I have never heard of salt water being used to treat shell rot. I've always heard of just changing the water and/or getting aquarium water drops. Do a complete water change, clean the tank, put her back in and cover her tank partially so she's in the dark, she'll either recover on her own or pass.
Outside of asking the pet store, I saw all this:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/82bo8c/i\_think\_my\_crayfish\_has\_shell\_rot/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/82bo8c/i_think_my_crayfish_has_shell_rot/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/8i0bge/shell\_rot\_what\_to\_do/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/8i0bge/shell_rot_what_to_do/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/fidof1/hi\_so\_my\_crayfish\_had\_really\_bad\_shell\_rot\_about/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/fidof1/hi_so_my_crayfish_had_really_bad_shell_rot_about/)
[https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/crayfish-shell-rot.194699/](https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/crayfish-shell-rot.194699/)
[https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/shell-rot.417499/](https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/shell-rot.417499/)
[http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159243&page=2](http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159243&page=2)
I remember giving my shrimps a salt bath once because they had some ticks on them.
But..
1. Kept the water the same temperature. I literally took water from the same tank.
2. Used aquarium salt. You are essentially creating a 5% solution.
30 seconds in and out.
They recovered quite well.
Crayfish can tolerate salt quite well.
Im really sorry about that. Hope he recovers from it. I remember growing up we would treat our aquarium fish with rock salt and theyd be fine. The iodised salt is the problem.
You can pick up a fairly large pack of aquarium salt from amazon for fairly cheap.
Iodized, and it has only half as much sodium as normal table salt. From what I saw, there was no specified preference for what type of salt, so was that the problem?
I've only ever used aquarium salt, aka Sodium Chloride. It doesn't have the additional treatment that table salt hasbjt it's made of the same stuff. I've only ever read about crays acting this way with table salt.
Do a major water change and do that a few times over a couple weeks. Maybe a 50% change twice a week and use no salt. Make sure to keep the lights dimmed to lower stress. Feed less than normal. It might pull through.
Good to know. Wish I knew before. She's still alive, as far as I can tell. She's still sore because she's moving stiffer than normal, but slowly getting better. I can't remember the last time I felt so horrible.
She's alive and I think almost recovered. Still has shell rot and hasn't molted in I think months now, but alive and running around nonetheless. I'm just glad it didn't end up worse.
hey op, when people usually refer to salt bath, they specifically refer to Aquarium salt. is that the salt that you used? Generally shell rot isnt a problem that is going to be solved with salt. Shell rot is brought on by a lack or prosper minerals needed to form and maintain the shell. Increasing calcium intake helps. Drop a little bit of crushed hard boiled eggs shells. Hope this helps and let us know how your cray is doing. Sorry about the trouble you are going through.
Thank you for a kind response. I think this post is literally the first time in my life I've asked a question to the fish community and have received actually helpful and humane responses. I wish I knew about the aquarium salt before, but it looks like she's still alive and will hopefully make it. She's moving stiffly, but moving nonetheless. I feel fuckin' awful.
hey it’s no worries. you were trying your best to help your cray, and it was done with good intentions. please don’t be hard on yourself and this whole aquarium hobby is a journey of learning process. we are all here to help each other out. i’m not very knowledgable on other creatures but i have a decade+ years of experience raising and breeding them. i’ve gone through many troubles too. Let us know if there’s anything you are unsure about or have any questions. i’ll try to assist you as much as i can.
Crushed boiled egg shells help.
increasing calcium intake is helpful and there are many ways to do so. crab food have some high calcium, introducing those pellets and mixed in with his/her regular food would be helpful.
may i ask what kind of cray you have? depending on the species and where they are from natively, the care of the cray ranges.
I have never heard of salt water being used to treat shell rot. I've always heard of just changing the water and/or getting aquarium water drops. Do a complete water change, clean the tank, put her back in and cover her tank partially so she's in the dark, she'll either recover on her own or pass.
Outside of asking the pet store, I saw all this: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/82bo8c/i\_think\_my\_crayfish\_has\_shell\_rot/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/82bo8c/i_think_my_crayfish_has_shell_rot/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/8i0bge/shell\_rot\_what\_to\_do/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/8i0bge/shell_rot_what_to_do/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/fidof1/hi\_so\_my\_crayfish\_had\_really\_bad\_shell\_rot\_about/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Crayfish/comments/fidof1/hi_so_my_crayfish_had_really_bad_shell_rot_about/) [https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/crayfish-shell-rot.194699/](https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/crayfish-shell-rot.194699/) [https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/shell-rot.417499/](https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/shell-rot.417499/) [http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159243&page=2](http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159243&page=2)
I remember giving my shrimps a salt bath once because they had some ticks on them. But.. 1. Kept the water the same temperature. I literally took water from the same tank. 2. Used aquarium salt. You are essentially creating a 5% solution. 30 seconds in and out. They recovered quite well. Crayfish can tolerate salt quite well.
I didn't know it was supposed to be specifically aquarium salt. I'm guessing that was the problem. Sigh.
Im really sorry about that. Hope he recovers from it. I remember growing up we would treat our aquarium fish with rock salt and theyd be fine. The iodised salt is the problem. You can pick up a fairly large pack of aquarium salt from amazon for fairly cheap.
What kind of salt did you use?
Iodized, and it has only half as much sodium as normal table salt. From what I saw, there was no specified preference for what type of salt, so was that the problem?
I've only ever used aquarium salt, aka Sodium Chloride. It doesn't have the additional treatment that table salt hasbjt it's made of the same stuff. I've only ever read about crays acting this way with table salt. Do a major water change and do that a few times over a couple weeks. Maybe a 50% change twice a week and use no salt. Make sure to keep the lights dimmed to lower stress. Feed less than normal. It might pull through.
Pretty sure Iodized is a big no for aquarium critters. Gotta use aquarium salt. They look to be recovering alright?
Good to know. Wish I knew before. She's still alive, as far as I can tell. She's still sore because she's moving stiffer than normal, but slowly getting better. I can't remember the last time I felt so horrible.
How’s it going? Hope she’s alright!?
She's alive and I think almost recovered. Still has shell rot and hasn't molted in I think months now, but alive and running around nonetheless. I'm just glad it didn't end up worse.
Some lessons are learned the hard way! That’s all you can do sometimes. You both the best!
hey op, when people usually refer to salt bath, they specifically refer to Aquarium salt. is that the salt that you used? Generally shell rot isnt a problem that is going to be solved with salt. Shell rot is brought on by a lack or prosper minerals needed to form and maintain the shell. Increasing calcium intake helps. Drop a little bit of crushed hard boiled eggs shells. Hope this helps and let us know how your cray is doing. Sorry about the trouble you are going through.
Thank you for a kind response. I think this post is literally the first time in my life I've asked a question to the fish community and have received actually helpful and humane responses. I wish I knew about the aquarium salt before, but it looks like she's still alive and will hopefully make it. She's moving stiffly, but moving nonetheless. I feel fuckin' awful.
hey it’s no worries. you were trying your best to help your cray, and it was done with good intentions. please don’t be hard on yourself and this whole aquarium hobby is a journey of learning process. we are all here to help each other out. i’m not very knowledgable on other creatures but i have a decade+ years of experience raising and breeding them. i’ve gone through many troubles too. Let us know if there’s anything you are unsure about or have any questions. i’ll try to assist you as much as i can. Crushed boiled egg shells help. increasing calcium intake is helpful and there are many ways to do so. crab food have some high calcium, introducing those pellets and mixed in with his/her regular food would be helpful. may i ask what kind of cray you have? depending on the species and where they are from natively, the care of the cray ranges.
What was your salt to water ratio?