HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Ok, I just had a flood in January and luckily everyone was good. Now I'm dealing with another flood... I've filled out the emergency template a few times before. This is not really an emergency, but my info might help to figure out what went wrong...
Temp and humidity are good, several digital guages
Ultrtherm across back of tank
Over 8" of sub, coconut fiber and playsand mix
Salt and fresh water, prime/instant ocean
55 gal tank with plexiglass lid
They get all the foods they need, replaced daily
Plenty of extra shells, @least 50 or so
No chemicals/fumes
Nothing new added, no sponges
I only spot clean
All PP's, had them roughly 9 months
All molted recently
Between small and maybe med/large?
I believe next to smallest one is the one that didn't make it

So... My conditions are good (EXCEPT my soaked substrate) and I believe my bubblers are causing the problem. I've read all through this forum and I'm working on fixing that now. I'm just trying to figure out why one of my babies didn't make it. Out of 6 crabs, 3 were up and 3 were about an inch... Inch and a half under. Noone was molting. They have plenty of room and were all spaced out all over the tank. I have 5 crabbies that are fine. One of the burried crabs was just a mushy looking, crumbly pile no smell or anything. Looks hollow, but all mixed in with the sub. Not sure how else to describe it... But I'm assuming he didn't die recently..??? I've never had a burried crab die. Is this just what they look like or does anyone know what might have happened? I was prepared incase anyone didn't make it towards the bottom but like I said, he was only about an inch or so under. Could this have still been caused by the flood?? Also, with so much water in my tank why didn't my humidity go up? Or does it not work that way since all of the water was going down to the bottom... Any help or ideas are greatly appreciated.

That sucks you are dealing with another flood. We just dealt with two separate floods and bacterial blooms in March.

Perhaps you are mixing your substrate to wet when you start out? I like doing smaller batches in a 5 gallon bucket. It takes a little more time but I think it's easier to control. That way if you mix a batch with with too much water you can make the next batch dry to soak up the extra water. It's always easier to add water later.

I believe ours were also caused by the bubblers as well. We ended up loosing one crab in each tank so We know what you are going through. It's a mixed combination of feelings all at once.

We eliminated the bubblers in one tank since we never had issues with humidity. The crabs in that tank, all purples, don't seem to care one way or another if the water has movement or not.

The other tank houses 6 strawberries and 2 purples. The straws prefer moving water. I ended up making water cabanas for that tank. They are just water pools with roofs, water cabanas just sounds like a lot more fun!

I bought a dish pan and cut the top off. I siliconed two plastic containers to the bottom of the pan. On two more containers I cut holes onto three sides. Think of the openings of coconut hide openings. Then I attached the containers with the holes to a third set of containers. The two sets that are attached to each other get set into the first set siliconed to the dish pan. I also added stones inside the dish pan, crab mesh everywhere for easier access to the dish pan and in and out of the cabanas. I also siliconed stones to the cabana tops and hid the airlines with plants.

My thoughts are the mist from the bubblers will collect on the ceilings then drip back into the pools. What escapes out the openings should collect in the dish pan rather in the substrate. If the pan fills with water I just pulled the entire set up, empty the water and put it back. I also added an inline air adjustment valve to reduce the airflow into the pools even more. So far they have been working. They are a little more difficult to remove when changing the water.

Here is a link to the water cabanas. Fleabag is going to help me write another tutorial for them one of these days.

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 5514039633

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Thanks so much for your input. Glad someone understands, but hate that you have had to go through this as well, it sucks. I am still ringing out sub... I found a few tiny dark spots in the tank and trashed those. I don't think I have a bacterial bloom other than that (not sure about those spots) I've been sick lately so I got three other people to sniff check for me lol. They all looked at me like I was crazy but said it just smells like wet dirt. So hopefully I'm in the clear.

Your crab cabanas are awesome!! Thanks for sharing. I might do away with the bubblers all together but I made something similar today. I took a plastic tub and cut a window out (well, my boyfriend cut it for me but I did draw it on) I plan to put the whole tub in with the lid on and water bowls inside. This way the top and sides are all covered so that any splash will run back down into the tub and I can just dump it (or drip back into the pools like you said) I will probably use the tub even if I do not add the bubblers back just incase I have a leak or something.

I'm not sure what else to do... Fingers crossed this will solve my flooding problem. Just wish I knew for sure what actually caused my crabbie to pass.

It sounds like the one who passed had nothing to do with the flood. Dying during molting is common, and they can end up being found in any state from looking whole, to an empty shell, and everything in between.

Thanks Wodesorel. I guess these things just happen sometimes.

We have had crabs go down and not come back up and the shell was empty. No idea what happened. There wasn't any smell either.

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