HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Ok so back when I hard hermits before I started highschool they only needed fresh water and u didn't worry about chlorine but today you do so I both some that had chlorine filtered out so I don't have to buy dechlorintor anyway I also know they need salt water the pet shop I went to had the chlorine removal but not the salt additive she tried to sell me a salt lick block like for reptiles and I just asked if I could go to Walmart and get some non iodized sea salt and mix that and she said yes now my question since it does come naturally from evaporated sea water and has no iodine in it can I use it to mix salt water for them and if so how much should I add to a gallon of chlorine free water? If not why not thanks in advance

You want the salt that you use in fish tanks. One you can buy at Wal-Mart in the pet fish section it's blue looks like a milk carton, the other is api? Then ocean something is another brand..They need their water dechlorinated with drops, you can have aloe in the drops if you can't find it with out. Don't rely on bottle water or filters to say it's safe for your crabs because it may not remove all the contamination. I think if I rememberI mixed my salt 8table spoons to 1 gal of water and I use about 3 = 4 drops of dechlorinator per gallon of water. Make sure you use dechlorinator in your salt water as well with your reg eater rave this written on my jugs, Make sure to read all the other sections this will lead you to happpy crabbing

Ok but what's the difference the stuff for pets on walmart.com which btw my local walmart does not carry aquarium salt but it says the same thing the salt I got says all natural made from evaporated sea water so what's the difference?

Oceanic & Instant Ocean are the brands I am familiar with. I found IO at Walmart in the past. Amazon has it. The pet stores have it. I found it once at Big Lots. They are aquarium salt and have more than just salt in them to create essentially sea/ocean water with all the important components of it. I don't believe sea salt has the other components but I could be wrong. Someone with more of the science of it will hopefully answer soon.Removing chlorine is important but it is also important to break the heavy metal bonds and remove the chlorine not just the taste of the chlorine. I was shocked to find out that my Brita filter doesn't actually take out the chlorine! You want to avoid the dechlorinators that promote slime coat, you want a basic dechlor that states that it breaks the heavy metal bonds. I have found it relatively inexpensive to buy the dechlorinator. Buying special water is a great deal more expensive here.

It's only 88 cents plus tax to buy a gallon of water that has been filtered to remove chlorine I called the company before I bought it just to make sure and they said the distilled brand water they sell and the drinking water have been filtered to remove chlorine and I know that with the distilled it removes some minerals they need so I got the drinking watere..... but what I really need answered here is the sea salt thing?

@renewed_mind, the difference between using sea salt for human consumption and aquarium salt is that the sea salt is missing over half of the minerals that is should contain due to the collection process.Most brands of sea salt have been collected through evaporation but that is accomplished through boiling the water which leaves behind the salt residue but because the salt has been subjected to such high temps is actually alters the structure of the salt and even destroys the other softer minerals which makes using this kind of salt less than ideal because it leaves a lot lacking and can even have up to a 50% contamination ration from the processing equipment.The sea salt you buy at the pet store like Instant Ocean or Oceanic's has been synthetically designed to mimic the exact properties of sea water when mixed properly so your crabs are getting everything they need and nothing they don't.API and Jungle put out good basic fresh water salts which are only good to a point because they are in fact very much similar to rock salt being that they are mostly derived from salt pits and consist of the basic element Sodium Chloride with not much else so we never recommend these salt brands to those who have any other kind of hermitcrab than PP's which are domestic to the US and the Bahamas and can live on these salts unlike the exotics like the Ecuadorian and Straw.You are really not getting a good deal with the bottled drinking water as 99% of it is sourced from municipal waters which contain chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals most of which can not be filtered out.Most bottling facilities use R/0 or reverse osmosis filtration to filter their water but the problem is is that even though the water is being filtered on a molecular level there are a lot of contaminants such as heavy metals which get left behind for us to consume.Chlorine is easier to filter out than its sibling Chloramine which is a combination of Chlorine and Ammonia that has been bonded together to make it harder to evaporate so it stays in the water weeks or even months longer.Even when you filter tap water through evaporation your still getting left with the chloramine and the heavy metals in the condensation which makes the water toxic for hermitcrabs to drink.This is why we recommend using a good dechlorinator on all water except for bottled spring water.

WEll okay I Understand the salt issue now but now I don't understand the water issue because I called the company and they said that when it is reverse osmosis filtered that that removes the chlorine but what you're saying is that it leaves behind other things I've also read online that if you use distilled water then it has Been filtered so much it removes necessary nutrients for the hermit crabs however you say to use spring water which has not been filtered at all and also says on the bottle that it was obtained from a municipal water Municipal supply as well so it sounds to me like there isn't any water that is safe enough to give to them so now what? because even if what you are saying is to just get regular water and put a dechlorintor in it then it still leaves the rest of the stuff in just removed the chlorine which is already been removed from what I've already bought except it will cost 4 times as much per gallon of water

ya know what it is easier just to get a couple gallon jugs fill it with your tap water go get a bottle of drops that remove the gunk it, it will cost you under 4$ and last you a long long long time! you use 3-4 drops in a gallon of water for both types of water the reg and the sea salt type. the crabs will be fine . I have been doing this since 2009 my crabs are fine with tap water and we have the most crapiest water around. if you start to analyze things to much then you over question your self and doubt your self and then your confused and get start getting over whelmed.. I think I have had the same bottle of drops for over a year now! I change my water every 3 days or so. like I said I use tap water and the ocean stuff I got at the pet store, wal mart used to carry some salt stuff for fish tanks ours quit then I had to buy the api stuff then I found the ocean type..if anyone tell you reg sea salt from the store you use for food or a salt block?? they don't know crabbing!

Well i just don't get it if all the drops do Is remove chlorine but not the other Crap that you mentioned then what's the difference? I mean the other things are still in it mineral calamine like u said the only thing it takes out is chlorine then there is no difference in the reverse osmosis filtered water and tap water with drops

The drops break the chemical bonds therefore doing more than just removing chlorine.

Ahh ic and so it breaks down chemical bonds but still leaves the sediments they need in their diet.... ok and there is no like cheaper way cause the drops in my local pet shop are like 6 to 10 bucks for a really small bottle

That really small bottle lasts a long time. I've had mine for over a year now. I would look for it at WalMart, KMart, Target, type places for lower prices. Even on Amazon.

Add it up if you go buy bottle water every time you need to change water and believe me you will have times where you change it a lot more for various reasons it will out cost what that bottle of drops cost you in the pet store or Wal-Mart!forget Amazon and the other places unless you ordering lots of stuff because you have s&h and that will be more than what you could of paid for it in the store. Also we would never tell you anything that would harm your crabs, so trust us when we say the drops are safe we have used them for years, better to use them than not, I wouldn't trust any water company just cause they say it filter or spring.

@renewed_mind, yes the dechlorinator drops address the chlorine, chloramine and heavy metal contamination and as long as the bottle says it does all three your fine.I buy my dechlorinator drops once every four to six months and I mix up a gallon of water at the time both for fresh and salt water.I like the brands Stress Coat, API and Jungle because you can get more for less and these products are available nearly everywhere aquarium supplies are sold.I know we've been warned in the past against using any dechlorinating drops that contain aloe or collides but I've been using Jungle, API and Stress Coat for nearly a year now and all contain aloe and naturally occurring collides(these are derived from seaweed and are used to thicken the water) and I have yet to have a problem with them killing my crabs. It's a myth that the aloe or naturally occurring thickening agents in these products cause the hermitcrabs gills to become clogged as they simply don't work that way and in most instances the Aloe has been proven to help sick hermits to recover faster.I agree with Laurie your definitely going to be saving money in the long run by dechlorinating your own tap water versus spending money on a regular basis to buy new water from the store.When I mentioned spring water I meant bottled water that specifically states it comes from this spring and it has to be a reputable source listed like Table Rock springs North Carolina as this is a well know naturally occurring spring that is used for store brands like Ingles spring water.If its actual spring water it does not need to be treated as it has had no chemicals added to it before reaching us. Providing salt water in the enclosure has been a standard practice in the crabbing community for the last ten years at least so its not a new thing by any stretch of the imagination though the pet industry and those who specifically harvest, market and sell hermitcrabs to various stores wont admit to this or even tell the stores that its necessary because they want as many crabs to die as possible as soon as possible so that the stores have to re-order which is a sad money making gimmick to say the least.

quote:Originally posted by Crabber85:@renewed_mind, yes the dechlorinator drops address the chlorine, chloramine and heavy metal contamination and as long as the bottle says it does all three your fine.I buy my dechlorinator drops once every four to six months and I mix up a gallon of water at the time both for fresh and salt water.I like the brands Stress Coat, API and Jungle because you can get more for less and these products are available nearly everywhere aquarium supplies are sold. Crabber has a lot more crabs than the majority of us so he uses more water. For most of us the little bottle lasts over a year. Just make sure you read the bottle and it says that it removes all of what he states needs to be removed. My bottle says only one drop per gallon so some brands have different instructions. I haven't tried using the ones with aloe like stress coat but Crabber is not the first to do so. Several others have done this for longer periods and it didn't have any negative effect on their crabs.