Hermit crabs eating toadstool??

[DannyUFKC]

I recently bought a toadstool leather and it has grown quite a bit in just a month. The only thing that looks wierd to me is that there are a bunch of white spots all over the top of it like if something has been chewing on it. Kind of looks like white scabs.
Don't know where this is coming from but everytime I come home from work there are about 1 or 2 hermit crabs on top of it eating something. Even my sally lightfoot has been eating off the stalk but I've never seen it on top where the white scabs are. Does anyone know if these blue legged hermits are the ones causing this?
The coral looks very healthy and is growing but the white scabs do not look nice.

 

[tinyreef]

can you post a picture of the scabs?

there was another thread on something like this, recently. i advised the other reefer to scrape the "scabs" off and run carbon.

i'm not sure what the "scabs" are but i suspect they're some type of fungus or bacteria. i noted to the other reefer that i usually encounter these scabs when water quality deteriorates for one reason or another, which leads me to think it's fungus or bacteria (decomposing something).

i don't think it's the hermits directly causing the issue but their crawling might irritate the toadie to the point of exuding more slime and feeding the "scabs".

 

[MeuserReef]

It is definetly your crabs! I had the same problem and evicted all of my crabs into my sump. You would be amazed at how active (and alive) your snails will become if you remove your crabs.

My crabs began by digging small holes in the leather. Im guessing that this is the scabs that you are seeing. They continued until the leather had large holes and then they eventually ate off a piece. I actually ended up with 4 nice frags from this experiance and learned how peaceful my tank could be without the crabs.

 

[DannyUFKC]

I knew it! Those bastards! Aren't crabs though pretty muh essential in keeping the tank clean?