Those elusive hermits.

[Cherie cook]

Don't know if it's just me...but I can never get a decent amount of hermit crabs to survive post shipping! Ill order 20 and just four or five will make it to my display tank. Of those, two will never be seen again. The remaining few will do fine! Is it just me or do hermits just ship poorly?

 

[sa6hir]

Why not just pick them up from the lfs if they are dying at that rate? I wouldn’t have thought they die at that rate. I remember adding about 10, that was 2-3 years ago I’m pretty sure I still have about 6.

 

[Cherie cook]

Why not just pick them up from the lfs if they are dying at that rate? I wouldn’t have thought they die at that rate. I remember adding about 10, that was 2-3 years ago I’m pretty sure I still have about 6.

No really close LFS...plus the one we do have (hour and a half away) have them in with fish that clearly have health issues. Sigh, sometimes it sucks to be "in the middle of nowhere".

 

[DIvid]

Where have you been purchasing your hermits from?

 

[sa6hir]

The other thing you could try is when out of town pop in to lfs or make a trip out of it. The thing with inverts is they are sensitive so u don’t know where they have come from in the sense of water prams, maybe dying due to shock?

 

[Cherie cook]

Where have you been purchasing your hermits from?

Mostly Live Aquaria.

 

[Cherie cook]

The other thing you could try is when out of town pop in to lfs or make a trip out of it. The thing with inverts is they are sensitive so u don’t know where they have come from in the sense of water prams, maybe dying due to shock?

I do acclimate them slow drip...but it seems they are goners by the time I get them...hard to say, really, because sometimes they rally once in the QT for a few hours.

 

[sa6hir]

If your doing everything as you should then either they are posting the dead 1z or there is something else wrong. Trying using some1 else. See if it makes a difference,

 

[DIvid]

I do acclimate them slow drip...but it seems they are goners by the time I get them...hard to say, really, because sometimes they rally once in the QT for a few hours.

Depending on how they are shipped a slow drip can cause more harm than good. The basic problem is ammonia here, when you get the hermits the ph of the water has dropped most likely significantly. Which is actually a good thing lower ph makes the ammonia less toxic, when you open the bag it allows for gas exchange to easily happen again allowing the ph to start rising again. slow dripping can make this issue worse by raising the ph even more rapidly due to your tank water more than likely having much higher ph. If your having trouble with them with a slow drip process I would skip the acclimation and put them directly into the QT, obviously make sure your not adding the water they come in into the tank.

 

[Cherie cook]

Depending on how they are shipped a slow drip can cause more harm than good. The basic problem is ammonia here, when you get the hermits the ph of the water has dropped most likely significantly. Which is actually a good thing lower ph makes the ammonia less toxic, when you open the bag it allows for gas exchange to easily happen again allowing the ph to start rising again. slow dripping can make this issue worse by raising the ph even more rapidly due to your tank water more than likely having much higher ph. If your having trouble with them with a slow drip process I would skip the acclimation and put them directly into the QT, obviously make sure your not adding the water they come in into the tank.

I never knew that...I thought slow drip was the best method! I'm sure gonna try that next time though, thanks for the info!