DEAD SALLY LIGHTFOOT

[Diane Pearson]

I had a Sally Lightfoot Crab for 9 months. I purchased her when my tank was
3 weeks old. At that time, my tank had a lot of green hair algae. The only
algae that I have now is the stuff that forms on the sides of my tank. My
problem is that this morning she died. I was doing my weekly maintenance
which includes a 5% water change with R/O water. I was cleaning algae off
the back of the tank glass and moved my filter so that I could clean behind
it. Sally was hanging on the filter and moved when I started moving the
filter. When I was finished with the maintenance, I found her laying on her
back. Everything else in my tank (55 gal.) is happy. I've seen Sally
aggressively catch flakes of food and brine shrimp in the past, but I'm
wondering why she died. Could it have been from a lack of algae? My
salinity was a little high when I started the maintenance, so the water that
I used for the change was a little low, nothing drastic. If it wasn't the
food, could that have caused her death? My hermit crabs, Yellow Tang,
Clown, two Gobies, two Cardinal fish and Coral Beauty Angel fish are doing
fine. I just purchased the Coral Beauty yesterday along with several new
corals. I feel like my tank won't be the same without Sally, but I don't
want to purchase another one if I did something to cause her death. Sally
molted twice since I had her. I put 7 - 8 drops of iodine in my tank every
morning.

[Marc Levenson]

Perhaps Sally had just molted when you got in there, and the shell was soft.
That leaves any crab open to attack and pretty defenseless.

It could be coincidence, but from what you've described, I don't believe it was
something you did wrong specifically. I'd get another one if you like them.
They do find other things to eat when the algae is under control, plus you
pointed out that Sally ate prepared foods that you provided.

Marc


Diane Pearson wrote:

> I had a Sally Lightfoot Crab for 9 months. I purchased her when my tank was
> 3 weeks old. At that time, my tank had a lot of green hair algae. The only
> algae that I have now is the stuff that forms on the sides of my tank. My
> problem is that this morning she died. I was doing my weekly maintenance
> which includes a 5% water change with R/O water. I was cleaning algae off
> the back of the tank glass and moved my filter so that I could clean behind
> it. Sally was hanging on the filter and moved when I started moving the
> filter. When I was finished with the maintenance, I found her laying on her
> back. Everything else in my tank (55 gal.) is happy. I've seen Sally
> aggressively catch flakes of food and brine shrimp in the past, but I'm
> wondering why she died. Could it have been from a lack of algae? My
> salinity was a little high when I started the maintenance, so the water that
> I used for the change was a little low, nothing drastic. If it wasn't the
> food, could that have caused her death? My hermit crabs, Yellow Tang,
> Clown, two Gobies, two Cardinal fish and Coral Beauty Angel fish are doing
> fine. I just purchased the Coral Beauty yesterday along with several new
> corals. I feel like my tank won't be the same without Sally, but I don't
> want to purchase another one if I did something to cause her death. Sally
> molted twice since I had her. I put 7 - 8 drops of iodine in my tank every
> morning.

--
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Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
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[Mort]

I remember reading something bad about Sally Lightfoot. I cant rememeber
what it was, maybe they get to be too big? Anyway, after finally seeing at
an LFS I really wanted to get it. What a cool looking crab! Thoughts?

~Mort

[Marc Levenson]

Mort, if you'll check Reef Central with the search routine, the jury is out with
6 'for' and 6 'against' .... they are fine for a while, but become a problem as
they mature. I had one but didn't take the risk and put it in my sump.

Never saw it again.

Marc


Mort wrote:

> I remember reading something bad about Sally Lightfoot. I cant rememeber
> what it was, maybe they get to be too big? Anyway, after finally seeing at
> an LFS I really wanted to get it. What a cool looking crab! Thoughts?
>
> ~Mort

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[ray]

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 01:00:02 GMT, "Mort" > wrote:

>I remember reading something bad about Sally Lightfoot. I cant rememeber
>what it was, maybe they get to be too big? Anyway, after finally seeing at
>an LFS I really wanted to get it. What a cool looking crab! Thoughts?
>
>~Mort
>
>

I had one in my tank for about 10 minutes.. It's first port of call was to
forage on the sand eating wildly.. it's second port of call was to climb the
nearest bit of live rock and take several leaping swipes at my clownfish which
were dumb enough to poke their nose in and see who the newcomer was... i'd
say definately not fish safe when they get a bit bigger..

on the plus side, great colouration and speed..

mine went back to the LFS...

[mike and Linda]

Diane:
Firstly I would like to extend my sincere condolences to you. It is always
sad to say farewell to a pet. There is nothing I , or anyone else,can say
to make you feel better. Grieve as you must.

That said I believe that you should get another, perhaps call him Gordon
Lightfoot (Canadian pop musician).


"Diane Pearson" > wrote in message
. ..
> I had a Sally Lightfoot Crab for 9 months. I purchased her when my tank
was
> 3 weeks old. At that time, my tank had a lot of green hair algae. The
only
> algae that I have now is the stuff that forms on the sides of my tank. My
> problem is that this morning she died. I was doing my weekly maintenance
> which includes a 5% water change with R/O water. I was cleaning algae off
> the back of the tank glass and moved my filter so that I could clean
behind
> it. Sally was hanging on the filter and moved when I started moving the
> filter. When I was finished with the maintenance, I found her laying on
her
> back. Everything else in my tank (55 gal.) is happy. I've seen Sally
> aggressively catch flakes of food and brine shrimp in the past, but I'm
> wondering why she died. Could it have been from a lack of algae? My
> salinity was a little high when I started the maintenance, so the water
that
> I used for the change was a little low, nothing drastic. If it wasn't the
> food, could that have caused her death? My hermit crabs, Yellow Tang,
> Clown, two Gobies, two Cardinal fish and Coral Beauty Angel fish are doing
> fine. I just purchased the Coral Beauty yesterday along with several new
> corals. I feel like my tank won't be the same without Sally, but I don't
> want to purchase another one if I did something to cause her death. Sally
> molted twice since I had her. I put 7 - 8 drops of iodine in my tank
every
> morning.
>
>
>
>