Hermits eating zoa's

[faulkincanyon]

I had bought some sunny d's and noticed the hermits were gathering all around the frag. Next day all that was left was a frag plug. All my other corals including some palys have been untouched for years. Anyone else had hermits do this to zoanthids?

 

[Sk8r]

Sometimes crabs or worms or snails act as undertakers, cleaning up dead tissue, so if the colony was dying, they might innocent. OTOH, crabs can be found which will eat all kinds of things, fish, etc, so it's not impossible. Species of crab?

 

[Tweaked]

Hermits and emeralds etc will try to pick under the corals where the algae and detritus is. Sometimes this results in the coral being removed and lost in the tank never to be seen again. This has the owners thinking it was the hermits etc. I will tell you I run 12 emeralds in a 100g tank along with hermits and other cleaners. They do not eat coral!

 

[faulkincanyon]

Well it was a on a frag plug and was put there that night so there wasn't anything growing under it. I think there was dead tissue or something on the plug because I definately watched them eat it. They will eat whatever they want, they are scavengers.

 

[Fail_sh3d]

My hermits flock to new additions on plugs. New plugs or plugs that are"established", unless you directly saw them eating the zoas, I would keep an eye on them, but not lose sleep over it.

 

[Coralreefer1]

Never witnessed it. Never had problems with my hermits and I have had 7 different species of hermits over the years in my reef tanks!

 

[peter fumo]

Well it was a on a frag plug and was put there that night so there wasn't anything growing under it. I think there was dead tissue or something on the plug because I definately watched them eat it. They will eat whatever they want, they are scavengers.

they might have detached it by accident keep an eye out in the nooks and crannies i have found lost coral weeks and months later growing in my tank that i gave up for lost, eaten, or melted

 

[Cdodge1]

I've surprisingly caught one of my hermits literally tearing apart the stem of a live, healthy zoa polyp. Needless to say I banished him to the sump....idk maybe he was just THAT hungry. But this definitely is not normal behavior for a hermit.