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I'm getting P. clarkii to fill up my tank after the death of my beloved C. destructor. Have no idea what caused his death - the water parameters were OK, he moulted twice before, then died after trying to get out of his "old clothes". As usual, he started to moult in the open, in front of the tank (I have no idea why he did this, I always presumed crays moult as shrimp, hiding during the process). After a few hours the old skin was only on his pincers and he couldn't get rid of it. I tried to help, bo no luck. I was so desperate i considered breaking off his claws, but he died before I was able to get myself to do this

He was still young, he grew after each moult considerably. What happened? What went wrong?

Hmm...good question. I don't think that the molting caused the death, but that there was something wrong with the crayfish already and it was too weak to complete the molt. I hope you did not have any Procambarus clarkii already in the tank with the Cherax destructor, right? North American crayfish can carry the "Crayfish plague" fungus but are usually immune to it. Crayfish from other parts of the world are not immune and die when they get infected.