# Crayfish ill or just ready to molt?



## Atom

My dwarf orange cray has been acting odd since yesterday. I spotted him hiding in the plants not moving at all. He sat still there for maybe 14 hours until I finally moved the plants a bit to see if he was still alive. He was sluggish but eventually moved. 

This morning he is out of the hiding area, but he is lying on his side periodically and flicking around with his tail, but mostly sits on the substrate slightly tipped over. I'm not sure if he is ill or having trouble molting. He isn't eating. 

I have seen him molt before and know that they tend to hid and fast before/after a molt, but I have never seen him on his side exposed in the open before. Is something wrong?

I did a 50% water change just now.


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## Noir ade

The cray may be having some complications with molting...

Did a quick search on youtube and found this.

Sick Mexican Orange Dwarf Crayfish ( CPO ) - YouTube


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## Captured Moments

I would venture to say it is more ill than a molt. Molting shouldn't take that long. I don't know this type of crayfish but I have the Australian Red Claws. Find out what the correct conditions are for your crayfish and correct your tank conditions if different. (PH, GH, KH). Keep us posted..


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## BaoBeiZhu

dont spook it anymore, as with my past experience, when i spooked my p.alleni they could not finish their molt and resulted in deform or death


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## Morainy

I hope that he pulls through, Atom. One of my crayfish got very quiet for awhile, hanging around in the upper part of the tank on plants. He wasn't lying on his side on the gravel but he was kind of hanging sideways up in the air, not moving. I moved him to another tank that didn't have any other crayfish in it and he perked up and seems fine now. I don't know whether it was the water conditions or if he was being bullied by the other crayfish.

Do you add Equilibrium or Fluval Shrimp minerals to the water?

I hope he pulls through but if he doesn't, pop over and I'll give you one of my guys.


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## Jasonator

My marbled crays sometimes would just flake out on the bottom for hours, and then go back to normal. Then a day later, would do the same. My stress level went way up because they would look dead or hurt or sick, but, when they were ready, there you go - a dead body on the bottom - only, I had one extra cray.... so I went in and poked around, and sure enough, the molt was done. So I left it in there, because they EAT the molt....
so gross!!!! 

and this happened in a similar way with more than one cray.

I don't know if the marbled cays are similar enough, but that's my experience.


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## Atom

I just got back from work and he is still the same. Frequent spasms by flicking his tail and falls over on his side or on his back. Here is a picture of him dangling lifeless from the windelov.










There is no sign that he is molting. I don't know what is wrong.

I treat my water with prime and stability like I always have. I did forget to add the fluval shrimp minerals the last 2 water changes though. I have since added some. I going to run some tests now.

I just did another small water change. The amanos and lone white cloud don't seem ill either.

Thanks everyone. I hope he pulls through.


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## Morainy

I hope he pulls through, too. If only he could tell you what was going on.

Here's some info on crayfish that talks a little bit about temperature, food, diseases, etc. But I think in the case of your crayfish, it's a waiting game. There's not much you could change except try to add some iodine (but that sounds scary) or lower the temperature a couple of degrees if your tank is warm. I have no experience with crayfish at all, except recent.

Crayfish Basics


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## Atom

Thanks Maureen. I'll just have to wait. Everything seems to register within the acceptable levels. I can't figure it out.


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## Atom

He's gone. Found his body resting in the leaves today. I don't get it. He was fine for so long.


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## effox

That sucks man.


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## Morainy

That's really too bad, Atom. I'm so sorry to hear it. Sometimes these things are mysterious.

If you'd like another crayfish, let me know. I'd be happy to give you one.


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## Atom

Thanks Maureen. I've moved the Betta back into the eheim. I think I might wait to replace the cray. I might put one in my ebi next time.


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## Morainy

How does your betta do in the Eheim, for current? I haven't set up my Eheim yet and am thinking of getting a betta for it. But the betta that I used to have didn't do well in the current of a 5 gallon corner Eclipse and so I didn't use a filter. I'm hoping to run this tank with a filter, so if it's too hard on a long-finned betta, maybe I'll get a female? Mine is 6 gallons, probably the same filter though.


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## Atom

It is the same filter. My vals reach the water surface and quite a bit is placed in front of the filter so it breaks up the current. He seems to be doing fine for now. He likes to sit in the grass to rest. Not sure it is because of the current or because he is just lazy. 
Since you have the 6 with the same filter it might have calmer areas than mine. A female might be a good idea. AW had some nice white females.


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## InfraredDream

The exact same thing happened to my cray a couple of months ago. I had him/her in the same tank and same conditions for more than an year, so I would expect everything was OK. I think he struggled with the molt as the beginning was the normal "odd" molting and then he got worse and died. But it was not looking like the "skin" was getting out or something. I felt pretty bad back then trying to figure out what happened so suddenly to lose this cute cray. 
I am very sorry you lost yours  Can't really help with anything, just wanted to say you are not alone in that puzzle.


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## Morainy

Hi Milena and Atom, after reading the info about crayfish that I posted here for Atom earlier, I'm wondering if we're supposed to be supplementing with iodine. I don't do that at all. Not even sure how to go about doing that. I guess I should make this question its own thread. But, I am a little worried about my crayfish now and wondering if I should add something more to its water. But, what?


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## InfraredDream

I don't know, Maureen. I did not have time to read about it back then, but it makes sense the reason to something that cause issues in a long run. I had mine since he was a baby, so I know for a fact there were no issues with molding and growing, etc. One thing that was not right is that being a self-cloning one, he (ok, she) produced eggs a couple of time and ate them both times, which might mean something was wrong that she felt she can't keep them. Not sure if that helps at all, but it might mean something.
I was too sad to lose it to consider getting a new one, so I did not read further.
It was a lovely creature to keep and watch growing.


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## ilam

their lifespan in captivity is only 2 years anyways so it might've been natural causes


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## Atom

Mine was pretty small when I got him so I think he had a few good years left. I'm beginning to wonder if the lace rock in his tank is doing something to the water. I don't supplement iodine either.

Mine has molted several times before with no issues. When he died it didn't look like he was in the process of molting.


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## InfraredDream

Same here. Mine was a baby and had molted many times and grew so much. So I don't think it was time for him to die.


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## Morainy

I have the same lace rock and my fish and shrimp and plants seem to be thriving, but I don't have crayfish in there with them. I had my crayfish in with lava rock, though, and they liked that.


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