Hermit crabs dying
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Topic author - Posts: 58
- Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2014 2:18 am
- Location: california
Hermit crabs dying
1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it? Ecco earth and sand. Like 7-8 inches deep. The sand part is lower and as it mixes into the EE it gets higher
2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read? Yes for heat it usually is 75-80 but no humidity because no matter how hard I tried it only read to about 70. So I took it out because it was broken I think even when there was moisture in the glass it said 65 and i put my phone in and left it and it ended up reading 76 so I really think it was broken. They were both in the corner closer to the ground
3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?
Yes a head pad on one side and a over head light over the Moss pit
4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)? Both, salt mix is instant ocean and dechlorinator is aqueon and the mixture is as directed. It has a measurement per 10 gallons and i use that same measurement per one gallon and the salt I follow the directions
5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced? I rotate alot of food. Freeze dried shrimp and worms and stuff. It's a turtle mixture. With no additives and all the items are on the safe food list. That is replaced maybe every 3 days or so. And power every now and then and that's only there 2 days. Everything else is only there half a day. I put fresh veggies and fruits basically if it's on the safe foods list I try to put it and I put it at night and take it out in the morning
6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known? Like some half a year some 1 year pps
7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen? N/A
8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing? Glass tank, mesh lid but with seran wrap to help humidity. I lift the wrap very morning to let fresh air in. Sometimes night is when I'll do it if the day was too hot but I lift once everything 24 hours to get fresh air. And im not sure the size. It's perfectly square and deep. It's big.
9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they? Medium and about 6
10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any? 2 per crab
11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently? No
12. How often do you clean the tank and how? I spot clean daily, change the water weekly (it has a bubbler) and bin weekly clean the glass with their decholorinated water
13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned? No I use a sponge by the side mounted heat pad for humidity. And it's only left for a day. I'll put one in there every few days and I clean it by soaking it in Salt water letting it air dry the microwaving it for 30 seconds. I have a powerful microwave.
14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently? No
15. Is there any other information you would like to share that might be helpful (anything that is regularly part of your crab care, playtime, bathing, etc.)? I spray directly on the side with the heater once a day or twice if it's really hot. I move the substrate every like week. I take the wet one near the pools and move it to near the heater to help humidity and i take the dried one near the heater and put it around the pool to get wet. I got all the crabs from petsmart. The exact same petsmart. Also I've tried not to handle them and may let them do their thing until they get comfortable.
16. Please describe the emergency situation in detail.
My crabs are dying. It started with a streaker he died after 3 weeks for doing everything I can. And then they started dying one by one the same way. I just find empty shells... No bodies. Except twice I found a shell with the remains of a body. Like a dark brown thin hallowed falling apart body. After the streaker died I had another streaker who died but I never found a body. There was just an empty shell in the Moss pit. Then I found a shell in the Moss put with the type of body I described before. Then today after 3 months of line nobody coming up I decided to dig. There's one (my biggest one) buried and healthy color looking. And one other smooth to molt and i left them where I found them. But there were 3 more empty shells. 2 with just dirt in them and 1 with the type of body I described. All in relatively the same corner too....my husband thinks it's just they died from pps (I think that's the abbreviation for it) post purchase syndrome? Because the store mistreated them and they were unhealthy. But I'm very worried. I'm crying because I'm afraid I killed them some how. They are all dying the same way pretty much in their shell under ground or in the Moss pit or ditching their shell. 2 ditches 2 unknown and 2 for sure in shell. And I don't want to get more if I'm doing something wrong. Maybe I shouldn't have any.... I love them so much though. What's happening. Is it really just pps? Why would they just die in she'll like that or no bodies or leave the shell. And there's no smell. No fishy smell! Only the one first streaker that I found his body it smelled but other than that I've never smelled anything.
Note: please be nice when reply I have asd and im very sensitive about these guys because they are a special intrest and my life. I am already torn up and emotional and afraid and hurt and blargh.... I don't need to be treated like a terrible person because if I did something wrong I didn't know and didn't mean to and just want to give them happy lives.... Please be nice... I think I killed them....
2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read? Yes for heat it usually is 75-80 but no humidity because no matter how hard I tried it only read to about 70. So I took it out because it was broken I think even when there was moisture in the glass it said 65 and i put my phone in and left it and it ended up reading 76 so I really think it was broken. They were both in the corner closer to the ground
3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?
Yes a head pad on one side and a over head light over the Moss pit
4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)? Both, salt mix is instant ocean and dechlorinator is aqueon and the mixture is as directed. It has a measurement per 10 gallons and i use that same measurement per one gallon and the salt I follow the directions
5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced? I rotate alot of food. Freeze dried shrimp and worms and stuff. It's a turtle mixture. With no additives and all the items are on the safe food list. That is replaced maybe every 3 days or so. And power every now and then and that's only there 2 days. Everything else is only there half a day. I put fresh veggies and fruits basically if it's on the safe foods list I try to put it and I put it at night and take it out in the morning
6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known? Like some half a year some 1 year pps
7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen? N/A
8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing? Glass tank, mesh lid but with seran wrap to help humidity. I lift the wrap very morning to let fresh air in. Sometimes night is when I'll do it if the day was too hot but I lift once everything 24 hours to get fresh air. And im not sure the size. It's perfectly square and deep. It's big.
9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they? Medium and about 6
10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any? 2 per crab
11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently? No
12. How often do you clean the tank and how? I spot clean daily, change the water weekly (it has a bubbler) and bin weekly clean the glass with their decholorinated water
13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned? No I use a sponge by the side mounted heat pad for humidity. And it's only left for a day. I'll put one in there every few days and I clean it by soaking it in Salt water letting it air dry the microwaving it for 30 seconds. I have a powerful microwave.
14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently? No
15. Is there any other information you would like to share that might be helpful (anything that is regularly part of your crab care, playtime, bathing, etc.)? I spray directly on the side with the heater once a day or twice if it's really hot. I move the substrate every like week. I take the wet one near the pools and move it to near the heater to help humidity and i take the dried one near the heater and put it around the pool to get wet. I got all the crabs from petsmart. The exact same petsmart. Also I've tried not to handle them and may let them do their thing until they get comfortable.
16. Please describe the emergency situation in detail.
My crabs are dying. It started with a streaker he died after 3 weeks for doing everything I can. And then they started dying one by one the same way. I just find empty shells... No bodies. Except twice I found a shell with the remains of a body. Like a dark brown thin hallowed falling apart body. After the streaker died I had another streaker who died but I never found a body. There was just an empty shell in the Moss pit. Then I found a shell in the Moss put with the type of body I described before. Then today after 3 months of line nobody coming up I decided to dig. There's one (my biggest one) buried and healthy color looking. And one other smooth to molt and i left them where I found them. But there were 3 more empty shells. 2 with just dirt in them and 1 with the type of body I described. All in relatively the same corner too....my husband thinks it's just they died from pps (I think that's the abbreviation for it) post purchase syndrome? Because the store mistreated them and they were unhealthy. But I'm very worried. I'm crying because I'm afraid I killed them some how. They are all dying the same way pretty much in their shell under ground or in the Moss pit or ditching their shell. 2 ditches 2 unknown and 2 for sure in shell. And I don't want to get more if I'm doing something wrong. Maybe I shouldn't have any.... I love them so much though. What's happening. Is it really just pps? Why would they just die in she'll like that or no bodies or leave the shell. And there's no smell. No fishy smell! Only the one first streaker that I found his body it smelled but other than that I've never smelled anything.
Note: please be nice when reply I have asd and im very sensitive about these guys because they are a special intrest and my life. I am already torn up and emotional and afraid and hurt and blargh.... I don't need to be treated like a terrible person because if I did something wrong I didn't know and didn't mean to and just want to give them happy lives.... Please be nice... I think I killed them....
Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to
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Re: Hermit crabs dying
I am so sorry you are experiencing this. I know it's very painful when you are doing everything you can and it doesn't seem to help. That's what we're here for, we'll try and help you figure it out.
Thank you for filling out the template. After 3 months the PPS period has really passed, so I don't think it's PPS. There must be something else going on there and it appears from what you filled out that there are no obvious, glaring issues with the set up. My one concern is that you aren't positive what the humidity level is, and low humidity could cause streaking as crabs develop trouble breathing and lose strength to hold onto the shell. But then again, with damp substrate and a decent lid you shouldn't be too low there, but the first thing I would do is get another gauge or calibrate the one you have and see where the humidity is actually at.
Another thing I wonder about is a bacterial issue. Do you see any areas in the substrate on the bottom which appear black or grayish? If you put a straw into the substrate does any water fill the bottom of the hole when you remove the straw? If you haven't checked that you may want to, standing water can cause a bacterial bloom. Were there any bodies you could examine? If so, did you notice any spots or anything strange about their bodies? The mushiness is probably just decomp, and missing bodies may have fully decomped or been eaten.
Also not knowing what size your tank is it's possible 6 mediums may be overcrowded......can you take the dimensions of the tank so we have some idea what size you really have?
I can see why your sad and frustrated. Let's see if we can figure this out together.
Thank you for filling out the template. After 3 months the PPS period has really passed, so I don't think it's PPS. There must be something else going on there and it appears from what you filled out that there are no obvious, glaring issues with the set up. My one concern is that you aren't positive what the humidity level is, and low humidity could cause streaking as crabs develop trouble breathing and lose strength to hold onto the shell. But then again, with damp substrate and a decent lid you shouldn't be too low there, but the first thing I would do is get another gauge or calibrate the one you have and see where the humidity is actually at.
Another thing I wonder about is a bacterial issue. Do you see any areas in the substrate on the bottom which appear black or grayish? If you put a straw into the substrate does any water fill the bottom of the hole when you remove the straw? If you haven't checked that you may want to, standing water can cause a bacterial bloom. Were there any bodies you could examine? If so, did you notice any spots or anything strange about their bodies? The mushiness is probably just decomp, and missing bodies may have fully decomped or been eaten.
Also not knowing what size your tank is it's possible 6 mediums may be overcrowded......can you take the dimensions of the tank so we have some idea what size you really have?
I can see why your sad and frustrated. Let's see if we can figure this out together.
6 PPs, 4 Straws, 3 Es * 1 Teeny, 6 Smalls, 4 Mediums, 1 large and 1 Jumbo in a 70 gallon
1 Boxer puppy, 1 Yorchie mutt, 1 cat, 1 ball python, 1 boa
1 Boxer puppy, 1 Yorchie mutt, 1 cat, 1 ball python, 1 boa
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Topic author - Posts: 58
- Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2014 2:18 am
- Location: california
Re: Hermit crabs dying
Thankyou you so much.
Ok. So first off. How do you calibrate a humidity gauge ? I will get on that right away!
Second no I haven't seen bacterial issues in the substrate and if anything its not wet enough. No black or greyish, no water at the bottom. When I move it the top it's loose and dry and gets more moist to the bottom but not sand castle consistency. The thing is before when I sprayed the whole tank everyday and not just the heater side and moss pit I started seeing white mold spots. Which i would pick up and discard So I stopped. Funny thing is....back then I had no deaths....
No I have such a hard time with humidity if my gauge was reading right. With the moss pit, bubbler , seran wrap, sponge, and spraying the heater side it still read 68 at the most. ...so I figured it was broken....but maybe it wasn't. If it wasn't what else can I possibly do to raise humidity ? Also, once when I got sick and couldn't change the water I found green slimy accumulation on the items in the pool. Coral, plastic canvas . I scrubbed everything and nuked the coral and rocks but maybe because of the bubbler the infected water got into the substrate. Because that's where the empty shells were near the water dishes. And no bodies I could really examine they were gone or decomposed.
And that is a big chance! Overcrowding. I was worried about that but my husband kept wanting to get more crabbies. And I figured they weren't too big and it'd be ok and I'd upgrade before they all got bigger. The dimensions are 13 in tall and 19 in wide. It's a perfect square so it's like that on all sides.
Thankyou again. I'll post a picture of the tank right now too. Also I do have one large crab if that makes a difference . He's not jumbo but he's getting bigger than a medium . The funny thing is the smallest and largest are the only survivors . I hope the water information is helpful . I just want to figure this out and fix it especially before I get more. I love them so much I'd do anything for them. I just don't know why they'd bury then die. Especially when the other two are buried and fine.
Ok. So first off. How do you calibrate a humidity gauge ? I will get on that right away!
Second no I haven't seen bacterial issues in the substrate and if anything its not wet enough. No black or greyish, no water at the bottom. When I move it the top it's loose and dry and gets more moist to the bottom but not sand castle consistency. The thing is before when I sprayed the whole tank everyday and not just the heater side and moss pit I started seeing white mold spots. Which i would pick up and discard So I stopped. Funny thing is....back then I had no deaths....
No I have such a hard time with humidity if my gauge was reading right. With the moss pit, bubbler , seran wrap, sponge, and spraying the heater side it still read 68 at the most. ...so I figured it was broken....but maybe it wasn't. If it wasn't what else can I possibly do to raise humidity ? Also, once when I got sick and couldn't change the water I found green slimy accumulation on the items in the pool. Coral, plastic canvas . I scrubbed everything and nuked the coral and rocks but maybe because of the bubbler the infected water got into the substrate. Because that's where the empty shells were near the water dishes. And no bodies I could really examine they were gone or decomposed.
And that is a big chance! Overcrowding. I was worried about that but my husband kept wanting to get more crabbies. And I figured they weren't too big and it'd be ok and I'd upgrade before they all got bigger. The dimensions are 13 in tall and 19 in wide. It's a perfect square so it's like that on all sides.
Thankyou again. I'll post a picture of the tank right now too. Also I do have one large crab if that makes a difference . He's not jumbo but he's getting bigger than a medium . The funny thing is the smallest and largest are the only survivors . I hope the water information is helpful . I just want to figure this out and fix it especially before I get more. I love them so much I'd do anything for them. I just don't know why they'd bury then die. Especially when the other two are buried and fine.
Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to
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Topic author - Posts: 58
- Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2014 2:18 am
- Location: california
Re: Hermit crabs dying
http://imgur.com/3qfiFFx
http://imgur.com/zwEZO9A
http://imgur.com/lUzkqpY
The side with the heater also has the net. It keeps it dry and from getting moldy. I spray the net sometimes. Or just behind the net on the glass.
http://imgur.com/zwEZO9A
http://imgur.com/lUzkqpY
The side with the heater also has the net. It keeps it dry and from getting moldy. I spray the net sometimes. Or just behind the net on the glass.
Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to
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Re: Hermit crabs dying
It does sound like overcrowding. The dimensions you gave would be equal to two 10 gallon tanks side by side. A tank that size could support 3 to 4 medium crabs without worrying. More than that and troubles can start as they may not feel comfortable molting or may get disturbed while molting. Do you have 6 left now, or is that how many there were to start?
Even with the overcrowding, I'd be leaning towards recommending a full substrate change when you're able to. While it's likely the space was the issue, there could be something going on with the sub that can't be seen. In the past, when someone experienced a rash of deaths that couldn't be explained, a full substrate change usually stopped whatever was happening. It's a cheap fix, although it's a pain in the rear to do! (I'm assuming that you used playsand in the current mixture?)
Even with the overcrowding, I'd be leaning towards recommending a full substrate change when you're able to. While it's likely the space was the issue, there could be something going on with the sub that can't be seen. In the past, when someone experienced a rash of deaths that couldn't be explained, a full substrate change usually stopped whatever was happening. It's a cheap fix, although it's a pain in the rear to do! (I'm assuming that you used playsand in the current mixture?)
PPS is a risk until the crab molts for the first time - it shows that the crab is going to be able to continue to grow and heal. Adapting to a new life in captivity is a hard hurdle to overcome, and the crab could also have been injured so badly that the damage is irreparable or has drained them to the point where they physically are incapable of molting. They can linger on for months after coming home or being injured, and their molt cycles can naturally be months or over a year apart (dependent on size), but unless they are able to molt they won't survive. That's why we use it as the ultimate marker on if the crab is going to make it - it's been shown that if they're able to molt once, they're more likely to live a normal life from then on.landlubber wrote:After 3 months the PPS period has really passed, so I don't think it's PPS.
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Re: Hermit crabs dying
Here is info on calibrating your hygrometer:
viewtopic.php?p=852642#p852642
I think you have some things you can try stop this issue, which is a positive thing.
Were there two of the original six left?
viewtopic.php?p=852642#p852642
I think you have some things you can try stop this issue, which is a positive thing.
Were there two of the original six left?
6 PPs, 4 Straws, 3 Es * 1 Teeny, 6 Smalls, 4 Mediums, 1 large and 1 Jumbo in a 70 gallon
1 Boxer puppy, 1 Yorchie mutt, 1 cat, 1 ball python, 1 boa
1 Boxer puppy, 1 Yorchie mutt, 1 cat, 1 ball python, 1 boa
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Topic author - Posts: 58
- Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2014 2:18 am
- Location: california
Re: Hermit crabs dying
Hello again, and thankyou for everything! I'm going to do everything said here. I'm going to calibrate the gauge tomorrow. I'm going to have less hermit crabs in the tank, and I'm going to do a full change. Once I do that I'm only going to get 2 more medium crabs. And yes there is only two of the 6 left. The smallest is molting so I don't want to change the sub because I don't want to disturb her more than I already did searching for the others. I'll wait till she's done if she survives. She's in the very middle of the tank so she might make it. I do find all this info positive to help with my crabbies. And I know they wouldn't want me to be so sad forever. I will make things better in their memory. Thankyou....
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Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to
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Topic author - Posts: 58
- Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2014 2:18 am
- Location: california
Re: Hermit crabs dying
Oh and it couldn't have been pps. I was so nervous I forgot that the first molt is the marker. They all molted once if not twice. They were all rescues one even had its whole large pincher missing. And 2 or so days after getting them they would molt. And the one missing it's pincher, Reggie, had regrown it. They were all doing fine until they buried recently. So thankyou for all the information.
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Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to