Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Hi,
I'm new to the forum and my red crayfish just died during the molt. My setup is a 500 liter aquarium with fish (don't know the names, but made sure they are not eating crayfish). A few month ago I came by a batch of blue lobsters and put them together with the crayfish. At first everything was fine and everyone was eating and molting.
As soon as the lobsters got bigger than the crayfish he stopped molting. My guess is because of stress and fear of being eaten by the lobsters. This situation lasted for about two months(due to financial problems).I finally got a 25 liter aquarium and put the crayfish in there. He was eating fine and seemed relaxed and today he tried to molt, but he died in the process. He struggled 15 minutes to get out, but managed only to open the old skin by a few centimetres. My question is now was it due to the skin being too old and hard? Could I have done something to help him to get out?

Hope I can get some answers. Feeling really guilty about his death.

there are many, many reasons why a crayfish may die. Could be a virus, could be bacteria, could be water parameters, old age...etc. etc. It's really impossible to say from the information given.