Neon blue stripe behavior

[fishguy449]

I revently got a single neon blue hermit crab for my 10g nano reef. For the first few days he was all over the rock cleaning. Then he disappeared for a couple days. When he showed back up he had his shell on-end near a rock. He was in that position for about a day when I went in to give him a poke to see what was up. He grabbed ahold of the rock so I didn't worry too much. Then he was there for about 2 days, slowly receding into his shell until I couldn't see him in it. I got scared and pulled him out. I could see him in the shell and when I nudged him with the tip of a toothpick, he moved, so was still alive. I then returned the shell to the tank, but laid it down on the sand bed with the shell opening down. He has not moved in a day. SHould I be worried? Did he have the shell upright with the shell opening showing for water flow?

 

[bertoni]

The animal might be dying. Hard to say. I would stop poking at it, and hope for the best.

 

[fishguy449]

Still no movement from the shell. SHould I remove it? It is a skimmerless 10g nano reef.

 

[bertoni]

I would guess the animal is dead. I would remove the shell, but the cleanup crew can likely deal with the situation nicely.