Requesting opinions about hermie health conditions~

[Jackie-m]

Hi! First off, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Jackie, happy owner of four pet land hermit crabs. I do, however, have some... issues that I'd like to ask you lovely people to give me some opinions about. I'm at a total loss for what to do in my situation, so I figured I'd come someplace that knows what they're talking about.

I bought my first two crabs from the local pet store. It's a small thing, and to my knowledge, most of the animals are treated decently, unlike the local Petco. The crab tank was still way too small for the number of animals, and all of them were in painted shells, but all the same, they had humidity, warmth, and salt water. The first two were named Mercury and Venus.

At this point, I used a ten gallon tank and coconut fiber substrate. Salt water (aquarium salt mixed in a ratio I found online), fresh water, fresh food changed out daily - everything was great for a while. About a month in, Venus molted. It was days, and I was very anxious about it, but she came out great! She looked healthy and was very active, chittering around and climbing on all of the toys I had for them.
Two days later she started streaking and wouldn't put on a shell. I prefer to be overprepared - I have about fifteen shells in the tank, all of which are the right size-range for the crabs. All the same, she wouldn't pick one. I ISO'd her, picked four shells that she should have liked.
Two days of refusal later I am positive beyond a doubt that she was dead. It reeked.

I was heartbroken, but I didn't want Mercury to be alone, so I brought home two more crabs a few days later. Zoisite and Gigantor (affectionately named because he was about a third bigger than the other two.) Again, everything was going fine. Gigantor was my gentle giant, always coming out to say hello and just generally being the most awesome crab I've ever had.
He died very abruptly, smelled horrible, fell out of his shell, and had a gross black gunk all over his abdomen. He had been moving around the day before.

I panicked. I sanitized my tank, got new substrate, changed everything out. Mercury and Zoisite seemed fine afterwards, as they'd both been shy little buggers the whole time I had them. But two crabbies does not a colony make, so after several months of minimal problems, I just went and got two more crabs, Ishtar and Tammuz.

Both of them are fine so far. They haven't changed out of their painted shells yet, though.

Zoisite, however, has started acting strangely. He doesn't move. He's limp, shows little to no interest in anything. He's a faded color. I've ISO'd him just in case he may be molting, but he's also very weak. He kind of claws at the substrate like he wants to dig, but doesn't have the strength. I really don't want my little buddy to die, so I'm hoping he's just having a hard time starting a molt.

Mercury is my other problem. I found her swimming naked in the fresh water one morning - frantically I put her in my ISO tank, tossing in a few shells as I scrambled to catch the bus and go to work. When I came home, she was in a shell; the worst shell she could possibly be in. It's WAY too big for her. She can't move it, period. Her legs don't even touch the substrate when she's stretched out. I've ISO'd her since with smaller shells, but she won't change. I don't know what to do for her, so I just dip her shell a bit into both types of water every few days and place her on top of her food when I change it so I know she can reach.

Timeline for all of this is abour 9 months. Month one was fine. Venus died halfway through month two. Three through six or so was fine, then Gigantor suddenly died.

I've done a lot of research trying to figure out what might be my silent crabby killer, but I can't find anything.
My humidity is between 70 and 80 percent, all the time.
Temperature ranges from 84 ish to 69 ish depending on what part of the tank they're in.
There are no mites, gnats, or visible mold.
I switch out my sponges on a regular basis.
I have a heating pad stuck to the back of the tank so it warms that area of substrate and the air some as well. I also have a heating lamp that stays on constantly as a temperature control thing, but it's a nighttime bulb. The tank gets sunlight during the day but isn't directly IN the sunlight.

The only thing I've changed recently is that I added a bag of the crappy hermit crab calci sand that I know I'm not supposed to use. I got it when I got Ishtar and Tammuz, so it's only been about a day, but I thought it might help Zoisite a little. I'm going to switch to better sand this weekend.

The only thing that I can think of is that the air in my apartment might not be good for them. We live in a historic mill building, and everything has always been kind of musty. One of us pretty consistently has a cough of some kind, and mold grows on things within two days, regardless of closure. Is it possible that that could be my serial killer?




I apologize for the novel length post, but I'm really hoping someone might dish some well-kept secret that might save Zoisite and Mercury from dying and tell me what might be wrong here. (Adding to note - to my knowledge, all of my crabs are PPs, including my two deaths. Thank you!)

[Mr. Crabby Pants]

Have you checked out the care guides on the forum? I don't want to be pedantic, but it would at least give you a good check list of common conditions and potential issues to check off.
it's here:
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 51&t=92457

and there is also a template the folks with more experience often ask people to fill out when they ask for help here: http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 27&t=46102

Sorry I don't have any advice to offer for your specific situation, hope it works out.

[AutumnHermie]

Yes, filling out the form would be the best idea to make sure we can help you.

[Brthome85]

Us your tank covered with some thing to hold in the moisture? Also do you use a dechlorinator?

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[AutumnHermie]

Us your tank covered with some thing to hold in the moisture? Also do you use a dechlorinator?

Sent from my Z812 using Tapatalk

@Brthome85, The easiest thing to do will be to just let her answer the questions, instead of bombarding her with single questions from everybody

[CallaLily]

Please read through the articles found in our Care Sheet section found here: viewforum.php?f=51&sid=adf0b6c0e26e024699bc6952fedb394b. There's a lot of great info there on proper land hermit crab care. It sounds like you're using the wrong saltwater mix and that your temps are dropping much too low.

That said, most of these deaths sound like PPS to me (Post Purchase Syndrome). They go through so much before they reach our homes, many don't stand a chance.

If you have any questions after you look through those articles please don't hesitate to ask.