HCA: Hermit Crab Association

dirty shoes. Ever since I added the moss I noticed my tank smells like dirty shoes. It is horrible. I don't know what to do as I need the moss to help with humidity. I never had a problem with humidity before and I use a Styrofoam lid with a hole cut out for the light. I use playsand and never had the problem with this smell until I added the moss, what should I do, any suggestions?

all I can tell you is to check for mold, because it definitely stinks if that's what it actually is. good luck!

The moss smells like moss... I'm not sure where you'd get dirty shoes, but I've got a friend who swears Fritos smell like dirty feet, so maybe it's just that we each interpret odors differently. ANYway, what I was trying to say is yes, the moss DOES have a very strong smell, most dried botanicals do.

I wouldn't say moss smells like dirty shoes, so there could be a problem with it. I think moss has an extremely earthy smell.

My moss smells kind of woodsy and well...mossy! I actually like the smell...I wish my dirty shoes smelled as outdoorsy LOL

I just did a deep clean like a week or so ago and found nothing moldy. I spray the moss with salt water so I don't know. I did have a problem with the moss smelling like moss when I first got it but now that it is in the tank on the 2nd level it smells in the tank. I am allergic to moss but my tank doesn't smell like it did when I first added the moss. It took about 2 to 3 days to smell like a dirty shoe. I saw all my crabs when I did the deep clean so I know it is not one of them. 2 are under and 2 come up at night and 2 stay on the surface all day and night. I guess I will have to see when I get my new lid how it smells in the tank after that. I like using the moss for humidity but if I don't need it after I get the plexiglass lid I will take it out and see how the smell is then. I currently use the Styrofoam lid that Anish discovered but I am not happy with it anymore so I ordered plexiglass. I like to see through my lid so I can get top view of the crabs and tank.

Do you boil the moss before you put it in? I usually use Fluker's green stuff (my local shops only carry the green stuff), and I boil it in salt water until the water looks muddy, dump the water, get new salt water, and do it again and again until the water doesn't look disgusting anymore. A lot of extra dye comes out during the boil, as well as anything else (like mud, the occasional tiny snail shell, little sticks or branches, etc.) that doesn't need to be in there.

After all those boils, the moss still smells a little mossy/earthy, and I've never had trouble with it getting stinky.

hm this may not have anything to do with it, but I had one clump of moss early on that definitely smelled 'bad' and so i took it out.. the other moss (from the same bag) doesn't smell like that.. just smelled like moss.. I was thinking the reason was that I had used plain water (dechlor) and not salt water to wet it// dont know, the smell wasn't moldy, just icky, but since then ive been more careful to only wet the moss w/salt water.. and it hasnt happened since.. I dont know what happened that time.....

and/or, maybe somebody hid some food in that moss and it went bad? just some thoughts :}

i noticed today mine smells like beer!

Got a little fermentation going on, huh?

what is fermenting? and what do i do?

My tank doesn't smell like this anymore and I still have the moss in it. It is mostly used for humidity but they do sometimes climb up there and eat some or drop it down to the first level. I spray it with salt water daily and it lasts all day and night which is great so the levels stay around the same all the time. Once I spray the moss it gets up really high but drops down as it dries out so it is great to have.