Crayfish Selection,
Crayfish Systems,
Crayfish Feeding,
Crayfish Disease,
Crayfish Reproduction,
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Cherax quadricarinatus - Red Claw Crayfish/"Lobster", Molting
Issues
Hi I have a red claw lobster and it is laying on its side and it is still
moving and it looks like it is molting because some of the shell is off. I was
wondering if it is molting or is it dying.
<Tough to say, I'm afraid. Laying on his side is not a good sign, I must
say. It does sound like he's having difficulties with molting, a "bad molt", as
it were. At this point, the best you can do is wait and see. In the future,
though, please consider adding iodine to his tank, to help him with his molts in
the future. I use Kent Marine iodine (marketed for saltwater tanks) at a rate
of one drop per ten gallons every week. The difference this tiny bit of iodine
makes is truly amazing. Since using iodine in my freshwater shrimp tanks, I
haven't lost a shrimp to a "bad molt". For now, just leave him in peace, and
hope he recovers. If he does, do please start dosing iodine in his tank to
prevent this from happening again; if he doesn't, well, at least you know you
can prevent it from happening to future pet crayfish. My fingers are crossed
for your crustacean pal.>
Can you e-mail me back at XXXX please.
<Done. Wishing you well, -Sabrina>
Cherax quadricarinatus - Red Claw Crayfish/"Lobster", Molting
Issues, II (01/31/2004)
I am sorry for e-mailing you back here it's just I don't know what XXXX
means.
<Since we post these questions and answers for all our readers to read, and you
had posted your email in the text of the message, I removed it; that's all the
X's were for. While on this note, though, the text sent back with this reply
was very, very jumbled; I hope that it made it through to you okay.>
My lobster has been laying on it's side for 3 days and only a little bit of it's
shell is off. It looks like he is trying really hard to get the rest of the
shell off. What should I do?
<If there are any other animals in the tank with him, it'd be a good idea to
quarantine him separately to help him recover. Then I would certainly add
iodine (I use Kent marine iodine at a rate of one drop per ten gallons) to his
tank; this might help him out. Further, you should definitely check your water
parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH), and ensure that ammonia and
nitrite are zero, and that nitrate is as low as possible. If not, do water
changes to correct the issue. Any of these values being too seriously out of
whack could cause harm to your crayfish. Wishing you well, -Sabrina>
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Attack of the Killer Cabomba? - 08/22/2004
My sister put a plant called Cabomba caroliniana in her aquarium and within
hours the shrimps she had died.
<Pure coincidence, unless the plants had some sort of toxin spread on them....>
Does anyone know if this type of plant is injurious to shrimps?
<It is not, not at all. I have had plenty of shrimp in aquaria containing this
species of plant. Did your sister use any sort of a dip for the plants before
adding them? Some people will dip plants in solutions to kill snails, etc., and
if not rinsed *thoroughly*, I imagine some of the water from the dip would get
in the tank, and possibly cause harm. Otherwise, I assume this is pure
coincidence. If you wish to explore other reasons for the shrimps' deaths,
please respond with great detail on your tank - what size tank? How many and
what kind of shrimp? How many and what kind of fish? What do you feed the
animals? How often do you change water? What other maintenance do you do? Do
you add any chemicals to the water (aquarium plant fertilizers, iodine for the
shrimp, etc.)? What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and
pH? When was the most recent animal added to the tank, and what was it? Hoping
to help you get to the bottom of this, -Sabrina>
Freshwater shrimp?
Dear Crew,
We have unfortunately had a small tragedy in our freshwater tank (240L, ph6.5-7,
temp 75-77, nitrates 0, hardness 3-4)...in with our neon tetras (11), black
widow tetras (6), Otos (5), Rams (3), Corys (6) we had had 5 "red claw shrimp".
Now from the pictures on your site and on all of the other freshwater shrimp
sites, they look like ghost shrimp, but are a reddish/orange color. We bought
them from one of the LFS staff who lives in our area and breeds them in her
tank. The biggest of these fellows is about 2 inches long, and the smallest
about 1 inch. Until yesterday all was well (how can you tell there's going to be
a but) but yesterday evening I noticed small red shrimp on its back, scrabbling
a bit. I thought this was strange, so turned him over and moved him into a
sheltered corner, he seemed to be struggling, so I wondered whether he was
molting and turned off the tank lights to minimize stress and left him to it.
This morning at work I have received an e-mail from home telling me that small
red shrimp is no more. So now I have 2 questions, first of all, do you have any
ideas what species these fellows might be? and secondly, what could have killed
small red? his legs and claws looked strangely pale and he seemed sort of
bunched up (cramp?) but apart from that we have no clue...
Any suggestions would be useful, we want to prevent the same happening to the
other 4. Thanks for your time. Nicola
<Hey Nicola, sorry to hear about your shrimp. It is hard to get a positive ID
without a good picture. The common ghost shrimp will not reach 2in. Take a look
at the link below, is it one of these guys?
http://www.calacademy.org/research/izg/SFBay2K/ghostshrimp.htm
My first concern would be water quality. I would do a good water change, and add
a poly filter to absorb metals and many other contaminants. Keep an eye on the
other shrimp, if it starts happening to the others we will know that it was not
a molting complication and can start troubleshooting from there. Let us know how
it goes, Best of Luck, Gage.>
Nicola Blay, BSc, MSc
International Zoo Veterinary Group
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