Godless Mom in the Bible Belt

I have a twenty gallon tank that is home to three hermit crabs. Liz named her crab Po, Scott named his Trey, my crab is named Crusty.

We've had them for a few months now and I have to say I've been very pleasantly surprised by how much personality the little guys have. Each one is very different from the others and it has been great fun getting to know them.

Now, my education is in biology and I worked in veterinary medicine for many years, I'm no stranger to the weird curveballs that can be thrown by the plethora of other species with whom we share the planet. However, most of my experience has been with vertebrates. These little dudes are my first crustaceans and my goodness they do some funky things!

Since crabs have exoskeletons, they have to molt periodically. Po went through the process about a month ago and she is more energetic and full of joie de vivre than ever before. Crusty however has not been so lucky. He went through his molt cycle this week and he just doesn't seem to be bouncing back like Po did. He only has nine legs now instead of ten and he really took his time getting back into his shell. A hermit crab without it's shell is a truly pitiful thing to behold.

I'm worried about my little dude. I'm afraid that I may have inadvertently stressed him during his molt. I've done everything I can think of to help him but now I just have to wait and hope. Our family lost a beloved dog in April and I really don't want to have to break that news to Liz again. Has anyone out there had any experience with this sort of thing?