White legged hermit crab breakdancing?

[Smiles1969]

I have a white legged hermit crab that molted 2 days ago. It has not returned to a shell yet. It keeps spinning on its back. It rights itself occasionally. Eats. Sleeps. And then goes back to spinning on its back.

I’ve cleaned all the available shells and introduced more in many different sizes and shapes to see if it just wants a new home.

Aquarium is a 36 gallon FOWLR. 6 fish, an emerald crab, 2 trochus snails, and a sand sifting starfish.

Salinity is 1.021
PH 7.8
Ammonia is 0
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is ~10 PPM

I don’t think anyone will harm or attack it, I would just like to know if this behavior has been seen before and if I can/should do something to resolve it.

Thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

"I've fallen and I can't get up!"

 

[1112-425XL]

Not much more you can do. Just wait and see.
Not related, but IMO your salinity could come up to 1.024 ish.

 

[Smiles1969]

My crab is on day 5 without a shell. . It roams around the tank, basically on its back, and finds a few dark spaces to rest. When I feed the tank I make sure it’s flipped upright and eats. Then it goes back to the same behavior. It’s like it’s off balance without a shell. I’ve re-cleaned all the shells in the tank. Bought a few more and even scooped it into a net with its old shell and a couple of new ones. Nothing seems to help.

 

[Tired]

Curious how this turned out. I assume it died eventually.