I think I killed my electric blue hermit

[ParkersReef_711]

I threw away my hermit yesterday because he hadn't mooved and he was so far up in his shell i could barely see him. I removed him so that his death couldn't hurt the other fish and crabs. After reading today hermits usually fall out if they are dead.

 

[PeteStarks]

It's possible it was molting. Unless your tank is really tiny I would let it play out next time and see how it goes. Usually another crab will come along and eat the sick and dying one with that whole circle of life thing.

 

[heathlindner25]

Yes, he was probably molting.

 

[swiftvision]

I leave dead fish in my tank (only had 2 or 3).

My system needs to be tough enough to handle these things.

 

[HBtank]

As above, I also generally do not go out of my way to remove anything from the tank (withstanding a very large/obvious specimen). Partially because with fish it will be hidden and gone before I do anyway, and second when it comes to other animals I may be wrong (like your concern) and I know it will be simply processed like excess food.

And yeah, with crabs you will both assume they have died from the molt itself on the bottom of the tank (always gets people), or think they are hurt because they will behave differently for a few days while they are "soft" with their new skeleton.

 

[mrsixstrings12]

what I have done in the past is, if I suspect something is dead or dying, I place it in a "holding tank" (5 gallon bucket, spare tank, etc) and watch it play out. This way, if it lives, it's still living and I can place back in the main tank. If it dies, then there are no ill effects to the main tank.