Have you been in a situation whereby your pet crayfish stopped molting for many months?. You could be asking and trying to know the cause or causes. If you are reading this article, it means you have or had similar problem. So the important question here is, ‘why is my crayfish not Molting or stopped Molting?. We will discuss about it in this article.
Your crayfish might have stopped Molting because it’s too old and about to die, or it’s sick.
Molting is the process, whereby a crayfish shed off it’s old shell inorder to grow bigger. Every crayfish does this from time to time, which enables them to increase in height and size etc.
Related: 6 reasons Crayfish might die while molting
What about if it automatically stopped Molting for some months?
Well, it’s not proper or natural for a crayfish not to molt for months, unless there is a cause. Some common causes of this are:
Related: Can Guppies share a tank with Crayfish?
– Unsuitable water parameters: The water where your crayfish live in matters alot. Crayfish although are very tough/hard and do not easily get affected by things. But they reacts very well to unsuitable water and the environment.
Related: Do aquarium snails molt?
Things like nitrites or ammonia in their water is very bad and could have bad effects on them and might cause death or inability to molt successfully.
Also water pH and hardness could be the cause. That is why it is always advisable to regularly check their water parameters and do away with unsuitable water.
Related: Why do Crayfish lose their Claws?
– You cray is very old: The most commonest causes of this is, it is very old and about to die. Although this may sound very sad, but this is a normal thing for crayfish when they are about to die.
If your crayfish is very active and do Molt very normal when it was young and then stopped after it starts getting old, then know that it’s about to die.
Related: Hiw to know if Crayfish eggs are fertilized
Am not saying it will die sooner, sometimes it might take days, weeks and even months, but it will eventually die. It will stop eating alot, and might start being dull, it’s normal because it’s lifespan is out and it will die.
Sometimes when they get old and about to die, they might die through Molting, so don’t be surprised if your old crayfish die on the process of Molting.
Related: How do Crayfish breath?
– Your crayfish might be sick: Some sickness could stop or delay their Molting routine.
This disease could be transferred through other tank mates. You probably might not know your crayfish is sick because it might still be active, but won’t molt for months.
Related: Why did my Crayfish stopped eating?
How Often should my Crayfish Molt and what Time of the Year
You might be wondering, how often do they molt, and when am I to expect it.
When they grow to some certain stage, soft tissue is created inside the hard shell and the hard shell then becomes ready for shedding out.
Young crayfish need to Molt up to 10 times for them to be matured. This will decrease to 4 to 5 times when they reach adulthood. Depending on the variables, they could molt almost every 15 to 25 days.
The little crawfish will fall into the rocks if there is any, where they will molt multiple times and eat until the fall of winter,
when most of them will become adults.
Related: Can Crayfish share a tank with Cichlids?
This depends on the length of the growing season during their early summer growth period.
Conclusion
I hope that this is helpful. like I always advise, meet your specialist when your pet’s attitude changes.
