Hermit crab decimated green hammer colony

[RioReefr]

Woke up this morning and found a good 5-6 buds of the hammer colony (30+ buds) either missing or totally limp. The largest of the hermit crabs was at work on another when I had to pull him off. I lost 2 buds about a month ago and at that time I was not sure of the culprit, but this time I saw him in action. He was pretty large and had some hairy arms.

Was he really eating the corals or just the algae/some food that may have got stuck on the polyps? Seems strange he was able to destroy so many in a short amount of time.
For the limp polyps, it just seem to be a matter of time they are going to fall out. Sux. Is there anything I can do to salvage them?

 

[kfisc]

Just as a precaution, I'd move the hermit crab to a sump or quarantine tank. If all else is good in the tank and the coral was thriving before, it looks like it could easily come back in a few weeks by just leaving it alone.

 

[Sk8r]

When CUC goes after a coral it's usually because there's something rotting (literally) there, and it may have come in with problems. Bristleworms get blamed sometimes for cleaning up dead tissue, which some think actually helps a coral survive. In general the species of CUC inverts sold in the hobby are coral-safe. Was it dipped?

 

[Tripod1404]

Did you feed corals recently. Some cleaner shrimp can rip open a coral to get its gut contents. I assume a hermit hungry enough can do the same. But like Sk8r, most of the time these guys are blamed for killing when in reality they were just scavenging.

Also what king of a hermit is it?

 

[Uncle99]

Since I banned, all crabs, hitchhikers, and the lot 15 months ago, this is the first time I have never lost a fish, a coral or a even 1 snail.

Yes I know, crabs are good for algae control.....sure.....perfect wAter does a better job.

I can do without them......good....bad....otherwise...

 

[RioReefr]

My hermit crabs have been in the tank for awhile w/o an issue until recently.

What has changed is I did start feeding my corals bc I had gotten 2 Duncan frags (which are coming along nicely). I started using Hikari Coralific Delite about 3-4 weeks ago.

Tripod1404 says: "Did you feed corals recently?"

Yes! Every other night I take a super small spoonful of the coral food, using a 10-mL syringe I slowly place it near the Duncan frags but the fine particles go everywhere. Last night I did a feeding.

I did not take a photo of the culprit hermit crab, but it was twice as big as the others. I took him out of the tank immediately.

As the day progressed, the worse the buds looked. Sad to say, but I am going to lose all 6. All this because of some stupid hermit crab (valued at less than a $1) decided to get the munchies.

 

[FoxFace Fish]

start the purge!!!!!

 

[Tripod1404]

My hermit crabs have been in the tank for awhile w/o an issue until recently.

What has changed is I did start feeding my corals bc I had gotten 2 Duncan frags (which are coming along nicely). I started using Hikari Coralific Delite about 3-4 weeks ago.

Tripod1404 says: "Did you feed corals recently?"

Yes! Every other night I take a super small spoonful of the coral food, using a 10-mL syringe I slowly place it near the Duncan frags but the fine particles go everywhere. Last night I did a feeding.

I did not take a photo of the culprit hermit crab, but it was twice as big as the others. I took him out of the tank immediately.

As the day progressed, the worse the buds looked. Sad to say, but I am going to lose all 6. All this because of some stupid hermit crab (valued at less than a $1) decided to get the munchies.

Worryingly, those heads look like they have the brown jelly disease. For how long you had them? To me it looks like they started to die and hermit just ate the decaying tissue.

If it were eating the coral, it would completely consume one head before going to the next one. It would not decimate 6 heads.

I have had peppermint shrimp eating corals. When something like that happens, they make a very clean job, you would have been left with a white blank skeleton that is picked clean.

 

[RioReefr]

"Worryingly, those heads look like they have the brown jelly disease. For how long you had them? To me it looks like they started to die and hermit just ate the decaying tissue. "

I have the corals for a long time and in my opinion the rest of the corals in the tank all look good. My water parameters all seem to be in range.

What changed recently was me using the Hikari Coralific Delite -- but, I have been doing that every other day now for 2 weeks.

So, what is "brown jelly disease"?
Should I take the this branch of coral completely out of my tank?
Should I do a water change?
For the limp flacid tissue, should I immediately use tweezers to get it out of the tank?

 

[RioReefr]

Just an update, I don't think this is BJD -- I don't have a brown slime anywhere on any of my corals. I had read that a fish/invert (i.e. crab) can damage the soft tissue of the corals and at that point it is downhill. I suspect this over-ambitious hermit crab found something it liked -- maybe some food lodged in or around those buds, poked around and damaged the internal structure.

In any case, I took the branch out and tooth a soft toothbrush and removed the limp flesh from damaged buds. It basically just took one brush stroke.
I found and took out any of green flesh out of main tank.

Just to be safe, I removed all my hermit crabs including the small one.

Tomorrow, I am going to do a 20% and just chalk this up to a bad day.