Crab lost a claw after molting

don103 · 01/05/2007, 06:11 PM

My purple porcelain crab lost a pincer/claw after he molted.Is this a common occurance?I read somewhere you have to add iodine to help with crab molts,any opinions.I've had some of my other crabs molt with no problems so I was hoping this was just a chance happening.

bertoni · 01/05/2007, 07:08 PM

Dissolved iodine is not helpful to crabs. The chemistry forum has articles on this topic. Problems with molting aren't that uncommon. Crabs also are vulnerable to attack when freshly-molted, so perhaps that's what happened. The claw should regrow.

01/05/2007, 06:11 PM	#1
don103 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Lititz, Pa. Posts: 53	Crab lost a claw after molting My purple porcelain crab lost a pincer/claw after he molted.Is this a common occurance?I read somewhere you have to add iodine to help with crab molts,any opinions.I've had some of my other crabs molt with no problems so I was hoping this was just a chance happening.

01/05/2007, 07:08 PM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Dissolved iodine is not helpful to crabs. The chemistry forum has articles on this topic. Problems with molting aren't that uncommon. Crabs also are vulnerable to attack when freshly-molted, so perhaps that's what happened. The claw should regrow. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni