Cleaning The Crawfish/Crayfish

We noticed some tiny tiny worms crawling over our pet Crawfish's (Or Crayfish, however you spell it where you live) shell.
Becky did some research and found that they're found in almost all Crawfish and harmless, however we also found that they're not always visible and that if they get too numerous they can be cleaned off... we were reluctant but Rocky was looking miserable in his tank and is usually fairly active.
We got a VERY soft bristled brush (A baby's hair brush to be precise) and tried to brush as many worms off as we could...
Although he was clearly stressed out during the brushing, he's much happier now and much more active!

If you decide to do this please bare these notes in mind:

1) The worms are harmless. Unless you think your Crawfish is in some amount of discomfort it isn't worth the stress of having him cleaned off

2) If you use tongs (as we did) don't grip hard! They may have hard shells but they're very fragile compared to anything you might use to grasp them with

3) Use a very soft brush, especially if you want to brush the under-side. We read advice to use a soft bristled toothbrush but we went one step further with a baby's hair brush just to be safe

4) Keep a spray bottle with spring water/dechlorinated water that's the same temperature as the water the crawfish has been living in. If he starts getting too excited and stressed out a gentle spray seemed to calm our crawfish down.

5) As I'd recommend with all animal grooming that can stress out the animal: Only do this if it's for the benefit of the animal! Not just because you think the worms are gross or want to see what the crawfish will do.

6) Never let your crawfish out of water for long! They need to be constantly wet (Another advantage to the spraybottle) and must not be out of water for longer than absolutely needed! Make sure you have him in a bowl of shallow water as we did in this video...

Music: "Anything Can Happen" by The Clean

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Crawfish
• Crayfish
• Cleaning
• Pet
• Care

[darklord1928]

no its just him no other fish or crawfish i feed him shrimp pellets but they dissolve in the water so i dont know if he is eating.... he isnt even "pooping" no joke i held him from the shell and put on my hand he didnt do anything he didnt cut my finger nothing.

[spikevicious]

@darklord1928 Send it to my other username if you can it's "dkittv", I'll see it sooner there. Try algae thins... I would imagine he is eating, they tend to be slightly nocturnal so he;s probably scavenging at night... is he walking about at all and/or moving his feelers up and down? And when you hold him are his little feelers in his mouth going fast? Hopefully I can see in the video if you send it and maybe give you advice (Though, I'm not an animal expert - I may be able to help still)

[darklord1928]

my crawfish is scared of everything...-.- wont even defend its self btw thanks spikevicious for helping me on what it should eat but any ideas of why itwont defend itsself? cause it stopped defending itself and i dont know what to do..=(

[spikevicious]

@darklord1928 I've never heard of this happening... is he still eating? And what is he not defending himself against? Do you have an aggressive fish in there that's trying to get at him? If so I'd consider setting up a separate tank for one of them. If he's just not defending himself and isn't in any danger and is eating Okay I wouldn't get too worried though.

[darklord1928]

my crawfish is always in the position (in begging of vid) is that normal? and it wont eat the food i give it what should i feed it?

[spikevicious]

@darklord1928 Hmm. That position usually means they're on the defensive. Try buying something big and cave like for him to sit in so he can feel protected. Crawfish can eat a variety of things, so depending on what your feeding him...

Algae Thins, Shrimp Pellets, Veggie Rounds... anything like that for bottom feeder fish

But they also do enjoy live food sometimes, buying maybe 2 or 3 small feeder fish to put in the tank with him might be an idea.

[edyinthesky]

Great idea, boiling them kills 100% of the damn worms, and on top of that it even gives you a good lunch...

[47q5webster]

Mah, you got to put dat crawfish in some salt water befo u boil it. Cleanin every one like dat is goin take long time yeah! You never goin get all a dem cooked in time for ya company!

[2000Jmp1]

why not hold him by the back of his claws he will put his arms in a similar position as he did in the start of the video 

[MrBudTugly]

I crawfish hunt and i bait my traps with raw bacon, hotdogs, and chicken livers and they love it so any of those would be an excellent meal for ur little guy or u could just cook him up and eat him insted

[ThomasJChoi7]

Brushy brushy brushy.

[darkx437]

lol

[codemonkeyslikeme]

i found these worms on my crawfish too. are they harmful to us humans?

[DanishnSonic]

can you tell me how to clean green algae from my crayfish

[kylaroxd]

@spikevicious feed him with the live mantis shrimp that will helps alot

[Etimos]

Next time you might want to use tongs with rubber pads or something so he doesnt slip as much and you dont have to squeeze as hard. As for keeping it as a pet, though, while I can see the appeal, i'd sooner have a lobster. no worms for me, thank you.

[darklord1928]

Posted

[darklord1928]

hey ill just pst te video on youtube okay?btw im thinking of fishing another one and put them in a bigger "tank" ganna go try to catch a blue one