HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm seriously grossed out right now. I dumped some of this food in my tank and when I went to put the lid on a little brown bug was crawling on it. Upon further inspection all of the food was tainted with the little brown bugs and they are probably in my tank with the hermits now. Can some one ID the bugs so I know if I should do a deep clean or something? I'm throwing the food away regardless. https://vimeo.com/112242197

I think you should deep clean the tank whether they are dangerous or not. That's gross. I'm not sure what they are, they kind of look like the gnats I had.

hermitcrab24 wrote:I think you should deep clean the tank whether they are dangerous or not. That's gross. I'm not sure what they are, they kind of look like the gnats I had.

They aren't gnats because they do not fly. Ironically, I do have fruit flies in my tank that I'm trying to get rid of too. But I also just added some isopods a month ago and they are thriving. It's also pretty much impossible for me to do a deep clean at this very moment 8/22 crabs are up and I don't have enough spare tanks to ISO that many crabs... But I could make it work.
If they are harmless I could wait it out until most of my guys come up

They are harmless - just a type of mealieworm bug. Same thing you can find in old pasta. If you freeze the jar for a few days it will kill off anything left in it and then you can feed the rest to the crabs. Once they're dead they're just another source of protein. I haven't bought a jar of medley in about a year, because the last 6 jars I bought had those bugs in it, even though they were from different stores and were still sealed. Something is up with their quality lately. The crabs will eat the affected food though, if you feel comfortable enough. Mine got all of the stuff I bought and enjoyed every last shrimp from it.

Thanks Wode! I already threw the food away cause I was seriously grossed out lol. Will the isopods eat any that might be in the tank?

I would think? I've never found the beasties anywhere other than in the jars, and I was mostly through the first one before I realized it was infected. They seem to like dry and cold, so the crab tank is the exact opposite of what they need.