Hermit crabs ?

[Omega]

Hi there guys,

I want to find out something from you guys. I had the hermit with the legs that broke off. I know very sad.

They started to grow back YIPPEE. But now the other hermit attacks the one with all the pain, is this normal behaviour for hermits? and what do you guys suggest I do. I have been feeding the crabs more to keep the one away but he is still attacking the other one.

I was thinking of putting the one with the legs in QT for the moment.

But my QT isn't set up. So the second Question is will it be fine if I mix new water in the QT for about two days and put the sick one in there?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dskidmore]

Hermit crabs are pretty vicious to each other, especially if one is at a disadvantage and can't fight back as well. QT or sump sounds like a good idea, but you need to make sure that QT is cycled first, or be prepared to make regular water changes. You also need to be aware that if you have used a copper treatment in that QT before, it could be bad for your hermit.

I would use aquarium water in the QT, and put the new water back into the aquarium. That way you get a small head start on the cycling process. To get the cycle started, add a small amount of food or some other ammonia source. A proper cycle can take weeks, I don't know as if a couple days is going to be useful.

If you have to put him in the QT right away, test the water for ammonia daily, and change the water as necessary to keep the ammonia levels down. Use aquarium water for your water changes. (If the QT does not have any copper or other contaminants in it, you can put the QT water back into the main tank, where the bacteria there will process the ammonia. You can save a little on salt that way since this is not a case of diseased fish.) Be extra vigilant about removing uneaten food and other wastes.

 

[Omega]

Hi thanks for the advice.

I was actually thinking of taking one or two rocks from my tank and dump that into the QT with him and use tank water and just top up the main, will the rock help with the bacteria?

 

[dskidmore]

Yep! Enough volume of rock fresh from a cycled tank, and you shouldn't have much of an ammonia issue. I'd still do the testing just in case.

 

[melosu58]

I dont know about the QT. If you should later have to treat tank with copper or hypo it will kill the crab. You`ll have to put him back in tank before treatment. You dont have a sump do you.

 

[dskidmore]

If he only needs to leave it in there while it's legs grow back, hopefully it won't be an issue.

There are alternatives to copper anyway, like the hyposalinity treatment

 

[melosu58]

Which will kill the crab also

 

[Omega]

Hi there guys,

I wont use copper don't worry, My QT is a new tank and no copper has ever been used in it and he was only going to stay in the QT until he's legs grew back. But I had another problem first day in the QT my heater broke. So what I did for now was to make a small Square box with vent holes for water flow and put him back into the main tank with the box protecting him. I am getting a new heater today to move him back to QT

 

[dskidmore]

Which will kill the crab also

Yes, but it won't permenantly contaminate the tank, keeping him from putting invertabrates in it after the treatment is over.

The idea is to make this a temporary solution. Hopefully he isn't getting a case of ick every month that the QT is needed all the time.

 

[melosu58]

The idea is to not kill the crab which hypo would probably do. That was the original question

 

[DragonForce]

The other hermits might be trying to steal his shell. You can try getting some empty snail shells of various sizes from you LFS. I have several in my 37 gal and have no issues. Sometimes the hermits will battle eachother for a minute or 2 then they get over it. My favorite is when a hermit gets close to my pistol shrimp and the shrimp bulldozes his ass away. Funny stuff right there