Do hermit crabs molt?

[Andy16]

the title says it all. I see a dead hermit crab out of its shell. The weird thing is is that it isnt a blue leg and i didnt have anyother kinds except one my brother gave me that doesnt look like much of anything. The dead one looks like the one my brother game me but it is still alive in a shell. So the only thing i could come up with is that it molted but i dont think that hermit crabs molt. Or the lfs didnt give me a blue leg and i didnt notice and then it died.


EDIT: new theory, i had two to hermit crabs that looked alike all along. I didnt find this one until now becuase it came on the LR our of my brothers tank. Seems kind of unrealistic but it could happen....


another edit: I forgot to mention that there is cyano growing on the dead body. Can cyano even grow on once living organisms? so then it would have to be the molt shell(if the do molt which i dont know yet) or that means cyano can grom on once living organisms and that it has been dead for a fairly long time.... suspicious....then if we do figure out that it is a dead hermit crab we have to figure out who the killer is...

[Max]

All crabs molt in order to grow. I wouldn't worry about finding the occasional cast off shell in the bottom of the tank. If you have any shrimp or other crustaceans they'll all do the same. What would concern me is that littlle unidentified hermit. As a matter of fact I'd suggest you have enough iodine in you system to aid in this process. Some of those guys get big and will eat just about anything!

[mogurnda]

They do indeed molt. Don't worry about iodine, in my opinion. If it's needed at all, plenty comes in via water changes and food.

I got a few species of hermits as hitchhikers on my live rock and sand. None of them got any bigger than the blue legs, but you certainly want to remove any if they start getting big or start picking on the other livestock.