HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So I've had my crabs about a week now. Everything has been going great! The humidity and temperature is steady and the crabs are active.

2 days ago my crab Hermes buried and hasn't been up at all. I'm pretty sure he's molting. My other crab isn't bothering him and it's all good. However, today I gently lifted up the tank to see if I could see Hermes on the bottom. I didn't see him, but what I did see was mold almost completely covering it. It's the white fuzzy kind. I had some before, and I just scooped it up and it was fine and hasn't come back. :/ I know I don't have any flooding, but I'm concerned it's gonna hurt my crabs. Will it? I've been planning to get a bigger tank (at a 8 gallon now), but I was gonna wait till christmas. Do I need to take the other crab out and into a new tank, and wait for the molter to come up?

Thank you!

Bump! :/

Is it inside of the tank? Are you absolutely certain it's mold?

Technically, mold doesn't hurt crabs. It's more of a nuisance in my opinion. Someone else may be able to offer more insight, I've never heard of this before. What are your conditions like? I don't really understand how it would grow down there... I wouldn't move the molting crab just yet, as digging him up and moving him is more dangerous and stressful for him. Are you absolutely certain there is no flooding?


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Mold happens - it's a wet environment and anything natural - wood, cocofiber, food, etc - is going to grow it. Just scoop it out and keep going. Eventually the tank will find a happy medium. Air flow will help to keep it from coming back, but you have to be careful about low humidity by doing so!

I thought mold released chemicals that were harmful to the crabs.......

landlubber wrote:I thought mold released chemicals that were harmful to the crabs.......

No. I don't know of any mold that is harmful to crabs, however there are types of mold that can cause respiratory issues in humans.

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