can a hermit crab kill a polyp?

[stan80]

So ive had a favites brain for 4 months now and it looks good has grown around near half an inch but a couple weeks ago during a water change I noticed a hermit crab on it and then next thing I noticed was 2 polyps releasing very thick white mucus I mean really thick!!. now both of those polyps are dead but everything else is just fine...Any ideas????

 

[organism]

It's possible, depends on the hermit crab.

 

[stan80]

not sure if it was a blue or red leg one...but sure enough those 2 polyps are gone and the walls around them have filled in. I even tried to move it a couple times ( the hermit) but it kinda fought with me not wanting to move off the coral

 

[aromano]

they are really good at finding tissue that's in the process of dieing. zthe polyps could have been on way out they just finished the job

 

[Reef Bass]

they are really good at finding tissue that's in the process of dieing. zthe polyps could have been on way out they just finished the job

+1. This is the most likely scenario.

 

[xanthurum]

It's possible but not likely unless there was some strange reason tIn the crabs mind that he needed to remove the polyp. I watched a hermit crab grab a snail just yesterday. He worked on it for several hours until he ripped it out of the shell and then moved from his old shell to the shell of the newly evicted and now dead snail.

 

[AquaAdam]

I don't know about hermit crabs but in the past 2 weeks I've caught my emerald crab eating my duncans and my favourite mushrooms. The next time I see him he's outta there lol.