Crab inside my Elegance Coral

[Vallen513]

I have had this Elegance coral for over a month. Was doing great for the first few weeks. But over the past couple of weeks it has been closing up in the center. Also sending out the white stringy things (in pic). Rest of my corals are doing ok. So I decide to look a little closer. The center mouth is open, and low and behold a crab is halfway inside! I knew this would be hard to believe so I ran and got my camera and snapped a picture.

So I plucked it out, seeing this crab probably is to blame. The most striking detail on this crab is the bright orange bands on it's legs. The main section is just a dull brown.

 

[Flavum]

wow that guy looks nasty. hows the elegance doing now?

 

[Vallen513]

I believe the crab was actually eating the outside of the elegance. The tentacles were completely missing. The coral is doing much better now. It opened up much more yesterday. It is going to take some time to repair all the damage that crab did to it.

 

[dragonette]

there is a similar looking crab that will burrow into brain corals.. I think... which lives in the coral and eats it from the inside out. They also lay eggs. I would do a dip, or at least inspect the coral for any egg like structures..
Thank god you got him out of there, he was all the way up in there! Im sure your elegance feels MUCH better
Jess

 

[thegyft07]

thats the craziest thing i've heard in a while what kind of crab is it?

 

[JEFFR259]

That's crazy (in a cool and bad way )

Reminds me of a thread I saw here of a clown that actually took up residence IN a clam. Owner caught some crazy photos of the clown poking his head out of the clam. Now, in that case it didn't hurt/bother the clam like your crab was certainly doing to your Elegance.

 

[thegyft07]

What exaclty do clams eat now that you mention it?

 

[JEFFR259]

Well, nothing large like clowns, that's for sure

Clams are Suspension Feeders, that is, they take food particles from the water. Here's a good link on how they do it:

http://www.dtplankton.com/articles/foodbitspieces.html

Primary diet for clams consists of Phytoplankton

 

[JEFFR259]

Another good resource link for Clam and their eating habits

http://www.dtplankton.com/articles/necessity.html

 

[thegyft07]

okay thanks?

 

[Pulp Fishin]

where did you get your elegance coral? where are they selling them?
With the study going on about them now I'm aprehansive to get one myself.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-02/eb/feature/index.php