Astrea snails eating live coral tissue

[ReefKeeperMN]

Hey, new reefer here. My Astrea snails are eating the plump live over tissue (that extends out of the polyp and around the branch) of my torch and hammer corals. Isn't this harmful to the corals over time? I would assume peeling could result as a significant amount of this over/rim live tissue is being eaten back by the snails. What's been your experience with this problem? Any feedback would help!

 

[edsbeaker]

Hello and welcome!
It may be eating algae off of the coral. Astrea snails don’t usually have a taste for a coral itself.

 

[Barb0713]

Hello and welcome!
It may be eating algae off of the coral. Astrea snails don’t usually have a taste for a coral itself.

I hate to watch it lol I have to leave the room , but my astrea snails clean my hammer body. The hammer closes. When the snail is done , it leaves and the hammer opens back up , nice and clean.

 

[Barb0713]

Hello and welcome!
It may be eating algae off of the coral. Astrea snails don’t usually have a taste for a coral itself.

My astreas go up and down the trunk of my hammer coral and clean the algae off. It doesn’t hurt it