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thincat
10-11-2008, 12:41 AM
Can anyone tell me what's on my hermit crab?

Freewebs Site Builder - Imaginary Reef (http://fw.members.freewebs.com/MembersB/editPage.jsp?token=e78d84697985ff6d11cea31b701&pageID=108342162)

PhotoJohn
10-11-2008, 12:56 AM
the black things look like margarita snails...but i am guessing you would notice if they were snails...the pink thing in very interesting

thincat
10-11-2008, 03:09 AM
Yes, the pink thing started out the size of a pinhead and I thought it was corolline algae, but it continues to grow.. The snails are called "PIPIPI's in Hawaii. Nirites I think.

Amphibious
10-11-2008, 08:24 AM
your link takes me to a sign page.

Skurvey Dog
10-11-2008, 08:48 AM
I get a log on page also. When I first ready your thread title...... I thought to myself 'Monkey?" :p

thincat
10-11-2008, 11:31 AM
your link takes me to a sign page.

Sorry, please try this link:
Picasa Web Albums - POPS - 10.10.08.1 (http://picasaweb.google.com/Czara01/1010081?authkey=pGi7dN5XMis#5255630704185170210)

boyesreef
10-11-2008, 11:40 AM
it looks like your crab has picked up a friend! maybe a sponge or some kind of soft coral maybe?

CarmieJo
10-11-2008, 07:48 PM
Or maybe a hard coral that has settled out on the hermit's shell?

boyesreef
10-11-2008, 10:14 PM
i dont know, crabs move around a lot, and arnt always in the light. i dont know if whatever it is would get enough light on a moving critter, unless it started growing between death of snail and the new tennant moving in. if it started growing after the fact it would almost certenly have to be a filter feeder.

Skurvey Dog
10-11-2008, 10:31 PM
It looks like it has new growth at the base where it is attached to the shell and has coralline growth on a porous like surface towards the top. Could it be some type of hard shelled filter feeder? Very odd indeed since it looks like growth takes place near the base and not the top.

bbl_nk
10-12-2008, 01:09 PM
I had something similar on a Nasarius snail. The snail died and was picked apart by some BL hermits and I pulled out the shell to look at. It was hard and tubular. I touched it with a little too much pressure and broke part of it and seemed like something was inside of it. I dropped it back in the tank and not its home to a hermit. I was thinking its some sort of feather duster since I litterally have hundreds of these little buggers in my tank.

Skurvey Dog
10-12-2008, 01:44 PM
I know what you mean. I just say that because I zoomed in on the pic and it appears to be a calcium based growth at the base reminding me of an oyster shell, layered growth. Really weird.

thincat
10-12-2008, 06:39 PM
Someone on another forum said it might be a stage in the lifecycle of the Hermit. They have larvae growth and it is free swimming and some how got attached to the shell. Yea Right..the wonders of the ocean. I do not have any hard corals in my tank either.