interesting hypo issue.....

[bergamer]

My tanks salinity is at .008 per my refractameter. I even double checked with fresh clean RODI water to make sure the line came back to zero.
Here is the amazing part, my hermit crabs are living. I only have 2 left, but they have lived well over a week in near hypo .010 and today I took it down to .008.
how can they still be alive?

 

[sepulatian]

Hermits are tough little guys. They won't be able to continue living at the low salinity though.

 

[rcreations]

I once took out a hermit crab, I thought it was dead and put it on the counter. I was going to throw it away but forgot. The next morning I saw it moving on the counter, with no water.

So they're pretty tough.

 

[sepulatian]

When I moved my 55 I had pulled everything out into my QT. The tank didn't get re-set up until a couple of weeks later. There was only enough water in it to keep the sand moist. When I began to fill it back up I saw some Nassarus snails and small hermits come to the surface of the sand. There was of course no heat, flow, or top off water added during the time that it sat empty. I don't even know what the SG was in there, there wasn't enough water to test. They all lived fine. If you can grab the crabs, add them into a bucket. Slowly raise the SG back up in the bucket and put them in with the rocks.

 

[beth]

Hearty inverts can and do survive hypo, many more will die as well. Bristle-worms and brittle-stars survive, though many die.
The question is, why submit the crabs to hypo??

 

[gmann1139]

Hermit crabs are the cockroaches of the sea. Even a nuke may not get them.

 

[mantisman51]

I'm with Beth. They can and do survive for a few weeks in a bucket. Stragglers off living rock were in the rubble in the bottom of the 5g bucket I moved the LR in, 4 weeks after I set the bucket under my 125g tank. Even with the lid loosely on top, the sg was 1.035. I drip acclimated them to 1.025 and released them in the main tank the next morning. So, since you don't have to torture them to death, why do so. Hey gmann, the crabs are a vital function of clean up in nature and tanks. They aren't cockroaches.

 

[sepulatian]

Hey gmann, the crabs are a vital function of clean up in nature and tanks. They aren't cockroaches.
I agree here. They are hardy guys and certainly serve a purpose in a system. I would hardly call them cockroaches.

 

[gmann1139]

I don't mean roaches as in they should be squashed whenever seen... I mean roaches as in indestructable.
Man, who knew hermits had so many defenders.