HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So i was gone for a night and a day. My boyfriend stopped by for a few hours before leaving himself and everything was fine. When i came home i was talking care of my pets [bird's, dog and crabs]. When i got to the crabs three of my four are up acting find. I hand fed one snd had to move everyone as i cleaned up in general for the week. Changed food and so on. After a few moments i noticed a smell. It smelled like alcohol or compressed air. Im not even sure if it was from the tank but i smelled it the strongest in that room. My nose is also very stuffy as im sick. Im only concerned become my largest is molting on whats going 3-4 months. Everyone else has done one molt with me but this is her first.

1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it? I use a 2:1 play sand mixed with fw to ee mixed with sw. On the left its about 7-8 inches that increases as you move to the right side to about 9-10 inches.

2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read? I do have gauges in the middle left back wall. They are recently calibrated. Temp is about 80-90% during the day and 5-10 less at night. Humidity is 89-99%.

3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?
Back right corner wall i have a uth. Then also on the back right top i have a ceramic dimmer dom i use a 100w white bulb during the dsy and at night i use a 100w red bulb. I dim according to need.

4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)? I keep a gallon of fw and sw on hand. Also a mister of each. The gallons are used to fill everything. Fw is treated with prime. Sw is treated with instant ocean.

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced? Only food found on thr safe food lists. Example tonight: two scallops. A - dried fruit with calcium powder. B - dried shrimp with an HCP greens and grains mix. Food is changed as it needs to be. So either before it goes bad or is emptied.

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known? I have four Pp's that i got in September. Small [f] Tina. Small-medium [f] RoxSand. Just under an 8th bigger is Uu [m]. Then finally my biggest crab who went under before i got a caliper or growth chart Hermione [f]. She has been molting for about 3 months. This is alsoher first with me.

7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen?
Sorry. Exsplained above. The three of tank mates have molted at least once.

8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing? 20g long tank with glass top. The top has a plastic wedge piece to fill in space and in the beck right corner a hole is cut out for the lamp clamp.

9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they? Four rescues since September.

10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any? At least 20. I keep a minimum of four each. Right now RoxSand and Uu are a little between options i think they really want. Im looking for better.

11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently? Oddly my boyfriend does use compressed air thats ok for his birds on his computer across the room from the crabs. There arent any here now and he hasnt used it recently.

12. How often do you clean the tank and how?
Im pretty hands on in changing food and misiting. I also usually scoop the sub when i change food or mist. I also swap shells out every few weeks. Water changes are done once a week or two. Once a day or so i mist the tank eith fw and the tbing prown to mold with sw. I also swap things out for clean things every few weeks. Not always everything some times one thing. Sometimes everything. I clean things by boiling in fw or soaking in sw and sometimes baking in the oven.

13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned? Nope. Every once in awhile i will put on in for them to eat.

14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently? Nothingthey haven't already had except a hermit crab safe wicker basket i took out due to mold.

15. Is there any other information you would like to share that might be helpful (anything that is regularly part of your crab care, playtime, bathing, etc.)? I sprayed my dog with a flea preventative but across the house. Washed my hands before going in that room. It also doesn't smell like what i was smelling and is super safe. [Puppies and kittens of young ages]

16. Please describe the emergency situation in detail.
I noticed a alcohol/compressed air smell. Wondering if its molting smell?

First and foremost, I am still pretty new at caring for hermie crabs, but this is not something I am familiar with. I can say this - when Grog passed, it started with no smell, then changed to this strange bittersweet smell, then a sulpher-y smell (I ISO'ed her for a couple of days to ensure she had actually passed, and paid attention to her smell as I was trying to confirm death)

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Thanks. Any input is helpful. This wasn't sweet more chemically bitterish.

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It does sound like you are describing the molting smell. The death smell is usually described as rotting fish.

Your tank specs look really good. I wanted to point out a couple of things that might be problematic. One is the salt water. It also needs to be DE chlorinated with Prime. The salt does not dechlorinate.

The other thing is your salt water mister. Salt does not evaporate in the tank so eventually the salt will build up to toxic levels. Most crabbers mix up their substrate with either fresh or salt water (I use fresh) and then mist with fresh, not salt. YMMV

mool wrote:It does sound like you are describing the molting smell. The death smell is usually described as rotting fish.

Your tank specs look really good. I wanted to point out a couple of things that might be problematic. One is the salt water. It also needs to be DE chlorinated with Prime. The salt does not dechlorinate.

The other thing is your salt water mister. Salt does not evaporate in the tank so eventually the salt will build up to toxic levels. Most crabbers mix up their substrate with either fresh or salt water (I use fresh) and then mist with fresh, not salt. YMMV

Sorry i wasnt clear. My sw is treated with prime first then the salts added. Also the things i mist with sw are taken out of the tank then misted. only the things prone to molding are misted as well. The rest of the tank is misted with fw. I haven't noticed any salt build up. Id always assumed as long as i didnt have any salt residue, build up or creep that it was safe? I haven't had any mold issues with things since starting that. So is that ok or still to much? I know things that need salt can happily handle more salt than less but don't want to tax my crabbies out. Thank you again! I love any and all input on my tank. I find it gives a better idea on this littleoddities.

So happy to hear it was probably a molting smell. I just couldn't tell where it was coming from but could smell...something. now what does that smell mean? Did she just start pulling her exo off? Is she hardening her soft exo? I havent seen my girl in months and am just worried about her. Either that she wont make it or im gonna have hugo the huge crab on my hands when she comes up!

Okay, good! I'm not sure how you would tell if you had salt creep or not. If in doubt, you could probably take the sub out and rinse it with fresh water? Or replace it. I don't have an answer because I don't use salt in my tank, other than the SW bowl of course.

I also don't know where, how, why, or what point in the molt creates the odor. My crabs have molted with me many times and I've yet to smell that smell.

I have had my crabs since late October I brought them home rom Myrtle Beach and I live in the Boston area. One crab went down to molt within 2 weeks and was down for about 4 weeks. The other went down around Thanksgiving and I havent seen her since. I'm not sure if shes dead or alive, when you lift the tank up youn can see the shell but no movement. I don't want to dig her up but my fear is that she is dead! Also there is no smell in the tank. Any advice would help!!

mool wrote:Okay, good! I'm not sure how you would tell if you had salt creep or not. If in doubt, you could probably take the sub out and rinse it with fresh water? Or replace it. I don't have an answer because I don't use salt in my tank, other than the SW bowl of course.

I also don't know where, how, why, or what point in the molt creates the odor. My crabs have molted with me many times and I've yet to smell that smell.

I asked some of the salt water fish people at work and they all said you can physically see and feel the salt. Like a white dryish residue. At that point lvls are way too high. But again reptiles/invertebrates that need salt handle higher salinity better than lower. So im just going to keep watching for now

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annedow9 wrote:I have had my crabs since late October I brought them home rom Myrtle Beach and I live in the Boston area. One crab went down to molt within 2 weeks and was down for about 4 weeks. The other went down around Thanksgiving and I havent seen her since. I'm not sure if shes dead or alive, when you lift the tank up youn can see the shell but no movement. I don't want to dig her up but my fear is that she is dead! Also there is no smell in the tank. Any advice would help!!

If you don't smell anything, just wait. I know it's hard but waiting really is the best option. If the crab is dead, waiting isn't going to hurt anything. A dead crab will not have a negative effect on the living crab(s). If the crab is alive, you can kill it by interrupting the molt.

Chances are, your crab is fine. They go underground to de-stress as well as to molt. Sometimes crabs also pull back to back molts.

Wait if you can! Of course if you smell the death smell, then it's time to dig and say goodbye.

Thanks so much! I was trying to reply but am at work hahahaha.

I couldn't agree more with mool! Also try to not move your tank the heavy weight can cause cracks in your tank or disturb the molting. I understand your pain tho. Hermione is going on 4 months now and at one point all of my crab were down! Just keep your tank up and running. Along with changing food and water. She should be fine.

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annedow9 wrote:I have had my crabs since late October I brought them home rom Myrtle Beach and I live in the Boston area. One crab went down to molt within 2 weeks and was down for about 4 weeks. The other went down around Thanksgiving and I havent seen her since. I'm not sure if shes dead or alive, when you lift the tank up youn can see the shell but no movement. I don't want to dig her up but my fear is that she is dead! Also there is no smell in the tank. Any advice would help!!

My Percy did the same thing - he just came back up about a week ago, was down about 3 weeks or so. I could see his shell on the surface but no movement - came home from work one day and he was back up and about.

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It may also be his old shell. Two of my crabs have confused me with that

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