hermit troubles

cmar

cmar

AC Members
May 18, 2007
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hey! just got some hermit crabs, and they're all dying! water params are o.k., all else in tank is fine. are they just really sensitive, or did i just get bad ones? lfs is extremely reputable, serving in salt water only, so i'm doubting that they were bad. anything else that could be killing them? ( no predators, bodies are still intact).
 
are you sure they are not "Molting"? I thought I had Crab die off but they were just healthy and growing.
 
The same thing happened to me and I was sure it had died...a couple days later he emerged from hiding. Is the shell there or is it "mysteriously" missing?
 
the one is gone, definately. the other one than i can see has been motionless for two or three days, with 3 arms & a claw sticking out of the shell. also, one arm laying a few inches away. i intro'd them by placing the bag in the tank, and after about a half hour, i poked a couple small holes with a pen to let my water trickle in. whe the bag was almost ready to sink, i let them in. maybe an hour &15 mins. total. too soon?
 
I'd definitely not acclimate that way again. For acclimation you want to use a drip method for inverts. Fish you can get away with replacing some of the water every 5 minutes. NEVER allow LFS water into your tank.

As for the hermits, they could have died due to osmotic shock, each other, or you may have just seen a molt as the others said. I'd not expect a molt in the shell still however.
 
I float the fish/invert for 15 minutes to adjust to the temp. Then I use an airline tube and a valve (very cheap can get them at LFS), start a syphon and drip tank water into the bag at the rate of 1-3 drops a second). After 45 minutes -3 hours (depends on what it is) I then check the SG and if it matches I net or hand transfer the livestock.
 
Grins,
You don't trust your LFS water?
 
Nope, even my most trusted LFSs would tell you themselves not to add their water to your tank.

So many of them are on combined systems and it is easy to get a parasite in your water. Many run at lower SGs too, and some even treat all fish with copper.
 
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