Help, Emerald crab looks completely different from this morning and is being ripped apart by tiny red legged hermit

[Dominic M]

Hi,

This morning I looked at my Emerald crab and it was really big, healthy, eating a lot moving around doing just fine. Tonight I see a emerald crab in my tank that is at least 2x smaller is missing an arm and all legs on its right side and is being eaten by one of my smallest red legged hermits. I have no idea what happened, it doesn't even look like the same crab to be honest its way way smaller. It is still alive and cant walk well, I'm not really sure what to do or what really happened. Had quite the stressful week so this is not fun at all right now. Any help or comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Dominic

 

[Saltyreef]

Are you sure its not the crabs molt?
If not, what kind of fish do you have?

 

[Dominic M]

Are you sure its not the crabs molt?
If not, what kind of fish do you have?

Only a firefish goby, I felt it and it seemed pretty firm, too firm to be a molt. Assuming its not the molt why would it be so much smaller than it was in the morning? Thats whats kind of been puzzling me, I also want to find out how it died because I really enjoyed having him in my tank and would like to get another one in the future.

 

[KrisReef]

The carapace can’t shrink like a melting plastic toy. If it is two times smaller it belonged to a smaller crab that died in the tank. Let the hermits enjoy a nice meal and forget about it.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Is the body smaller than the crab was last time you saw it? It could be a molt, mine has grown drastically every time it molted, and the leftover shell is hard.
It could be another crab though. Something may have killed it and the hermits are doing what hermits do.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

pictures!!! im sure it molted, if i had a nickel for everytime i first glanced at a molt and thought it was a dead crab or hermit ........

im sure its fine ,but i bet if you have a pic some detective on here will know for sure... good luck!