Death Smell... now what?

This is where you discuss the conditions of your crabitat -- temperature, humidity, substrate, decorating, etc.

larraho
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Re: Death Smell... now what?

Post by larraho » Thu Oct 31, 2019 7:43 pm

Seconding Moe2076s comment - super interested in this mystery! Please keep letting us know what’s going on.


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Kydra
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Location: NJ

Re: Death Smell... now what?

Post by Kydra » Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:13 pm

Moe2076 wrote:
Thu Oct 31, 2019 5:45 pm
Thank you for your post and your update! We are out here reading even if we don't post and next time someone else has this problem they can see what you went through.

I'm not an electrician, but I had an outlet in my office that had a wire that came loose and burning the plastic outlet cover. From the outside it looked fine, but underneath the cover plate we could see the wire was loose. If you are trying to rule out your outlet it might not be a bad idea to take the face plate off and give it a look.

Good luck! Let us know what it is when you find it and how you resolved it.
Thanks! Glad my problems are helping out lol. Seriously though, I have continued posting as I know there are many that read without posting (I did for a while myself) so will definitely update. Planning on taking all of the face plates off in that room tomorrow then will go from there.


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Kydra
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Re: Death Smell... now what?

Post by Kydra » Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:15 pm

larraho wrote:
Thu Oct 31, 2019 7:43 pm
Seconding Moe2076s comment - super interested in this mystery! Please keep letting us know what’s going on.
Will do! 👍👍


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Kydra
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Re: Death Smell... now what?

Post by Kydra » Fri Nov 01, 2019 6:15 pm

What a week of events. Had to move the tank and, unfortunately, I have yet to see the one that buried so will be watching the wyze off and on tonight hoping to see all 3. Heaters finally plugged back in and I gave them a boiled egg and grapes which usually brings em all out esp with the dried food they've been getting because of work and this incident.

So... we had storms last night that knocked ALL of our power out until the morning. Finally fell asleep late and we (family member and I) removed all outlet covers with everything looking perfectly fine. Went to Home Depot and bought a power strip with surge protector/auto shut off, etc. Everything currently plugged into a previously unused outlet with power strip.

I'm leaving tomorrow (we'll see though on that) and will be back either Sunday night or late after work Monday night. I know, not too much of an update, but that's where we are right now with the smell currently gone.

I wanted to have both UTHs plugged in along with wyze for tonight so I can assess tomorrow to see if that smell comes back or not. This isn't resolved completely at the moment, but hopefully temporary keeping things safe and the crabs warm.

I will continue to update as things progress.


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Kydra
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Re: Death Smell... now what?

Post by Kydra » Fri Nov 15, 2019 1:51 am

I have yet to update this as there's not much going on. Neither my dad or myself are electricians, but outlets all looked fine when removed as mentioned and still have everything plugged into a different outlet using a fairly expensive strip with auto protection and all built in.

I've been waiting as since the bacterial blooms then this, I am still missing a crab (great time to molt, right? lol). At least I am hoping this guy is molting and doing well just haven't seen at all since. Shell along with the little guy has been missing so not trying to move the tank more than I already have and have heat plugged in... so just waiting.

Going to have a neighbor take a look (retired electrician) soon, but still have in the back of my mind that the poor guy may not have made it. We'll see and I will update when I do have some more useful information.

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scuttlecrusty22
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Re: Death Smell... now what?

Post by scuttlecrusty22 » Mon Nov 18, 2019 7:40 am

Good Luck!!!
(Scuttle, Crusty) crabs, (Buster,Ruby) chihuahuas, (Bugs) goat, (Echo) betta fish (Skittles,Sky) parakeets

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life"


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Kydra
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Re: Death Smell... now what?

Post by Kydra » Tue Nov 19, 2019 2:26 pm

Thanks! This is kinda unrelated, but still between this post and the bacterial blooms, I have been way overthinking things.

I believe, after reading through this and my BB posts, my original guy was trying to molt in the nasty. I setup the 20G L with 50/50 EE/PS post-BB. He was buried and based on the timeline between the two original posts, it was a few days before Halloween.

I just upgraded to two awesome pools for them. While digging, I noticed too much dry sand just flowing in from the top or so (I was very hesitant to add much water after the soggy foul mess in two tanks) and believe he's buried somewhere on the other side of the tank with no view though.

I added water to the corners and sides a bit, but now thinking if he was desp to molt, maybe it was OK at first then dry = collapse. Not sure why (lol), but it still holds the chopstick test although I may have to try that in a different area.

Just kinda doomy and gloomy right now thinking meh. I've really upgraded as much as I could without disturbing the substrate anymore and was looking forward to him trying the hamster wheel, the catappa leaves, new food, 20+ shells, new pools... oh and the moss.

Hopefully this works out. I know this is terrible, but thinking will just reassess around Thanksgiving whether I dig or not (someone stop me). Could be a dacaying crab somewhere in the substrate = not good and I'd be pretty bummed.

OTOH, another group says dry substrate is perfectly fine for molting as long as humidity is WNL. This was more barely sandcastle to dry top, some spraying, now adding some water so, again, trial and error.

Will update RE Kraken (pretty sure it's him) as well as the electricity when get to that. Just been using the power strip and no dead fish smell since.


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Kydra
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Re: Death Smell... now what?

Post by Kydra » Sun Nov 24, 2019 1:32 am

Just going to update this RE my prior post. I sprayed the top of the substrate as it was dry. Between two days I realized I had used the entire spray bottle re-moistening the top inch or so which is 20 ounces of freshwater in a 20G long.

Now, I'm back to the top of the sub drying out again! Still have my one crab that has been buried since right after sub change from bacterial bloom and death smell incident. I really don't know why the top is just drying out so fast. I will dig down in a corner to see how the it is deeper down. Humidity always 80-85ish with plastic wrap over all but one corner of the screen lid.

Any thoughts? Humidity outside the tank is usually 30-40% if that matters. Thanks!

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Hermiesguardian
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Re: Death Smell... now what?

Post by Hermiesguardian » Sun Nov 24, 2019 1:35 am

Kydra wrote:
Sun Nov 24, 2019 1:32 am
Just going to update this RE my prior post. I sprayed the top of the substrate as it was dry. Between two days I realized I had used the entire spray bottle re-moistening the top inch or so which is 20 ounces of freshwater in a 20G long.

Now, I'm back to the top of the sub drying out again! Still have my one crab that has been buried since right after sub change from bacterial bloom and death smell incident. I really don't know why the top is just drying out so fast. I will dig down in a corner to see how the it is deeper down. Humidity always 80-85ish with plastic wrap over all but one corner of the screen lid.

Any thoughts? Humidity outside the tank is usually 30-40% if that matters. Thanks!
Do you have digital therm/hygro? You can seal the entire lid. They won't suffocate.
raising son's dog, Dante. Husky/hound.
Raising daughter's hermit crabs, Shelder, Paras and Derek. Added 2 more of my own (of course) Pete and Stryper. Former mommy to 2 guinea pigs and beloved cat, Nissi


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Kydra
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Re: Death Smell... now what?

Post by Kydra » Mon Nov 25, 2019 1:03 am

Hermiesguardian wrote:
Sun Nov 24, 2019 1:35 am
Do you have digital therm/hygro? You can seal the entire lid. They won't suffocate.
I have a corner open as mentioned mostly to keep the humidity down; I guess I could seal the entire screen. The humidity has always been relatively high in the tank and will shoot up to 90+ (at least it did before when covered was stuck at 99%). Guess you are thinking moisture is just escaping from that corner? Just seems like a lot to me. This has been the one thing that no matter how much information I have, just can't seem to get it right!

I do have an accurite as was recommended here as well as a digital pair bought on Amazon prior to really reading so much on here. If I put the other digital next to the accurite, I get the same reading on all 3 give or take a few humidity percentages. I like having the 24hour highs/lows though and it's nice to see the temp/humidity outside of the tank just knowing how much heat I'm getting from the UTHs I'm using and all.

I have off tomorrow so will dig down in a spot. Already did the straw test and still holds with no pooling. Just 🙏 for the molter to come up healthy so I can remix the substrate soon. Thanks for the feedback!


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Kydra
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Re: Death Smell... now what?

Post by Kydra » Fri Nov 29, 2019 2:04 am

Well... as not advised typically... given all the circumstances here... I placed the crabs up in a temp tank and shortly l slowly went through a bunch of dry sand looking for the molter. A small guy after about a month or so.

I found him at the very bottom close to a corner. He had molted and ate his exo. I mixed all of the substrate to sandcastle consistency. All crabs are now together. I really got lucky with Kraken! He's doing well eating and drinking.

For Thanksgiving I cut up some carrots, apples, dried banana, THCP surf and turf with dried shrimp and crushed oyster shells then headed to work. Having my Thanksgiving shortly after working all evening/night!

All is well at the moment. I appreciate all of the help and feedback here. I'm still kinda stumped as to the death smell, but thought I'd update one last time here. If something relevant comes up RE why I had that smell I will post. Again, so glad to have the help and assistance of everyone here. Thank you again!

Also, so glad my buddies are all doing well! After remixing the sub, humidity is back +90 percent with condensation even with the open corner. All is fine though as even the molter is doing well eating/drinking and with the others.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!!! 👍👍

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