Can't tell if hermie is dying

[mariluca]

Hello, I'm new to hermie care. I've read multiple websites and threads on molting and how to tell if your hermit crab is dead but none answer my question. One of my four hermit crabs smells- but he's still alive. He is not moving and his limbs are floppy. I don't know if they smell when they're going to molt or also smell when they're going to die? It's smelly, I wouldn't describe it as strong fishy smell but it is a strong unpleasant odor- and yes he's definitely alive. Thank you for any help.

[mariluca]

I'm sorry, I'm new here so I didn't know to include this:1) How long have you had your crabs and how long have you been caring for this particular crab in distress? 1 month2) What size is your tank and what kind of lid do you have? 20 gallon. It has a reptile lid but its covered by a towel to help keep in moisture.3) What are you using for heat? Please be specific and include fixture type, watt or mat size and where the heat source is mounted. Reptile heating pad mounted to the back of the tank4) What kind of substrate do you use in your tank and at what depth? Is it dry or damp and sand castle consistency? Half sand half gravel (I'm going to be changing this tomorrow to all sand). It's about three inches deep kept moist (again I'm going to be increasing this to about 6 inches)5) Do you dechlorinate your fresh water and if so, with what product? Do you offer aquarium salt water in addition to fresh water? Again, what product?Distilled water.6) What do you normally feed your crabs?Broccoli, carrots, hermit crab food. 7) Do you bathe, mist or handle your crabs at all?No. Pick them up but not a lot. What are the temperature and humidity readings? Please be specific and include high low fluctuations if you're aware of them. Temp 80, humidity 70

[Crabber85]

Your temp and humidity look good so I don't think they are the problem.If you would please check the bottle of hermitcrab food you have for Ethoxyquin, Copper Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, BHA or BHT as these are used as industrial pesticides and as such can not discriminate bewteen the crabs they are being fed to and the insects they are meant to kill.I understand your working on getting your substrate depth up so I'm not going to beat that subject to death with you as you seem earnest in addressing it.Your hermitcrab is likely suffering from PPS or post purchase stress which is a combination of stress, illness and lack of proper nutrition from when it was at the store and even before that at the holding facility.Being that your hermitcrab has gone limp and has begun issuing an odor the likelyhood of it being alive is decreased significantly.What you can do to make absolutely sure is to pick the crab up if the crab has indeed passed it will slump or fall out of the shell as a healthy crab will hold on tightly and even retract.I would highly recommend offering some raw or orgainc honey in a bottle cap to all of your crabs as this is an easy to digest super food which contains it's own naturally occuring anti-bacterial/anti-microbial agents and is loaded with essential proteins which will help your crabs recover from stress and become more active.It's highly recommended to do a one month hands off period to allow the newly purchased crabs to acclimate, de-stress, molt if need be and tank up on nutrients.This one month iso or hands off period helps to increase the survival rates of newly purchased hermitcrabs to over seventy percent.If your sick hermit does indeed turn out to have passed on don't stress over the others you have just do as I've said and give them the time they need but do make sure to keep the food and waters changed out regularly and they should pull through for you.If you want to feed a commercial food look for the brand HBH Hermitcrab Variety Bites it's a good food that doesn't have all harmful stuff in it that I listed earlier.If you have any more questions please feel free to ask as that is what we are here for.

[Geranium]

Also, some people notice an odor in a molting crab that smells sort of like iodine.

[mariluca]

Thank you for the info. He died overnight (there was no question about it!). This morning I worked on switching the tank over to all sand and its at about 5 inches which is more than twice the height of the largest crab we have.I will admit I bought 4 at the shore however unlike most people I realized on the hour ride home that it was immediately going to cost me money to get them the right environment and I went out and got all the proper stuff the following day. One of the original crabs looks healthy and active. There are two more that I purchased from the pet store and I'm doing all I can to keep them happy and healthy.This is a great site, thanks again.