Grrrr whats killing my hermits?

[mane3215]

I was checking my tank out yesterday, and noticed that there was a hermit dead. It was out of its shell, and just floating on the rock. I figured it was odd, I didnt find its shell, and have no idea why it died.

 

 

Well I just looked in my tank to find another dead hermit out if its shell all the way at the top of my tank ontop a piece of live rock. I dont know whats going on. My water parameters are all fine.

 

ammonia: undetectable

ph: 8.0-8.2

Nitrate: undetectable

Nitrites: undetectable

 

These are results the best I can tell with the pos color code things from my fastest kit.

 

ANyone have any ideas? Everything else seems to be doing really good, including the other hermits, and snails. The damn hermits find a hole in my live rock and like they all pile in like its a club or something, dont know what thats all about but any ideas would help.

 

 

Thanks.

[surfy]

They could be fighting for bigger shells or they could be starving. Do you have any fish that can be picking on them? Maybe a hidden hitchhiker crab or something. I'm not really sure what might be causing their deaths, just throwing out some possibilitys.

[SteveC]

You might want to count your hermits. Hermit crab molts look almost exactly like hermit crab bodies (color and everything). I was really fooled by this at first because I've kept freshwater shrimp and their molts are almost transparent. But when I kept finding "bodies" and still had the same number of crabs, I figured it out.

 

So your crabs may be molting, which means they're happy (and will be looking for bigger shells). If your hermits really are dying, one possibility (that surfy mentioned) is that they're killing eachother over shells. Add some empty ones.

[mane3215]

OK, I sure hope there molting, I never thought of that possibility because they were colored and everything. Its just about impossible to count the little bastards. I ordered the 9 for 9 from ipsf and got about a million small snails and hermits.

 

I have been trying to find shells to put in there, any ideas, can seem to find them anywhere.

[caja]

Walmart sells bags of shells in the craft department. Or just ask the LFS for to toss a few empty shells in a bag for you.

[SteveC]

If it's any comfort, the cases where a hermit crab or any other small crustacean died in my tank, I never found a body. It just disappeard. I think the molts stay around long enough for you to find them because there's no meat in 'em. Otherwise they'd get devoured right away.

[mane3215]

Thanks guys, I picked up a box of like an assortment of shells. It doesnt seem ideal, but I think it will work, its called the bullia collection.

 

Thanks.