Broken Claw

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rba718

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 15, 2008
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Miami, FL
Hey mfk,

I have a nice little blue crayfish that I've been hanging onto for a friend while he's been in the Navy.

Problem is, the crayfish somehow (I'm guessing) broke one of his claws. It's still attached but he can't seem to move it at all.

The real problem is that he has so much trouble moving around with it. He's a male so the claws are long and I even think they're a bit longer than normal. He can barely walk at all because he's constantly dragging the messed up claw beneath him. Half of the time he's either on his sides or upside down altogether. He still eats thankfully, I just fed him some freeze dried krill a minute ago.

Anyway, what can I do? Should I amputate the claw? Is there a 'non-painful' way of doing it? lol
 
Well, if the claw is causing issues for the crayfish you should probably remove it. Just try to be as sterile as possible about it and make a clean cut. There's not really a non-painful way of doing it, but if you'd like, you can take some comfort in the fact that it's not really proven if crays can actually feel pain or not.

But that aside, try using a scalpel or straight edge, something very sharp to make one good clean cut. Boil your tools first, so there's no bacteria or what not on them and remove the claw. You may want to prophylactically treat your tank with Melafix or salt (otherwise just be fastidious in keeping your tank water at it's absolute best until his next molt), just to make sure no infection sets in since it will be an open wound (which is where things like shell rot get in and start to cause issues). Likewise, a salt bath every few days would help, too.
 
The amazing thing about crayfish & prawns is that they can grow back claws. It can take a few molts for this to happen so don't be disappointed if it doesn't happen on its next molt.
 
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