Hermit Crab Trouble PLEASE HELP!

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Bettafanatic

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Aug 9, 2011
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Location
New York
Today I came home to a very stressful shock. Two of my five hermit crabs have abandoned their shells! One of them I'm not sure if it's alive or dead but the second I'm certain is alive. I can't find the fourth and the last is still in its shell. Are they I'll or dying? Please help me!

I will perform some tests to get the water levels and report back right now.
 
Could be anything without knowing the parameters. Do you have larger shells in your tank? It might be as simple as they have out grown their current ones and are looking for new. In my tank, without having larger shells they would pick off my snails for a larger house.
 
Ok I got the test results-

Ammonia- 0
Salinity- 1.019 (idk why it's that low I'm adding more)
pH- 8.2
Nitrates- 20 ppm (water change is tomorrow)

I don't have any larger shells. Where can I get some for them? I have a couple of turbo snails but the snails are HUGE, at least 5x larger, so I'm not that worried.

The larger is fine. He's dropped his shell completely and is just looking for food now. The second still hasn't moved but I'm starting to wonder if what I'm looking at is the actual crab or not, I need to look a bit closer. The last snail I have found and his shell is still on.
 
I bought a bag full of extra hermit crab shells from Saltwaterfish.com for like $6. They give you a lot more than what you pay for.
 
My lfs sells the shells for 10 cents each. I got 10 shells for 3 crabs. I've seen recommendations for anywhere from 1 extra for every 2 crabs to 2 extra per crab. Always larger tho.
Do the hermits leave a molt behind like the lobsters do. Or is it more broken up?
 
Maybe I missed it, are you sure they are not just molts? The molts can look like a real hermit. Check the shells, you will probably find the hermits still inside.

I still worry when I see a molt lol. I only have 1 red and one blue so those are easy to reassure myself that they are not dead. Easy to find the real hermits.
 
So i had to temporarily move the crab because he went after my snail. Since I had to do it quickly, he's just in a one gallon which I have to get some supplies for because I don't have a heater small enough. I would leave him in but I only arrived just in time to save my snail. I'm not sure when the shells are coming in the mail how long do you think I can keep him in the separate tank?
 
Can you position the bucket he's in inside the tank and under your water return (if it's a back mounter power filter)? That way hell get heat and flowing water which will overflow into the rest of the tank. Or else a medium bowl with steep sides on the bottomed the tank. He shouldn't escape and if you change the bowl daily the snail shouldn't get interested in it and crawl inside to his doom.
 
Sometimes hermits kill snails, just the way it is. If you see a snail flipped over put it back, otherwise in this case I would just let nature take its course so to speak.
 
Can you position the bucket he's in inside the tank and under your water return (if it's a back mounter power filter)? That way hell get heat and flowing water which will overflow into the rest of the tank. Or else a medium bowl with steep sides on the bottomed the tank. He shouldn't escape and if you change the bowl daily the snail shouldn't get interested in it and crawl inside to his doom.

That sounds like a much better idea should I get a breeding net or one of those things?
 
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