Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i work for a pet store, and lately every time we get in a shipment of crabs, they are fine in the bags they arrived in, but the instant they touch the new tank water, they freeze up and die. sometimes they twitch around until theyve lost a few legs, and then die......lately ive been dripping them for about 2 hours, and they seem fine in the bucket....but again....the instant they enter the new tank, they seem to get paralyzed, and they always die! i dont know what the heck is going on...this never used to happen. it happens with arrow crabs, emerald crabs, anamone crabs, cleaner shrimp, coral banded shrimp....you get the picture. i would like ANY suggestions.

You mean you acclimate them for 2 hours? Invertebrates are very sensitive to even the slightest bit of water quality changes. If it's possible, I would acclimate them for the 2 hours, leave them in there overnight and another 2 hour acclimation period. Then try. That's the best advice I have for you at the moment.
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Phishie
Site Coordinator

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

having been a petco employee for the past 6 years,(dont work for them anymore) i ran into this same exact problem. it was very confusing... sorry- but the overnight suggestion simply isnt an option when youre working for a corporate store. basically what i ended up doing was extra care on the system...made sure everything was the way it was supposed to be, and the crabs started living. its more than likely a water quality issue.

wow so i just realized that i responded to my own post from 2 years ago thinking it was someone else having a problem i once had. .....i feel dumb.

Look at it this way, at least you posted what the issue was in case someone else DOES encounter this same problem... lots of times people do check the other posts. Thank you for posting.