on buying blue leg hermits...

ok so with the next trip to cali being not for awhile
my algae is blooming of course
and i searched around some online, and uh don't really want to pay $20+ for shipping when i need like 5 bucks worth of blue leg hermits (10 or so)
plus the places that have great shipping on live stock have a minimum order


so here is my question
can blue legs carry parasites and/or ich?
cause they are probobly going to be bought from petco so yeah.. :-/

thanks

 

Never heard of hermits carrying any type of parasite.

If in doubt about whater quality, you can always ask them to dry pack them for you (they take them out of the water, toss them in the bag with some air, and then you just dump them right into your tank - no need for acclimation. Do it all the time from my LFS).

 

They may not be affected by it but they sure can carry it.
One suggestion would be to give them a FW dip after DT/QT acclimation.
I strongly suggest however that you do QT them for at least a week before putting them in your DT.

 

Never heard of this being done.. But also seems like a good idea...

 

er just dip them in dechlorinated tap? should i shake them around in the dip or just in and out?

 

Crustaceans should not be freshwater dipped, they are not good at regulating their osmotic pressure and are sensitive to changes in salinity so should really be drip acclimated and never freshwater dipped.

 

Yep dechlorinated tap water. Leave them in there for about 5-10 mins.

 

Crabs, shrimp and other crustaceans are osmoconformers meaning they cannot adjust to large fluctuations in salinity it would do damage and is irresponsible to add them to freshwater.

 

ok so should i just get them and then just keep up on dipping the fish food in garlic?

 

Yes garlic dipped food is always good after adding new arrivals. As to whether a hermit crab will be carrying parasites, that will depend on whether they have a mixed invert and fish system at your LFS. If it is mixed then it is highly likely that the shell could have ICH on it. If there invert system is separate then it will probably be OK. If you're really worried you could just QT the hermit for a few months in a QT without fish which will starve out any parasites (QT must not have been dosed with copper previously). I have never had to do this, I have a cleaner shrimp and neon goby which I see regularly cleaning all the fish in my DT. I also occasionally feed garlic soaked krill.