Feelin crabby today

[christyf5]

OK, so some of you know that I've been having problems with the tank lately (so what else is knew? ) but surprisingly enough, these aren't algae problems. I've had disappearing zoos, bases of acros eaten away, the occasional snail shell. So I chalked it up to a rogue crab and did an interceptor treatment. I killed a crab, not sure what kind it was but chalk it up to Christy 1 Reef 0. Time went by, acros recovered their bases, zoos slightly recovered in some areas yet dwindled in others. No more snail deaths.

Then this week I was doing a water change and noticed 3 different "rubble piles" we're not talking boulders here but someone was definitely doing some construction work on the rock, little bits and pieces chipped away. I also found 3 more snail shells (I didn't realize I even had that many snails) and one of my acros seemed to be "receeding" even more, A zoo rock that must have had at least 500 zoos on it at one time currently has about 5. Ok, Another crab. *sigh* Another interceptor treatment *sigh*. Dang I've been going through the salt lately!

I had purchased some rock a few weeks ago, I figured it must have hitchhiked in on that. I've seen a few moults around, a 2cm carapace, a little claw. How could such a small crab, or a couple of small crabs do such damage? They must be danged determined.

So today, another interceptor treatment (thank god the pills come in packs of 6 ). At the end of the treatment I come home thinking, score another one for me, yet there are no bodies lounging about the bottom of the tank. I see yet another claw, bigger than the others but thats about it. I'm scouting around the tank bottom with nothing to see. As I prowl around the tank I take a look at the end view and see this:



I take it interceptor only kills little weeny acro crabs, not monsters of this size Yep thats a full grown astrea shell next to it

I won't repeat what I said here. But its pretty much the equivalent to what one might say when they find a giant wolf spider less than 2 feet away from them

Then I laughed. How did I think a tiny little crab could possibly do the damage that was going on in my tank? How could I possibly have missed that giant mofo crab? How the heck did it get in there in the first place? How was I going to get it the heck out of there?

Removal was fun. I didn't want to even get near it (bad childhood episode with a crab, plus the big ones creep me out unless they're on my dinner plate). And of course it was also an ordeal involving removal of the lighting hood, taking my puzzle of rock apart to remove the giant 15lb rock it was attached to (and snacking on yet another snail I might add).

After all was said and done, here he is in all his glory:



And his lovely claws:



I look forward to my zoos returning, acros flourishing and my rock remaining intact.

On a brighter note, having the tank apart gave me a chance to grout out some snail shells and put some more rock in

Yet another fun day in the life of my reef

[Chin_Lee]

Holy MOFO. Thats a big crab. I'm surprised that thing's been in your tank un-noticed for such a long time. I think they know they are not wanted so they just lurk......

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Sauteed with some ginger & garlic is the best way to serve that crab. On a brighter note, that is a pretty crab for a reef killer.

Anthony

[Beverly]

Great catch, Christy Glad you found the snail eating crab

I have a question about interceptor. What does it kill? What desireable critters do you have to remove from your tank so it kill only the non-desirables?

Am having what I think is a oenone worm problem in my 37g and 120g. If you've seen the last video in my crab video thread, you will get the gist of what's going on, at least in the 120g. Baited my 37g last night, and found a worm snacking on the bait at about 4 am this morning. When I removed the bait this morning, there was the same slime on the 37g bait as there was on the 120g bait.

Anyway, if you could let me know more about the use of Interceptor, I'd much appreciate it

[christyf5]

Chin - I KNOW!! Talk about unreal! I mean its kind of hard to miss. He was actually tucked up under a rock, I have no idea how he got around but I would imagine it was at night under cover of darkness. He has to have been in there for quite awhile because there is NO WAY I could have possibly missed that hitchhiker coming in on a rock or coral. His red eyes and black tipped claws are a dead giveaway. This certainly explains the movement and displacement of many corals and such, I thought it was my urchin

Anthony - yeah it looks pretty enough in the photos but quite frankly it gives me the willies and ain't gettin anywhere near me, let alone a plate

Beverly - Ideally interceptor kills red acropora bugs, however there are some side effects to the treatment in that many copepods and acro crabs bite it as well. So far, I've noted that interceptor does not kill all copepods (my tank has plenty and I've been quite liberal with the interceptor treatments lately), nor does it kill hermit crabs or large MOFO crabs like this one. Even at 3x the dose (suggested by Dustin Dorton) which is what I used this time (I was very determined ). Before treating my tank, I remove all acro crabs (conveniently housed in easy-to-remove acro colonies ) and put them in my refugium which I take off-line (I don't have red bugs so why kill all the pods?). They stay in there until after I've completed the treatment, the requisite 25% water change and addition of carbon to the system.

As far as I know, Interceptor does not affect worms (at least the worm population in my tank is steady as usual). There is another product called Panacur that I think kills worms, but I have a feeling its for hydroids only.

[Delphinus]

Holey wow Glad to see you caught the bugger!

[Beverly]

Thank you for the info, Christy

[Mykiss]

hhmmm....I'm also missing a few little animals....I wonder it's also my crab too! LOL I only catch glimpses of it now and then...always hiding

[Ruth]

I HATE ALL CRABS THAT ARE NOT ON MY PLATE WITH GARLIC BUTTER TO DIP IT IN!!! I have a few of the buggers lurking in my 190 still and while I am slowly winning the war they are winning the occassional battle. Did I say I hate crabs?

[Delphinus]

I find little molts all the time in my ritteri cube. All the friggin' time. I know there is one big one in there with these massive black claws. Body is about 1" and the claws easily 1.5". I'll have to try to catch a picture of it one day, it's very quick to disappear if it's noticed so might be a tall trick to try that. I guess I now know where all my zoos went. My question is, how do they know which ones you spent the most money on, or the ones that are otherwise more rare than the others?

30" tall tank with a 20" anemone at the top of the rocks -- unless I get real lucky and he hides in a peripheral rock, removing rock isn't an option. Guess I'll have to explore alternative means. Disappointing to hear Interceptor won't work. I guess it's time to start designing a wee little crab trap.

Stupid crabs, what I don't get is how many there seem to be (the shells I see every week are always different sizes .. sometimes small sometimes big .. and different shapes too). I could be looking at at least 6 of them. I looked over every rock when I put it in, there was nothing to be seen. Stealthy little buggers!