What is eating my Pocillopordae!!!

whotzler · Dec 21, 2017

About a month ago I noticed some polyps missing on my green birds nest (Seriatopora) and was getting worse and worse. I started doing wellness checks on my tank at 5am and found a hermit crab sitting in my birds nest, so I removed it. The next day I found a second hermit crab on the birds nest, and also removed it. I did not find anything after and birds nest was not being damaged any further.. that I noticed. A month later, today I came home to find my Cats Paw frag (stylophora) had almost every polyp picked off!! I have several low to mid level potential suspects and am wondering if anyone has had any experience with any of these specifically picking on coral from the Pocillopordae family. I have hundreds of corals and no others have been effected.. yet? and should I fear that it may move on to other sps corals. I would be fine if I could no longer keep birds nest or cats paw, they are not on top of my list, but I have several other Acro's and Monti's that would be pretty devastating to loose..

Livestock

NON SUSPECT (I don't think)
Clown Fish x 2
Royal Gramma
Melanarus Wrasse
Orchid dottyback
Dartfish
Chalk Basslet
Engineer Goby
Midas Blenny
Chromis x 5

SUSPECT
Foxface
Yellow Tang
Sailfin Tang
Coral banded Shrimp
Cleaner Shrimp
Pepermint Shrimp x 5
Emerald Crab x 3
assorted hermit crabs manly blue and red
assorted snails

100's of coral

SPS manly acros and montis
LPS acan,blasto,favia,Euphyllia,Lobo,welso,chalice and many others
Softies, Zoas, Mushrooms, GSP,

jda · Dec 21, 2017

Any of those fish might go rogue. I don't see any big-time suspect fish on that list, but who knows.

Do your crabs have enough to eat? I have never had any eat any coral, but I always keep them fed even if there is no algae. They are not big-time coral eaters or anything, but they are not going to starve to death either...

Don't rule out just plain old tissue necrosis. When fish and crabs eat at coral, they usually eat the polyps and leave the skin alone.

Do you have any pests? Everybody always says/thinks no, but it is possible. I might suggest a fresh look with an open mind.

Reefer Tom ATX · Mar 12, 2025

I had a hermit crab on my birdsnest this morning. Pulled him off and he’s back again a few hours later. Going to keep a close eye to ensure he’s not eating it.