Dead hermit???

[VickyH]

Is this part of a dead hermit or could be just a skin? I found it in my tank very close to a red hermit did not move for a couple of days but is on the move again now which made me think maybe he shed it. I did have 3 red hermits though and now I can only see 2 - levels in tank have all been 0, even nitrate, so nothing dodgy going on. What do you think?

[VickyH]

oops forgot to add picture!!!!

[Reefscape]

does it smell of meat? is there anything inside the body part?..

It could be a shed skin..If its shed, you may not see it for a little bit as it may hide to give the new skin time to harden..

Niko

[VickyH]

The crab near it stayed in one place for about 2 days with just it's legs poking out slightly - I actually thought it was dead. It doesn't seem to smell at all and on closer inspection can't seem to see anything inside it, would this be the whole crab/skin?

[MarineDream]

Scarlet Hermits shed a lot. The best way to tell are the eyes, if the skeleton still has it's eyes on him then it's usually the crab. If you pulled it out and you dont see the eyes then it's just the exo skeleton. I've got about 6 of these guys and like every week I see one of exo skeletons floating about the sand. Also If it was the crab, most of the time the other crabs/shrimp will get to it before you realize anything

[JOSEPHLB]

My two scarlet's did this exact same thing. Now they are roaming around like nothing ever happened. I'm a newbie to the SW game, and I wasn't aware that crabs "molt" or shed per se....

[BIGgourami]

yeah my blue leg crabs seem to do this alot and i went from having 5 scarlet to have two in about three weeks so im not sure what to tell you.

[Germanman]

i vote it was a shedding