Mites and freshly moulted crab!

backslash14 · Post by **backslash14** » Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:21 am

I have an ecuadorian that I got literally 4 days ago (Monday), and in the process of transferring from my 5g iso to a 20g second tank my girlfriend accidentally dug him up, and he has mites in his shell! There were hollow exo pieces at the bottom of the tank and he dove down as soon as I got him, it looks like he's eaten all but about one leg from his moult so far. I know I dont want to put him back in the 5g that he had the mites in. He may have had them upon purchase and it doesnt look like any of the other 4 have gotten any.He's currently chilling in a shallow half salt half freshwater bath.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Fri Sep 06, 2013 8:11 am

If all that was left was one leg then the crab was nearly done with the old exo anyway and already halfway through the recovery process so he should be good to go in about three to five days.What color is he is he pink, pale or normal looking?If he has passed the pink or soft stage of the molt the chances of him having sustained injuries from a premature move are greatly diminished.If he's already moving on his own thats a good indicator as well that he's harden up enough.Since he's gotten mites in his shell the best thing to do at this point would be to give him a bath in some luke warm dechlorinated salt water using the salt mix you have for him.Turn him upside down while he's in the water and then drain the water while hes still upside down on the bottom of the bowl as all the mites will float out of his shell to the surface so you don't want to bring him past them when removing him from the water as they'll just re-attach.You may have to do this a couple of times to get them all but once done you can place him in with the others just keep a close eye on him for the next 24 to 48hrs to be sure he doesn't get bullied as is common with freshly molted hermits.

backslash14 · Post by **backslash14** » Fri Sep 06, 2013 6:57 pm

He is fully colored up, a lot less dark than he was, but still really dark for such a small E. He has pretty stitch marks. I moved the other crabs to the new 20g, and dumped the EE from the 5g and sterilized it with hot water, before making a moist paper towel "nest" and giving him his essentials, and a plastic hidey.I haven't seen any mites on him recently but I'm gonna bathe him daily for 3-5 days before putting him back in with the substrate.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 4:32 am

I wouldn't bathe the crab daily as bathing actually does damage to the crab by stripping it of it's body oils which dries it out and also disturbs the isotopic balance of the shell water which causes the crab to have to work harder to secrete new body oil and fix the balance of fresh and salt water in the shell water.I would only bathe the crab once or twice after that you should not see anymore mites in the shell.