Snail being eaten...take it out?

[SaltyinNJ]

Woke up this morning to find my blue leg hermit chowing down on one of my Margarita snails.  Don't know if it killed it or it died first.  My first reaction was to take it out because of water quality issues, but then I thought that if the crab cleans it out do I have to worry about it?  Was my first instinct to remove it correct?

Advise please.  Thanks

[vanillabox]

I would go ahead and let the crab finish with it.  It may have come across a dead one, or killed it and thought "what a nice shell, I think that would look good on me."  If you are worried about hermits attacking your snails, then you may want to try going with Scarlet leg hermits.  From what I have heard/read, they are the least likely to attack corals, sponges, cor. algae, and other inhabitants of the tank, plus they do like to eat brown and hair algae.

[Christopher Marks]

Yeah, let the crab finish it.  If anything the shell will make a good home for him, or another crab in the tank.  It don't be in the tank long enough to decay and cause any problems.  I've had snails that croak after awhile for no apparent reason.  If more snails start dying though, there may be a problem in the tank.

[jdiver]

I had an Astrea snail die and it got completely eaten by a bristle worm(s) during the night. I don't know if a small blue leg would be able to finish off an entire snail though. If you don't see anything else helping to eat it, or don't see the hermit wearing the shell soon, then you might want to take it out.

[SaltyinNJ]

Thanks for the responses.  I will let the crab do his thing then...  and I will check my water parameters.  I have been keeping my water quality excellent and don't want to mess it up.    Regarding hermits, I have 1 blue leg, 1 scarlet.  I have no corals yet, but I am getting nervous about keeping these hermits when I do get corals.  For one thing, they both have been eating my coraline algae.  I won't mess around if they start eating corals...they will be gone.