Caught Red Handed!!

[KeMiKiLL]

Okay. I'm starting to get really discouraged with this hobby...

I had a Halloween crab in my one tank after lots of reading and everywhere saying they were reef safe. Only after I caught it killing my wall hammer and put a post here about it do I see many people reporting that crabs, in fact, aren't 100% reef safe.

Now, for the last few days, one of my torches is hugely receeding. Each day it looks worse and I look into it several times a day. Two heads are completely gone while parameters in the tank are all exactly as they should be. So I move the last head to my other tank to see if that will help and I see this!

I just watched him tear half the remaining head apart. Are shrimp not reef safe now?

 

[Azedenkae]

Okay. I'm starting to get really discouraged with this hobby...

I had a Halloween crab in my one tank after lots of reading and everywhere saying they were reef safe. Only after I caught it killing my wall hammer and put a post here about it do I see many people reporting that crabs, in fact, aren't 100% reef safe.

Now, for the last few days, one of my torches is hugely receeding. Each day it looks worse and I look into it several times a day. Two heads are completely gone while parameters in the tank are all exactly as they should be. So I move the last head to my other tank to see if that will help and I see this!

I just watched him tear half the remaining head apart. Are shrimp not reef safe now?

Allegedly, either there are just so many species of crabs, shrimps, etc. that are supposedly cleaners that some of them are actually not the species that do the cleaning.

Others say it is because they get hungry and/or it is easy pickings, for whatever reason.

I am personally worried about my emerald crab. So far so good, but yeah. Worried about all these cleaners now. At least the crustacean ones.

 

[Hydrored]

I find if shrimp are eating corals they are not getting fed enough meat IMO

I have a bunch and they come out to eat frozen just like the fish, they bother no coral at all

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have porcelain crabs and pom pom crabs, they are the only 100% reef safe that I know. I got rid of my hermits too when I caught mine eating the acan. I'll never lose anything for a $3 crab again.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Ive seen my skunk cleaner shrimp eating nudis off my palys when I had a bad infestation but it has never damaged any of the heads.

 

[dedragon]

yea it is most likely eating either something off the coral from the other tank, decaying coral tissue, or food left over on the coral. I would feed your tank though asap to make the cleaner shrimp full and stay away from the coral

 

[vetteguy53081]

Euphyllia corals are tough and it may come back. Halloween crabs are a scavenger that will eat left over detritus on the substrate, and will also eat cyanobacteria and hair algae. Very seldom if ever, is it heard that turned on coral. Assure it is not water quality related. They do best under moderate light and water flow.
Too much light or flow, high nitrates, high salinity, high alk and low CA will cause loss of tentacles/tissue recession,

 

[Waters]

As stated, it is extremely unlikely that the shrimp is eating and killing your coral. He is just taking advantage of the coral receding and dieing and cleaning up whatever is left.