Frequency of Clean Up Crew Deaths?

[Liquid]

How frequently do people notice deaths in their tank amongst the clean up crew? I would say about once or twice a week I'm seeing a hermit or something die in my tank. Is this about to be expected or is something wrong? My water always checks out perfect, with the exception of dKH which runs a bit low at 7-8. There is no algae in my tank and I'm wondering if these guys just have a short life span or if they may be starving or if there is something else wrong.

All the livestock seems to be healthy and happy.

 

[Troubleman]

Hermit crabs molt.....are you sure this is what you are seeing.....otherwise its usually small empty shells when the hermits kill off snails in order to get a bigger home.........plus hermits scavange and eat any leftover food from the fish.

 

[Jocko]

Yeah its probably crab molts. I never could figure out how they get out the their exoskeletons like that. At least with the hermits they are usually only the front half that you see. I have a dried molt from a porcelain crab and a gorilla crab that are 100% intact. If it wasn't for the fact that I actually saw the crabs after that, I'd have no reason to think they weren't just dead crabs.

My only problem is the stupid astrea snails. Oops I fell on my back! Now I'm dead!

 

[Greg Hiller]

I do find that snails die off quite a lot. Particularly when you first get them in. I think that careful handing is important for snails to survive, and unfortunately, due the the low value of the critters, many wholesalers and retailers are not very careful with these guys.

 

[RichConley]

I've had a lot of snail losses like greg. I think hes right about what he said, but I also think that in some of our tanks, theres not enough food for them. I dont have any algae in my display, and I think some of the snails just die off because theyre starving. It seems like they've died off to a certain level, and every time I add a couple, a couple die.

 

[reefsmurf]

I haven't added critters in 1.5 years or so. I'm still amazed to see some astrea snails and red hermits alive, although the hermit(s) don't come out often

 

[mloebl]

I've had the same thing with an emerald crab where I swear it's finally died (trying to get him out), only to see him 2 weeks later again bigger than before... I'm down to maybe 6 - 8 good sized hermit crabs of the dozen or so I put in there about 2 years ago. My snails seems to have dropped easily to 25% of their origional numbers. I have one giant turbo snail left of handful I added, all the astreas did the fall over suicide over time, couple cerith left, and the rest of them get slowly picked off by crabs.

-Mike

 

[fanaglethebagle]

All those, but a lot less likely is a mantis shrimp.

 

[Scuba_Dave]

I actually glued little hollow balls to the top of each astrea snail
Now when they fall off, they land right side up

 

[Chris L]

hey thats a pretty cool idea

 

[fanaglethebagle]

Haha yeah, Like childproof snail shells.

 

[HKAVR45]

Its flat out survival of the fittest for me. I have snails from my first clean up crew and some other additions. Due to noticeable characteristics of the shell/snail I can tell that some have survived from the first batch and other have not.

As for crabs, its like gladiator in my tank. I'm constantly watching battles amongst blue hermits. Again, the biggest always survive and take on the red hermits for their shells. Its absolutely incredible to watch. Darwinism in a 15g.

What is the lifespan for a snail or a blue/red hermit anyway?

 

[sw300galma]

I actually glued little hollow balls to the top of each astrea snail
Now when they fall off, they land right side up

Dave you scare me sometimes lol

 

[Aquaman_68]

Hollow salty balls..........LOL

 

[Greg Hiller]

>I actually glued little hollow balls to the top of each astrea snail
Now when they fall off, they land right side up<

Dave are you serious? That's funny. If serious what did you use? Don't they look a pit odd?

 

[RayD]

>I actually glued little hollow balls to the top of each astrea snail
Now when they fall off, they land right side up<

Dave are you serious? That's funny. If serious what did you use? Don't they look a pit odd?

First off lemme say that Dave we want a pic of that! Absolutely INGENIOUS!

I'm not sure of the mortality rate of my clean up crew but every so often when I'm in the LFS I'll pick up a handful of snails and crabs just to keep my tank stocked. But I know for a fact that some of the crew is from the original CUC bought back in '04 when I started the tank.

I did lose my Sally Lightfoot last week and last night when fooling with the flow in my tank (I turned it on to hurricane strength) I saw a blue legged hermit carcus float by me. 8=(

Speaking of flow ... I'll start another thread.

 

[Triggerfish]

not really any hermits, but over time i see many empty snail shells.