HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Since you've come to the emergency forum, we know you want a fast answer to your question. In order for us to figure out the problem as quickly as possible, we ask that you answer the following questions as best you can. Some of them may seem odd, but they're all designed to give us the information we need to give you a good solution for your problem. The things in the [ brackets ] are there to make this post easier to read once submitted. Thanks!


1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it?
Afsen bedding / 15cm


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?
27C / 80%

3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?
yes / heating lamp

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)?
Seawater / Freshwater

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced?
Various fruit powder/seed/calcium

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known?
1 time

7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen?
1 meter large closed tank

8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?
7 / small (4cm)

9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they?
no

10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any?
10

11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently?
no

12. How often do you clean the tank and how?
6 month

13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned?
not use sponge

14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently?
no

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.)?


16. Please describe the emergency situation in detail.


Hello. I started breeding hermit crabs three months ago.

The hermit crabs succeeded in their first molting.

However, after molting, a large amount of red ticks appeared in one hermit crab.

This red tick is located between the joints of the hermit crab and has spread to other hermit crabs.

Bathed the crab, but these red ticks do not fall off.

I tried to remove it myself, but the tick is too small to get rid of it because it hides between the joints.

Now, almost all hermit crabs have this red tick.

I have tried many methods, but I can't get rid of the red tick.

The tick originated from rugosus, and appears to have hatched after molting.

Please help me how to get rid of the red tick.







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I Use a translation service.

There are ticks between the hermit crab's legs. There are also ticks in the abdomen and outer skin.

The tick is small and hides deeper when I try to catch it.

It spread from one hermit crab to all hermit crabs.

It appears to be a tick that is parasitic on the hermit crab's body.

I have a picture of this tick.

However, I don't know how to post a picture.

https://blog.naver.com/eldkzmffhs

At this address you can see pictures of ticks infected by my hermit crab.

I can't get rid of the tick myself, and when I try it, the hermit crab gets too much stress.

Is there a way to safely get rid of parasitic mites?

We have never seen anything like these before, they are so much larger than the mites that have been discussed in the past. They also seem to be able to dig into the setae and grab hold, which is also a new observation.

Can you reach out to a marine sciences department at a local university? If they cannot identify them, they should be able to refer you to someone who can! This is beyond what hobbyists can help with, I'm afraid.

Any kind of chemical that could remove these would also hurt the crab. Maybe strong saltwater baths would work, where the crabs must be submerged for an extended period? Up to a half hour at a time. If these are naturally occuring parasites then both they and the crab would have similar tolerances.

What I don't understand is why the crab isn't picking them off. They are so big it should be extremely easy for it to pinch them and groom them away if they were causing discomfort or trouble.

Thanks for the answer.

Unfortunately, there is no institution in Korea to help with this.

It's been 3 months since I raised crabs. This tick seems almost certain to have had it since the crab was caught.

The tick appears to lay eggs on the crab's skin. When the crab molts, the eggs seem to hatch.

In other similar cases, I have also found an explosive increase after crab molting.

In my tank, this tick could only be found on the crab skin.

Although ticks are not strongly adsorbed, crabs are unable to remove ticks because they move to a position where they cannot pinch.

I bathed the crab in sea water for 5 minutes, but the tick was not removed.

Should I bathe the crabs so they are completely submerged?

I'm afraid the crabs will drown.

I tried removing the mite myself with tweezers, but it takes too long and the crabs are under great stress and bubbling in their mouths.

The crab hides in its shell whenever the tweezers get closer, which makes it very difficult to remove the tick.

Considered the predator mite, but this tick is too large.

If anyone has gone through a similar experience, please help me.

I am worried that it will harm the crabs' health.

Sadly I have to agree with Wodesorel. We haven’t seen this before so anything we can suggest would be speculative at best.

I would also suggest completely submerging the crabs in saltwater and see how the ectoparasites react. They may be easier to scrape off if in saltwater.


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Would the hypoaspis miles mites help to get rid of those types of mites? I know they are predatory.

What if you could suffocate the mites? Perhaps a dab of coconut oil or olive oil via q-tip?

I forgot this thread.

Thanks for the reply.

The ticks appeared to be resistant to salt water.

It does not fall off or die even when exposed to seawater for a long time.

In the end, I manually removed the ticks one by one.

Remove the tick with a small piece of adhesive tape.

Ticks appear to be parasitic only in the crab's joints.

After removing all visible ticks, I never saw a tick again.

I've added a related image to the body, in the hopes that this thread can help someone.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for following up. That was clever, to use adhesive tape to remove them. It was great dedication to the health of your crabs to take that time and care to help them. I'm very happy to hear that this appeared to have removed the parasites completely! Congratulations, and again thank you for following up, as it may very well help someone else in the future!