Candy Coral was eaten =(

[miNiChher]

Hey guys,

Sad to say this but, I noticed my emerald crab was picking at my candy coral and now this is what she looks like.

Would it be inhumane to cut off the stony portions that are completely dead?

Any suggestions on what to do now?

Needless to say the emerald crab is currently alone in a small 7 gallon tank.

Thanks again for any help!

 

[Raibaru]

You sure the emerald did that? I can't help you, but I see my Emerald Crab picking at some of my corals (Zoa and Leather mostly) but he isn't actually grabbing the corals, but rather picking at some of this stringly brown stuff that settles on them some evenings (which I don't know what it is either and it isn't the corals releasing waste.).

As for cutting the skeleton, I can't see why not? I was under the impression that the skeleton is nothing and the organism actually lives only at the tip? Again though, I'm not certain and I wouldn't cut anything off till you talk to someone else .

good luck all the same.

 

[miNiChher]

Well, I actually witnessed the emerald crab picking at it and eating it! =( He didn't pick it clean, the rest of the polyp that he didn't eat just ended up rotting away... But, I am sure it was him =(

 

[Jamokie01]

Seems unlikely that he was eating the coral itself, unless it was dead or dying. However, seeing that the rest of the polyps look healthy, Id say thats probably not the case. What is much more likely is that the coral ingested some food and the emerald was trying to get it. This is pretty common amongst crabs and shrimp, but very rarely results in the death of the coral. I have to feed my cleaner shrimp large pieces of shrimp before I feed my tubastrea or theyll just go dig it out of the polyps.

As for removing the dead skeleton, yes thats fine and will actually give the other polyps room to grow. Be careful if you just want to remove that piece as they look tightly bunched and are easy to break apart. As long as you dont damage the fleshy part youre fine, very easy coral to frag.

 

[miNiChher]

ok thanks a million! can i use my regular home use handy dandy drill? any forums on how to's on this?

thanks again!

 

[GoingPostal]

I use a pair of bone cutters, they snap pretty easily.

 

[miNiChher]

how will i know that i'm not cutting any tissue? is there no soft tissue on the white shown above?

 

[Bri Guy]

You may have to cut it off along with a small frag too, It depends where the coral branched, fleashy to bone is night to day, look for a thin branch to cut, not a thick spot, you don't want it spliting some way you didn't intend to.

good luck, its not that hard.

 

[miNiChher]

oh i'm nervous ... but i'll give it shot tonight, thanks again!