Ghost Crayfish Dragging his claw

[jpownall]

Hello everyone--

I have a ghost crayfish that I've had for about a year. He molted several times shortly after we bought him, so we upgraded his bowl to a 5 gallon tank around January. Since then, he hasn't molted. I wasn't really worried about it, but last night I noticed he was dragging his claw around. It's still attached, but he doesn't look like he can move it very much. When he tries to climb over some of the decorations in his tank, he kind of gets caught up on it and flips over. He ate yesterday, and seems to be moving around enough, but it just looks like he's having a problem dragging this big claw around. Could this be a sign he's about to molt? I never noticed him do this before, but he also had much less room at first, so it just may not have been as obvious. Do you think I should try to remove the claw if he continues to have trouble, or just let it be?

Thanks!

--Jess

[Mentat]

Crayfish has not started molting so can't say it's a bad molt. Would never pull a shellfish claw off (or any parts ).

What is your water management schedule? Can you check or take water sample to fish shop for testing? Would do pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and CA.

Are you feeding crayfish food high in calcium? If water low in CA could add some bagged aragonite to filter or tank. Good luck !

[jpownall]

Thanks for the reply Carlos! Unfortunately, Crayfish passed away on Thursday. He went downhill pretty quickly--he basically flopped over all of a sudden and although he was still alive for a day or so after that, he couldn't keep himself upright. I did a 1/3 water change in the hopes that it would help, and kept putting him back upright, but to no avail. I had brought home a water testing kit from work to test the conditions, but he was gone when I got home. I never realized how much I used to watch him, because I keep looking over at his empty tank.

I suppose the bright spot is that I now have a "vacancy" for a new animal.

[maxQ]

Thanks for the reply Carlos! Unfortunately, Crayfish passed away on Thursday.

I suppose the bright spot is that I now have a "vacancy" for a new animal.

Awweee I hate to hear about this, Im sorry.

But on a brighter side, i do love the anticipation of getting something new.




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[jpownall]

Well, I swore I wasn't going to get another crayfish--I was thinking more of a tarantula, maybe a small snake, a frog, some fish--but I wanted a change. I went into Petland "just to look" and saw a totally awesome orange zebra crayfish. He's coming home with me on Wednesday after the tank cycles, lol!

Thanks for the kind words!

[maxQ]

Well, I swore I wasn't going to get another crayfish--I was thinking more of a tarantula, maybe a small snake, a frog, some fish--but I wanted a change. I went into Petland "just to look" and saw a totally awesome orange zebra crayfish. He's coming home with me on Wednesday after the tank cycles, lol!

Thanks for the kind words!

Great ! Im excited for you, please post pictures when you get him home, id love to see him.


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[jpownall]

Hello all!

I introduced Crayfish to his new home yesterday, and he seems to be doing great! It's a 10 gallon tank and we thought 3 neon tetras would look cool in there with him. He promptly ate one, but the other two were still swimming around this morning. Here are a few pictures of my new addition!



I'm still sad (obviously) about my other crayfish, but happy to give this guy a new home. He seems to love his colorful bridge and his volcano bubbler.

Thanks for looking!
--Jess

[OrangeZebraCrayfish]

Hello all!

I introduced Crayfish to his new home yesterday, and he seems to be doing great! It's a 10 gallon tank and we thought 3 neon tetras would look cool in there with him. He promptly ate one, but the other two were still swimming around this morning. Here are a few pictures of my new addition!



I'm still sad (obviously) about my other crayfish, but happy to give this guy a new home. He seems to love his colorful bridge and his volcano bubbler.

Thanks for looking!
--Jess

Hello. Do you know the scientific name of your OrangeZebraCrayfish. I've been trying to find out but haven't been able to work out which one out of a few species was this one.

[spotfin]

Check Aquabid, there is one listed as a Neon Red Crayfish, it's probably in the Clarkii group. It looks similar to the picture above.

[Mentat]

Sorry about your crayfish death . Neon Tetras are delicate fish that should not be added to a newly cycled tank .

[jpownall]

Hello. Do you know the scientific name of your OrangeZebraCrayfish. I've been trying to find out but haven't been able to work out which one out of a few species was this one.

I think it may be Cambarellus patzcuarensis, according to a quick Google search anyway. I've had him over a year now, and he's doing great! He now shares his tank with two goldfish (that were originally made to be eaten, but he decided he didn't have a taste for goldfish), a topfin tetra, two black mollies, and a pleco.