HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I thought it worth mentioning that most dechlorinators do not treat water for both chlorine and chloramine. A few do but most do not. Chloramines are just as damaging to fish gills as chlorine, if not more so. Logic suggests the same would hold true for hermits. To be on the safe side, I would suggest checking labels to make sure any product used treats both.

Also, I remember reading that hermits are highly susceptible to metals, though I can't recall where I saw the article. It struck me as odd that I've seen no mention of testing/treating crabs' drinking water for metals. If it is true that they are susceptible, and again using fish -koi for example having a very low tolerance for metals- as a comparison, it stands to reason that a build up of heavy metals would eventually prove fatal for our little crabs as well.

As an aside, treatment plants routinely dump massive quantities of other not-so-friendly chemicals into the drinking supply to clean out the pipes. While these chemicals are deemed safe for human consumption, they are detrimental to fish. Anyone unlucky enough to do a water change on the same day ends up with a tank full of dead fish...

I may be way off base here but I cant help wondering if tap water might be the culprit in some of the unexplained deaths. Perhaps some that might otherwise be attributed to PPS as well. I'm still in the learning process with hermits and I don't pretend to know a lot, just tossing the thoughts out for consideration.

Now I have pushed this time and time again, but you can save a lot of trouble, time, and effort by just buying spring water. All you have to do is go to wal-mart and they are about 65 cents for a gallon jug. A gallon lasts me for at least 2 weeks as well. I just think it's worth the few cents to save all that time and hassle of worrying about what's in your hermies' water.

I agree wholeheartedly.

A few years ago I began getting stomach cramps every time I drank more than a couple ounces of tap water. I questioned the water district, they implied it was my imagination... I've been successfully keeping fish since I was twelve. Not so in this house, couldn't keep them alive to save my life. This went on for months until I decided to have the water independently tested. In spite of what my own body (and my fish) were telling me, I was shocked by the results of those tests.

Granted, most municipalities don't have issues to the same extreme but doing the research will provide a real eye opener in any part of the country.

I mean no one any offence in saying this but I fail to see the logic in spending hours preparing healthy meals yet exhibit an unwillingness to provide spring water. Why risk the heartache of loosing a favorite hermie unnecessarily?

Because a lot of what is sold as "spring water" is questionable in my mind. There have been documented cases of a large number of distributors of bottled water marketing municipal water as spring water. This is due to the goverment's regulations about this industry, basically allows these companies to mislead people.

Secondly you have the issues of the processing of this 'spring water' and how it is stripped of minerals along with everything else that's unwanted.

Thirdly, for anyone who is a sincere environmentally conscious individual there is the issue of the ecological complications that arise from transporting water from a natural source in the amount of the billions of gallons consumed by everyone (and/or our crabs) to replace something we can get out of our tap.

Not that I don't think it's worthy of debate, it's just I haven't heard anything compelling enough to make me feel I must incur this extra cost.

And yes, my declorinator does remove chlorine, chloramines and breaks down metals in my tap water.

Although it's certainly possilbe to cause the mysterious deaths, I would think if water was the issue the losses would be pretty heavy and affect most if not all the crabs in the tank.

Good points. It is quite possible (probable) that I might be a wee bit jaded regarding tap water. Been a long running issue in my 'neck of the woods' so to speak.

Another thing I would add, for anyone choosing to opt for bottled spring water, researching brands is definitely a good idea.

Anyway, I was concerned that I hadn't seen any discussion regarding treating tap water other than addressing chlorine. Or perhaps I just haven't been around long enough?

Well you have to do your research if you buy spring water. I know that the wal-mart spring water is pure because it comes from a spring in Arkansas. I also have been giving to my hermies for 2 years with no ill effects.

Well, there would go the "no hassle" of springwater if you have to try and figure out if it's okay or not. There was a brand of water saying that it came from a pure source in Alaska, glacial water blah blah blah, and when it was investigated it turned out it was Alaska tap water. The only way to know for sure is to test it and test the tap water and compare them, which is not really "hassle free".

I have been given my crabs tap water for two years without any problems that I would attribuate to the water.

I wish I could trust the labels on the bottled water, but I just don't.