Who Did It??

[elfloyd]

Ok... so I started to miss corals. Last weekend one of the zenias disappeared and the one next to it went from a dozen polyps down to two. Yesterday one of my blue capnella disappeared... and today I noticed my snake coral is gone???

I've never seen my long nose butterfly, dwarf flame angle, or power brown nipping at the corals. And the missing corals are totally gone!

I have the usual assortment of snails and hermits, and two emerald crabs. (One of the emeralds is getting pretty big.)

Come to think of it I haven't seen my big coral banded shrimp in a week or two... very unusual.

I wasn't really concerned until today.

Who is the likely culprit and how do I get him out of my tank!


.

 

[oil_fan]

I'd suspect the larger emerald. When I had a couple of bigger ones in my tank right after going to a reef tank, they went straight for my corals. And as I understand it, they get more aggressive as they get bigger.

 

[jennm]

Flame Angel would be my prime suspect.

You don't happen to have a chocolate chip star do you? I've had 3 people in the last month or so, bring in those when they realize they are coral munchers (I don't usually carry them - but I took in the offenders and rehomed them into appropriate FOWLR tanks)...

In all 3 cases, the hobbyist had no idea they ate coral.

Jenn

 

[jennm]

Yep. Sure do.

In OP's case it may take some observation to see who is doing the picking. The butterfly might pick, but I doubt he'd make corals just disappear, but flame angels can tear up coral flesh pretty well.

Emeralds can get aggressive with fish, but I've not witnessed one eating corals. I suppose it's possible, but I wouldn't have them on my top 10 list.

Jenn

 

[oil_fan]

The emeralds that I had tore through about 3/4 of my yellow polyps before I pulled the crabs out of the tank. And I caught one picking at my green brain. That's the reason for my suspicion. As for the dead fish, they'd eat if they found it dead. I've seen them try to catch a fish but they're pretty slow.

 

[elfloyd]

Seems to happen at night when the lights are out... I'd like to put the emerald in the sump if I can get him out of the rocks.

 

[schwaggs]

I vote the Flame Angel. Cyntropyge angels LOVE Xenia in my experience. I never had an Emerald crab eat one of my corals to my knowledge

 

[oil_fan]

The good news if it is the flame angel, is that you can put dried algae such as nori. That's what I do to keep mine away from mine away from my coral.

Also, aren't a lot of hermits not reef safe?? I'm not sure on this one and perhaps others can chime in on this.

 

[elfloyd]

I do give them dried algae.... maybe I'll increase the amount.

 

[miami dolfan]

I had a chocolate chip star for years and never bothered my Zenia........until it got really hungry. Started wiping out whole colonies.

 

[smoothie]

Large brittles have been known to take out xenia when not fed properly. Mine is so big it will split a pizza with you if given the chance

 

[jennm]

Disappearing at night?

That could be a whole other animal...

http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_worm.htm">http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_worm.htm</a>

While it's unlikely to be another 7' monster... it could be a similar (but smaller) worm. I've seen that happen before.

Jenn

 

[smoothie]

They have happened alot bigger than that.
Get a red lense cover for you flash light and take a peak at night.

 

[grouper therapy]

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I had one of these eating leather corals. I had no idea it was in there until I turned the lights on early one am and he was on the magfloat. It was as big as the magfloat! Needless to say I do periodic searches at night now.
There are also several types of other nudibrachs that eat xenia as well as other corals. Just another possibility

 

[ga_daisy]

grouper therapy;389899 wrote:

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That is just CRAZY looking!

 

[jennm]

Usually they are much smaller - about the size of a snail.

They can hitchhike in on a coral absolutely unseen. They will eat their way through a leather, and you may not notice until it has a big gash in it.

If you see one of these, remove it ASAP and keep your eyes peeled for more - or for any distress in your leathers. They seem to feed exclusively on them.

Jenn

 

[elfloyd]

ok.... thanks.