HCA: Hermit Crab Association

How often do you clean your tank?

I am now worrying I am being too hands off with my colony. I haven't done a deep clean ever. I have two tanks, 8 crabs, established for 1 year now. I found what I suspect are food mites on two of my crabs yesterday, and now I am wondering if i need to be cleaning more often and deeper than scooping out food and waste superficially.

The mites seem to only be in one tank, which isn't as tightly sealed at the top.

Thank you!

It's only necessary to deep clean if you have a flood or bacterial bloom. Beneficial microbes and bacteria build up in the sub and aid in breaking down waste.

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soilentgringa wrote:It's only necessary to deep clean if you have a flood or bacterial bloom. Beneficial microbes and bacteria build up in the sub and aid in breaking down waste.

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Are the food mites dangerous?


Menders
3 PPs, 1 cat exotic short hair, 2 children and a wonderful husband

No, if its not on the crabs don't worry. Food mites help keep mould at bay by eating unwanted food.

But ants and flies are bad, right? I have read that several people keep Rollie Pollies in their tanks because they clean the tank and eat waste... Is that true? And is so, where would you but them. And hiw many would one want to have in a tank? I never noticed crab "waste" until two nights ago when Biggie Claws ate a ton of avocado. I went to remove it the next morning... And I jumped about 3 feet because my tank was infested with several neon-ish long thin worms!!!! Then I realized that the trail led to Biggie Claws and under him. I used a paper toel to remove it. But up until then I had been hands off a bit too. Mostly because I couldn't find the poo to save my life. With the addition of the three new guys and one of those 3 being about the size of a pool ball, I know know what the "waste" looks like If there is indeed a bug that will take care of that, then I would really like yo get some!


Menders
5 PPs, 1 cat exotic short hair, 2 children and a wonderful husband

The main mites you should fear are the actual crab mites who infest the actual crabs those are bad.

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I have bug phobia...I don't like any type of bug in my tank good or bad. I deep clean my tank once a year. That means everything out rinsed off, plastic / silk plants replaced. Substrate replaced with new to...I have had ants in my tank before they are very hard to get out.once they start to tunnel it's a lost cause...crabs are very good about hiding their poo to..

I've put rollie pollies in my tank before. They snacked on some of the leftovers, but died off after a couple weeks. I just collected some from outside. But I wouldn't say I'd do it again for fear of introducing something harmful into the tank, if that's possible.

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The best thing to do if you collect them from outside is to breed them out a generation or two that way you know you aren't taking that risk. Kind of like the idea with live plants in the 'tat needing to sit for a couple of months. I personally just started breeding isopods to put into my crab tank. I'm excited to get enough!

Laurie LeAnn wrote:I have bug phobia...I don't like any type of bug in my tank good or bad. I deep clean my tank once a year. That means everything out rinsed off, plastic / silk plants replaced. Substrate replaced with new to...I have had ants in my tank before they are very hard to get out.once they start to tunnel it's a lost cause...crabs are very good about hiding their poo to..

Isopods aren't insects. They're crustaceans.



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soilentgringa wrote:

Laurie LeAnn wrote:I have bug phobia...I don't like any type of bug in my tank good or bad. I deep clean my tank once a year. That means everything out rinsed off, plastic / silk plants replaced. Substrate replaced with new to...I have had ants in my tank before they are very hard to get out.once they start to tunnel it's a lost cause...crabs are very good about hiding their poo to..

Isopods aren't insects. They're crustaceans.



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Wait they are crustaceans for real ? I assumed they were bugs that makes me less afraid haha i love spiders and crabs just not a fan of bugs i hate them

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isadoraisacat wrote:

soilentgringa wrote:

Laurie LeAnn wrote:I have bug phobia...I don't like any type of bug in my tank good or bad. I deep clean my tank once a year. That means everything out rinsed off, plastic / silk plants replaced. Substrate replaced with new to...I have had ants in my tank before they are very hard to get out.once they start to tunnel it's a lost cause...crabs are very good about hiding their poo to..

Isopods aren't insects. They're crustaceans.



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Wait they are crustaceans for real ? I assumed they were bugs that makes me less afraid haha i love spiders and crabs just not a fan of bugs i hate them

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Yes. They are crustaceans.

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soilentgringa wrote:

isadoraisacat wrote:

soilentgringa wrote: Isopods aren't insects. They're crustaceans.



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Wait they are crustaceans for real ? I assumed they were bugs that makes me less afraid haha i love spiders and crabs just not a fan of bugs i hate them

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Yes. They are crustaceans.

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Crazy i know their are those giant under water ones that i think are kind of cute the ones you see who cling to a fishes tongue are these iso pods I'm the same family ?

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I'm pretty sure they are in the same family! So, a hesitant yes (they certainly are related though...)

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Those underwater ones actually don't cling onto the tongue, rather they "remove" the tongue and become the substitute tongue. Its believed that they feed off the morsels that the fish eat, but its also predicted that they "drink" their victims. I'll much prefer the giant isopods!

aussieJJDude wrote:I'm pretty sure they are in the same family! So, a hesitant yes (they certainly are related though...)

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Those underwater ones actually don't cling onto the tongue, rather they "remove" the tongue and become the substitute tongue. Its believed that they feed off the morsels that the fish eat, but its also predicted that they "drink" their victims. I'll much prefer the giant isopods!

Yikes yeah i was reading they seem like parasites im pretty much not a fan of anything that uses a "host" to feed off from fleas to ticks and other icky bugaboos I'll pass on that. Pretty yucky

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