HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but will a peice of drift wood from my fish tank be safe to use with my hermit crabs? I'm not sure why it wouldn't be but I wanted to be safe and ask some experienced crabers first.

Not an experienced crabber, but I know many people use it for their crabs, and it is crab safe, if it was purchased from a petstore or something. Otherwise, it might have bugs/be an unsafe wood.

Ok, thanks. I just didn't know if since it was in my fishtank if there was anything harmful that could be transfered to my crabs and make them sick?

You might give it a good saltwater bath and a low temp bake to be sure that anything that could be bad for them is gone.


Zoo mom of 3 cats, a dog, a fish and 4 crabs (Balla, Spot, Twitch & Big Shug)

Have you ever used any kind of medication in your tank? Malachite green is copper based and will soak into wood and last for a very long time.

Yes, I've used a medication once in the tank, but that was a few weeks before I put this peice of wood in the tank. And that was a few months ago. Could it still be in the driftwood?

Do you remember which medication?

Sorry for the long delay in replying, yesterday was super busy and tireing. But now it's the weekend, YAY! Back to the matter at hand though; it was Methylene Blue.

I'm not sure. It's not super toxic to inverts and can be used with shrimp, but some people have had issues with it killing weaker crustaceans. I'm also not sure how long it lasts, but the literature does say it's absorbed into decorations like wood and silicon. It would probably be an overreaction not to use it because it's likely to have broken down and be out of the wood by now, but ultimately it's your pets and your call. If it were my crabs I honestly probably wouldn't use it, but I tend to be a little paranoid about meds and wood in general after having a bad experience with a chunk of mopani with my favorite betta.

A better place for this question would be a good fish forum. Ask if anyone knows for sure how long the chemical is present in the water and decorations. If it's a few weeks then it would definitely be safe.

wodesorel wrote:Have you ever used any kind of medication in your tank? Malachite green is copper based and will soak into wood and last for a very long time.

Good point!

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