The Puffer Forum

I found a dead cortez mermit a little bit ago and though crap something is wrong with my tank these things are dyeing already. But after about 20 min of streight confusion looking at shell after shell thinking i found a empty one put it in the front of the tank then hunt for the other three and by then time i get the rest up front one or two is missing again and the 2 in front are moveing around. I was thinking what the crap i just put a empty one here then i would do it again. Finally i got all four at the front of the tank and they all had hermits in them...... with the dead one sitting right next to them. So my only possibility is that there were two in one shell and i guess one finally got tired of his roomate and booted him out killing him in the process. Has anyone had this happen to them or now if its even possible.

Never seen 2 in 1 before but i have gave my 20 or so hermits switching shells and have seen them switch before. Plus on a daily or regular basis i see new shells being used or traded. very interesting lil guys. Ive seen em without a shell and it reminded me of a spider. kinda creepy.

They climb out of their shells to molt. You are probably looking at a molt.

That makes sence.

Ive watch em creep out of there OG shell to peek in new ones. I havent seen a molt yet. But yea maybe thats what happened to you BC

jdak wrote:They climb out of their shells to molt. You are probably looking at a molt.

That was gonna be my suggestion. I have mistaken molts for dead crabs.....and vice versa. Lol!

Yep--molt.

It seems as though it was a molt the "dead" hermit was brittle and empty..... That was interesting since i havnt had these guys but 2 days so far.

I find blue legs sometimes. My shrimp molts often.

jdak wrote:I find blue legs sometimes. My shrimp molts often.

The last blue leg I had molt has not yet returned to his blue colors. Common? It has been about three weeks since he molted and he still isnt blue. He is healthy, doing well and has a new larger shell. His exo has to be hardened by now. Must just take a while for their colors to come back.

JoseDepacos wrote:

jdak wrote:I find blue legs sometimes. My shrimp molts often.

The last blue leg I had molt has not yet returned to his blue colors. Common? It has been about three weeks since he molted and he still isnt blue. He is healthy, doing well and has a new larger shell. His exo has to be hardened by now. Must just take a while for their colors to come back.

Might have been a problem with his molt. I would guess it wouldn't be fixed until the next molt.