HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I currently have 3 large pps that I've had for over a year a half. All 3 have molted around January/February this year. I have noticed that my smallest, Butters, who is also my lightest (in color) has very ashy looking legs and claws. She looks the most ashy out of the 3. I was wondering if hard water is causing this? That shell used to be a polished shell btw, its no longer shiny.
I don't know if my water is doing this. Is this bad for my crab? Should I be worried?

I would use bottled Dechlorinated water for sure if I were you. Gallon sized jugs.

I get my water from my drinking filter. Is filtered water not dechlorinated?

No it isn't. I beg you to pick up a bottle of dechlorinator. Chlorine will kill hermit crabs. I use API Stress Coat but there are other kinds.

Edit: http://m.petsmart.com/h5/hub?id=food-ca ... 3D36-17508

My filtered water leaves behind crust, too. Also the ice made from filtered water.


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I use bottled with dechorinated. Only the best for these spoiled brats.

Shells can become dull over time with the heat, humidity, and substrate and exo can look ashy if a crab is in need of a molt. BUT, I agree if you have city water or very hard water you should use a dechlorinator that will not only take care of chlorine and chloramines but also heavy metals. This article on water goes into more detail. http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 25&t=92553

Oh my gosh... Now I feel horrible knowing I've been slowly killing my crabs! I thought filtered water was okay because we drink from it everyday, and that dechlorinated water was for people who used tap water. I currently only have API tap water conditioner, which is fine right... reading the link CallaLily has given? (Thank you btw).

Also, have I done any long term damage to my hermit crabs? I feel like such an irresponsible/cocky pet owner assuming I knew enough about hermit crabs

When you say hard water, do you have well water?

KingFriday wrote:
Also, have I done any long term damage to my hermit crabs?

It's hard to say for sure. Is your water treated with chlorine or chloramines or is it just very hard water?

I don't think its well water, I live in a large city in California if that helps? Sorry I don't know anything about my water other than its hard water, so I'm not sure if its treated with chloramines or chlorine, I will give the water department a call Monday

If you pay a water bill you have city after which is always treated. Get a dechlor asap.
I have a well system. So I don't have to worry about chlorine. But I have hard water so my shells and sometimes crabs look like that.

Hard water will leave deposits on items and glass, but what that crab and its' shell is showing is signs of dissolving or plain old wear and tear. EE or other organic substrates will slowly cause chemical etching, and sand will cause physical wear. It's why they molt so often. They're built to live in these sorts of environments, and they repair the damage by replacing their exo. Nothing to worry about!

I remember how mad I was when I got new shells and cleaned them with the hard water I have and they looked all ashy. I was like, oh well they don't care anyways. That's the only reason I thought it was the water.

It tends to be low pH or soft water that will take the shine from shells after a single boil. Shells have a high pH of around 10, but in some parts of the US water can be as low as 6. Anytime something with a higher pH is exposed to a low pH the minerals will start to dissolve. (Which is why it's unavoidable with substrate, since cocofiber is around 5.5 and sand is 7.) Soft water which has less dissolved minerals will really want to steal the minerals that are in the shells, and heat and the movement of boiling will speed the process up. Using salt while boiling will also etch the surface of shells and cause them to dull pretty much instantly.

Scarlz, tap water in George tends to be around 7.0 pH and is rather moderate on the hardness scale. Compare that to my tap water here, which is a pH of 9.5 and a hardness that is almost three times as much. I can boil shells for a half hour without any damage to them , but a month of the crabs wearing them on the substrate will make them look ancient!

The reason why it's etching and dissolving and not a deposit of minerals from hard water is because you can't grind or polish off the ashy look to get the shells back to new. If it was just something sticking to them, then a fine polish would restore them. Instead if you were to look at them closely you'd see the pitting and wear on the surface, and polishing would just wear it down further.

And if anyone wonders why our pretty hermit shells fair the worst - even natural shells have been cleaned using chemicals when they're being sold for any human purpose. since humans don't want snail pieces and stink in their decorations or whatever. Couple that with any polishing that destroys the outer protective layer and the shells start aging at a much faster rate then they would if left alone on a beach somewhere.

The ashy look to the crab is the same thing that is happening to the shells, since their exos are almost the same composition. It's why they molt continuously throughout their lives, so that they can repair that damage as it occurs since it's unavoidable - if they couldn't molt, they would die when their exo wore out. When a crab starts looking that bad, it means it's time for them to molt. If it's been a while looking like that and they still haven't molted, it's not a bad idea to reassess their tank to make sure that the substrate is deep enough and that it's comfortable enough for them to want to molt. Some crabs put off molting for a long time so it's not really something worry over, but it's something where it doesn't hurt to make sure everything is okay for them.