I have kept one female pygmy through this period and observed the loss of grip and general weakening. She seemed to prefer "softer" things (the top of the pump, the acrylic or my hand) rather than walking on live rock or sand. If I put my hand under her she would crawl up on to it and sit until I gently placed her back on the tank wall. Fortunately, her skin never deteriorated but I don't know if this was because of an attempted preventative or just a natural occurance (I gut loaded her shrimp for a week or so with tetracycline after her babies were born). Trapper lived just over a week when she started her "final walk" (she was nocturnal and came out of her den permenantly both day and night, common for the end of a pygmy's life). It is too late now and you may not have wanted to extend his life if his skin is deteriorating but I discovered that the pygmy, at least, would filter feed long after she stopped taking other food. I kept the young in the same tank and would feed them Cyclop-eeze and notice that she was eating it as it floated around in the water column even though she would not eat anything else so I fed her directly with a pipette. Near the end she would come up the tank wall to eat and continued to feed this way until the end (possibly another reason her skin never "rotted"). She lived almost 12 weeks from the first hatching (thought to be a long time) but this is a one time trial. I will use the same procedure on her five surviving children (there were only 6 hatchlings) to further document the method.