Are you sure it's stray current? Might it be an allergic reaction (you mentioned cuts/scratches) to toxins from something (zoo's, etc)? Fraggin' anything?
You can cut them and they should grow back, or you can take a chisel (with the rock out of water) and scrape just under the foot, taking a sliver of rock with the foot intact.
Could always place a nicely aquascaped 1.5'-2' high refugium above the 2' high main tank. When considering tank height, I assume you've considered how much room you'll need for the canopy?
Noticing a hermit eating something isn't always 'smoking gun' evidence. Being on the janitorial side of the life cycle, they may have just been eating an already dead/dying animal.
Had mine (red) for about 3 days. Thought I had acclimated it rather well (2 hours) only to find out that's on the short side for a linkia. Some great tips in that digest article, will try again when the budget can handle the little guy.
One of the things I like most about this hobby is the bio-diversity. I've got blue & scarlett hermits as well as atraeas, nerites, ceriths, a fighting & queen conch and a turbo. The hermits are quite interesting to watch and the scarletts are quite the climbers - have seen them scale the...