Purple Lobster... dead or molted?

[SLove1104]

OK, I bought a purple lobster a few days ago and once he found some caves in the rocks, he did his little disappearing trick and I figured I'd eventually see him once he gets accustomed to the tank...

Well a few days passed and I hadn't seen him so I decided to look harder. I didn't go in the tank and move rocks, but just looked closely all around the tank behind the rocks (from the outside) and I finally found "pieces" of him... Now... I have a peppermint shrimp and when it molts, he molts one piece and it's obvious it's just a shell. But the lobster pieces were different. There was one piece of the body, and the two big claws... When they molt, do they lose their claws too? I'm afraid to know the answer, because I think not...

The inhabitants of that tank are a yellowtail damsel (which I think is probably the culprit), a peppermint shrimp, and a pompom crab. Could any of these have killed him?

Oh and I should add, the casing of my peppermint is usually clearish... But the casing I found of the lobster was it's original purple color... It seriously seemed to me that it was the lobster itself and not the casing from a molt... cuz there was no meat inside... Could have been eaten by worms or something already though. :(

[laffinlin]

It may have just molted. I have a purple lobster in my sump and I also thought it was dead. Took out my skimmer to retrieve him but he was all fine and dandy. His molt was in two pieces.

[SLove1104]

Did you also find claws??? Cuz I did... that's what got me thinking he's dead. When my peppermint molts it's more obvious because he doesn't have big huge claws, but the lobster does so it's hard to tell if it's part of the molt...

[mndfreeze]

My porcelain crab molts in pieces, seperate claws, etc. Technically its related to lobsters and not crabs...

My pom pom molts in one piece.

Also, EVERY invert I have added to my tank molts within a few days of going in it seems. Not sure if thats good or bad but it happens. Except my sexy shrimp.

[a.stebel]

When my purple molted, the molt had claws. I added my purple about 5 months ago, seen his molt once and him once at 4am with a flash light.

[Elysia]

I agree w/ mndfreeze -- IME crabs and shrimp often molt w/ a change in water params, whether that is a large water change or being switched into a new system. Also, if you did not find the molt right away, it may have started to break down into pieces; you really don't know if the molt originally had the claws attached to the body or not.

At least some of the muscle of the animal will still be in the shell if the animal died recently; if there are no traces of the animal at all, it is more than likely a molt.

[Mitchwales]

Hope it's just a molt!

Only thing worse than losing something in the tank, is losing it brand new..

[SLove1104]

Thanks guys... I did find my purple lobster in one piece and hiding in the rocks when I rockscaped this weekend... But my peppermint shrimp's nowhere to be seen. So I guess he was a victim to the new lobster. Darn. Oh well, still lovin my new addition...

[Adam_T]

Glad you found him. I've been wanting one of these bad boys for a few days now actually, but heard they like to snack on some other tank-mates a bit too often for my liking, haha.

[SLove1104]

Glad you found him. I've been wanting one of these bad boys for a few days now actually, but heard they like to snack on some other tank-mates a bit too often for my liking, haha.

Ya... that's why I put him in my very lightly stocked 10g nano... :) No way he's going in my 60 lol. I'm still trying to figure out right now what else I want to put in with him that won't be a snack... lol. So far right now it's only him and my pompom crab... No fish yet in that tank...