Hermit not coming out of shell

[D Z]

OK so I have a weird question. What could cause my hermit to stay in its shell....for a couple weeks. It has not moved at all for probably 2 - 3 weeks now. At first, I thought it was just molting. Then after about a week I got concerned and thought maybe it had kicked the bucket. I picked it up and turned it over to find it retreating further into its shell, so it was still alive. I carefully put him back down thinking maybe he was molting and was still in the process. Well, another week or so went by and it still has not moved. I checked it again this past weekend, and sure enough, it is still alive. I feel bad for the poor guy....he has not come out of his shell for quite a while now. Is there anything I can do? Am I right in thinking at this point that it has been too long for it to be molting? I am at a loss here at this point. I have tried searching and have not found any good information. Thanks in advance.

[D Z]

Bump...anyone?

[CrazyCarl]

Have you been spot feeding him. I had a scarlet hermit stay in one spot for about a week after he had been kidnapped by my pistol shrimp. Once I removed the pistol shrimp he came crawling out very slowly and was very pale (he was being held captive for about a month). I spot fed him pellets and he eventually recovered. I don't know if there is anything else you can do at this point. I guess it could be a molting problem, but I wouldn't think it would last this long. You might want to research Iodine dosing and see if it might help.

[D Z]

Have you been spot feeding him. I had a scarlet hermit stay in one spot for about a week after he had been kidnapped by my pistol shrimp. Once I removed the pistol shrimp he came crawling out very slowly and was very pale (he was being held captive for about a month). I spot fed him pellets and he eventually recovered. I don't know if there is anything else you can do at this point. I guess it could be a molting problem, but I wouldn't think it would last this long. You might want to research Iodine dosing and see if it might help.

I have thought about iodine dosing. Will look into that.

 

Is it possible that he outgrew his shell and is now stuck inside??

 

I used to spot feed him whenever I feed the tank with frozen food. I would have to feed him first so that he would not go after the food I was spot feeding to my coral. Now he doesn't even move when I put food in the tank...

 

 

 

Ohh and also, I just remembered this part. When I was doing a water change on Saturday, I flipped him over to see if he was still alive and left him on his back for a little while to see what he would do. He kinda came out a little bit, enough where I could see his face, but eventually went back in and I just flipped him back over.