HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My E crab Rory just molted and it looks like he's got a little discoloration or a scrape on one of the joints. I'm afraid that he might get an infection if it is a scrape. He's also white as a ghost. I've been putting pure aloe on that area and giving him spirulina (sp?) & calcium.What do you think it is? What should I do?And should I take him to the vet?

The joint spotting is completely normal for E's as most of them will pale out over time if the correct color enhancing pigments aren't made available in their diet regularly. You need to feed whole raw shrimp with the shell still on and more specifically the shrimp or krill meant for feeding to aquarium fish, raw or boiled carrots, green-red-yellow bell peppers, squash, sweet potatoes and spirulnia on an alternating basis to get the crab back to peak color.E's are very dependent upon the pigment enhancers that we provide them because it's so easy for them to pale out versus the other species like PP's, Violas and Ruggies.I have several E's and they range in color from russet to almost yellow and when they have gone too long without having a color enhancer given they quickly pale out becoming a pale grey to a dark shade of white.If your hermitcrab accidentally bumps a limb during the hardening process it wont present you with a fresh open scrape but rather a scar where the tissue has already harden over so the risk of infection is extremely low to non-existent.