Pompom crab

[FishyReef]

Found my pompom crab dead yesterday - with all that happened last week in my tiny tank I'm not all that surprised. I'm fairly certain it did in fact died and wasn't just a molt I found - I pried open part of the skeleton and it looked like there was meat attached to the edges, though the legs looked hallow. I didn't find any snails near it though, so there is a very tiny part of me that is hopeful it maybe molted. I also didn't find the anemones it was holding. My question - if it did die, and the nems died, do I need to worry about their impact on my 10g? Or are they small enough that they won't harm anything?

 

[ErinCahir]

Don't worry about the nems. They shouldn't cause any harm to your tank.

 

[FishyReef]

Thanks Erin!

 

[dixiegirl21191]

Poor pom pom :( I'm sorry

 

[PoppyhinNC]

Hm don't give up on him yet! He may have just molted If the legs were hollow, was it an intact molt??all one piece?? or a part of one?? He may be hiding somewere, I hope he is just hiding out after a molt, they are so tiny and good hiders, I only see mine once every 3 weeks or so

 

[little_fish]

I'm sorry to hear this :(

 

[FishyReef]

Hm don't give up on him yet! He may have just molted If the legs were hollow, was it an intact molt??all one piece?? or a part of one?? He may be hiding somewere, I hope he is just hiding out after a molt, they are so tiny and good hiders, I only see mine once every 3 weeks or so

It was intact. I pulled apart the "head" piece and there was some meat in it near the place where the remains connected together, so I don't think it was a molt.

I've got to call LA tonight and report it. I'm also going to report that one of my sexy shrimp didn't make it - I've only been able to count 3 at any given time for the last several days. Oh, and the feather duster hasn't come out of its tube in well over a week. This sucks - this has been such a bad order, and I'm certain its all because of the stupid brittlestar.

 

[PoppyhinNC]

I hope they make it right for you:) Im sorry about your little critters, Tube worm may be dead too, I hate to say it but smell it, see if it smells rotton and get rid of it if its smelly, It will only add to your problems

 

[FishyReef]

So a little good news - after lights went out last night I spent some time peering around in the tank and found the 4th sexy shrimp! He's substantially bigger than the other 3, and must be nocturnal because I never see him during the day. I think the only other time I counted all 4 simultaneously was also after lights had gone out. No sign of the pompom though. I'm calling today and going to ask them to extend the warranty for both the pompom and feather duster - that will give another week for the pompom to come out if it did in fact just molt, and another week for the feather duster.

In other good news, my red and green brain is happily extending feeding tentacles again :)

 

[FishyReef]

Tube worm may be dead too, I hate to say it but smell it, see if it smells rotton and get rid of it if its smelly, It will only add to your problems

Okay, for what its worth, this wasn't the best idea. I took my new fish home and acclimated it to the tank. After I put it in and was watching the tank, I noticed two nassarius snails poking around near the feather duster, so I decided to go ahead and pull it. Well, turns out that the worm had buried itself deep under the rocky ledge I'd put it near and was in the process of building a very long new tube, attached to the one it arrived in. I pulled out probably an 8" tube made largely of black sand, and unfortuanetly dislodged the worm in the process, destroyed its new tube, and pulled over half of the worm out of its tube. It was still alive, twitching in my hand, probably wondering what the heck happened. I ended up putting the worm and sad remains of the tube it had built back into the tank in the same location, but had to kind of curl the destroyed tube up on itself, and just propped up the worm with some rocks. Most of the worm no longer has a tube and of course will more than likely die now. Nassarius snails were already going for it when I left, and the poor worm was twitching whenever the snails would get on it. I don't think it was dying before, I just think the snails were going after a part of its tube it was no longer using. But now I've likely murdered it. I guess this is not an experiment I would recommend trying again!

 

[FishyReef]

Guess who came out and made an appearance tonight?? Pompom crab!! He wasn't dead after all and it was just a molt! Now if I can save my firefish from a seemingly imminent death I might actually feel like I can turn this tiny tank around!

 

[dixiegirl21191]

Yippee! so glad he's alive! So sorry to hear about all of your losses. I hope you and your tank can pull through this!

 

[PoppyhinNC]

Oh thats wonderful news!!!!!!!! Maybee is a Zombie Pom Pom?/ LOL Welcome back little Pom Pom! Mine does the same, dissapears for weeks at a time after a molt, right now my Anemone crab has gone missing, I think he is dead, altho all I found was a hollow brown and white shell:(