Small purple spots?

Questions about unexpected problems.
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emmac350
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Small purple spots?

Post by emmac350 »

I just noticed that I have small purple-colored spots on my sand in one corner of my tank. No crabs have buried there, so it couldn't be crab poo (they descend vertically from around an inch down to about five inches down; five or six spots) or buried food.

I use a mixture of a marine reef sand (that still has a tiny bit of playsand mixed in it; I had combined them a while back, but have had no molting problems as of yet) and CaribSea Aragonite sand.

Is it mold? Mildew? Should I try to just use a spoon and remove the spots? Has anyone else had this before?
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CrabbyJo
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Re: Small purple spots?

Post by CrabbyJo »

Never heard of it Emma! Maybe some food got in there and grew mold? I hope you just scooped it out and kept an eye on if any more grew. That's what I'd do. :)
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emmac350
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Re: Small purple spots?

Post by emmac350 »

It hasn't spread at all - it's deep enough down that it'd be really hard to scoop out. I've been keeping a close eye on it, but nothing has happened. Just those same spots. I'm thinking maybe there was an impurity in the sand? Not sure, but I'm keeping a very close eye on it.
Follow the daily lives of my crabs at thedailyhermit.tumblr.com

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Rack, 23 Sep 08; Benny, 23 Sep 08; Slightly, 3 Jan 09; Nibs, 3 Jan 09; Curly, 3 Jan 09; Spaz, 5 Jul 09

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hermie_lover3542
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Re: Small purple spots?

Post by hermie_lover3542 »

Hmmmmmm, I have never heard of this before, could you maybe show some pictures?
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CrabbyJo
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Re: Small purple spots?

Post by CrabbyJo »

Hermie lover, you may want to look at dates before replying to old posts, this was posted back in July of 2009. :) I'm sure she doesn't have it any more :)
6 hermit crabs - 3 PPs and 3 Equadorians
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please feel free to share information from this website, but please be sure to give credit and a link back to the information. Failure to give credit is plagiarism. Don't take credit for someone else's information.
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emmac350
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Re: Small purple spots?

Post by emmac350 »

Nope! I've been purple-spot free since my last deep clean when I switched to EE from the sand. I will admit, however, my paranoia sometimes gets the best of me - I always think that the dried salt on cocohuts is mold...
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Rack, 23 Sep 08; Benny, 23 Sep 08; Slightly, 3 Jan 09; Nibs, 3 Jan 09; Curly, 3 Jan 09; Spaz, 5 Jul 09

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Hermies4Ever
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Re: Small purple spots?

Post by Hermies4Ever »

????????????? not sure. strange, maybe purple cali-sand accidentally got mixed with the package of substrate you purchased??????? (?)
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emmac350
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Re: Small purple spots?

Post by emmac350 »

H4E, if you look at my post from just a few days ago after someone else commented trying to help the situation, you'll see that the substrate has been changed and I'm not having this problem anymore. Please don't resurrect old threads unnecessarily, especially after the original poster has already stated that the problem has been fixed.
Follow the daily lives of my crabs at thedailyhermit.tumblr.com

Mommy to:
Rack, 23 Sep 08; Benny, 23 Sep 08; Slightly, 3 Jan 09; Nibs, 3 Jan 09; Curly, 3 Jan 09; Spaz, 5 Jul 09

If you are contacted privately and enticed to join another forum, please inform a moderator. This is an unethical practice.
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