New to coral already out $20!!

[Coachb9]

So I am attempting to put coral into my tank for the first time. I put a hardy coral, or so I was told by my LFS, into my tank around lunch today. Put the plug right into a nice crater in my love rock and within 20 minutes it was flowing with the motion of the ocean.
Went out for dinner and came home to the plug bare and laying in the sand!!!!!!

So who is the culprit?

My guess is the big red legged hermit crab.

Other possibilities, blue spotted puffer, yellow tang, blue hippo tang, flame angel, clown, 6 line wrasse or blue damsel.
Also guess it could have been 1-2 of the smaller hermit crabs or snails.

So I assumed my mix was ok for coral. I guessed wrong.

Who do I need to blame?

 

[CrayolaViolence]

What kind of coral?

 

[Coachb9]

Sorry, I didn't really ask. Assume it was some type of polyp. Had tubes, if that helps

 

[Mr.Fishtank]

Puffer's are not reef safe fish. They eat corals.

 

[rmgaspar]

Well hepatus if big then to be misbehaved also.
Mine has a terrible habit of replacing corals ...


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[Catgirl29]

Had a very young dog faced puffer for about 3 weeks - lost a lot of zoas. He would scrape the rock clean of anything on it - including coralline. He went to live elsewhere.

 

[Coachb9]

Blue tang is only about 3 1/2 inches long.
Failed to mention that my puffer is battling some illness so it hasn't eaten in over a week, maybe close to 2. Doubt it was the culprit. It lays on the rock 23 hours a day now. Probably hospice for him soon.
Is the consensus that it wasn't the red legged crab?

 

[albano]

Who do I need to blame?

Sorry to say...based on the info you posted in this thread, the person to blame is quite obvious!

 

[plyle02]

What size is the tank? Sad to hear about the puffer, I hope you have a large system with a blue tang as well

 

[Dapg8gt]

Sorry to say...based on the info you posted in this thread, the person to blame is quite obvious!

This... 100%..

A little research goes a long way. That's a pretty big fish list and I'm gonna guess other parameters/equipment/tank size may not have been up to the task in general so it was just a bit quicker than the inevitable.

I would take a step back, read and evaluate your situation before spending more cash on living animals.

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[Coachb9]

So thanks for your feedback, although one of you could use some help in the social interaction department.
I did my research and did not find that any of my fish or crabs were coral eaters. And the way that the coral was positioned when I placed it in the tank to where the plug was when I came home means something physically tugged it out of ththe to pick.
So I view learning from my mistakes as research that also may benefit novices in the business from experiencing the same thing.
The parameters on my tank are good. The puffer is feeling ill because I changed the salinity in the tank extremely a few weeks ago and he hasn't caught up.

So knowing that you all know much more about this hobby than I do, could you please let me know which of the inhabitants of my tank you believe may have taken down the coral. It is the only way I will continue to learn.
Thanks

 

[Martin Kuhn]

Is this the 55 gal tank you have in your forum profile?
With this fish in it, it would be not only boarder line for the fish, but I doubt that your water values will be in a region suitable for sps corals. Toooooo much detritus from your fish


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[Martin Kuhn]

Is this the 55 gal tank you have in your forum profile?
With this fish in it, it would be not only boarder line for the fish, but I doubt that your water values will be in a region suitable for sps corals. Toooooo much detritus from your fish

What are your Nitrate and PO4 levels and how do you measure ?



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[Pife]

So thanks for your feedback, although one of you could use some help in the social interaction department.
I did my research and did not find that any of my fish or crabs were coral eaters. And the way that the coral was positioned when I placed it in the tank to where the plug was when I came home means something physically tugged it out of ththe to pick.
So I view learning from my mistakes as research that also may benefit novices in the business from experiencing the same thing.
The parameters on my tank are good. The puffer is feeling ill because I changed the salinity in the tank extremely a few weeks ago and he hasn't caught up.

So knowing that you all know much more about this hobby than I do, could you please let me know which of the inhabitants of my tank you believe may have taken down the coral. It is the only way I will continue to learn.
Thanks

Please post all your parameters. Also you did post in a specific forum with a problem about an unknown coral so some people might be a bit short.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

So thanks for your feedback, although one of you could use some help in the social interaction department.
I did my research and did not find that any of my fish or crabs were coral eaters. And the way that the coral was positioned when I placed it in the tank to where the plug was when I came home means something physically tugged it out of ththe to pick.
So I view learning from my mistakes as research that also may benefit novices in the business from experiencing the same thing.
The parameters on my tank are good. The puffer is feeling ill because I changed the salinity in the tank extremely a few weeks ago and he hasn't caught up.

So knowing that you all know much more about this hobby than I do, could you please let me know which of the inhabitants of my tank you believe may have taken down the coral. It is the only way I will continue to learn.
Thanks

It's going to be very difficult to know what fish did what if you can't specify what kind of coral it was. Some fish will eat soft corals, some will eat LPS, some will eat both and some will eat SPS. I have a lot, and I do mean a lot, of red legged hermits in my 180 mixed reef. They do not bother corals other than to turn them over and knock them off rocks. That's the only way they've killed them.
A 55 gallon aquarium is a very difficult size to maintain the fish you have chosen. Especially tangs.

You say you drastically changed the salinity. Is there a reason why? Also, what kind of light do you have.

In the grand scheme of things being out 20.00 is nothing. Many of the ppl here, myself included have lost hundreds in corals and fish over the course of their time in the hobby.

 

[Coachb9]

I agree. Being out $20 is ok, just a shock that I didn't even make it a day.
So I went to my LFS and they ran these parameters and said the water was fine.
I also learned that the red legged hermit was not reef safe and was quickly determined that he caused the loss. Going to switch it out tomorrow and try again.
Also returning the flame angel and the 2 tangs and swapping out for less fragile fish.
Thanks

 

[Rakie]

Please post all your parameters. Also you did post in a specific forum with a problem about an unknown coral so some people might be a bit short.

Yes, you posted in a forum specifically geared towards SPS coral. If your coral had long tubes as you say, you're not in the right forum.

Additionally, we suggested exactly who the culprit was. Your puffer was extremely likely the cause of your issue.

Beyond that -- Some of the fish you have grow EXTREMELY LARGE. And in your profile you specify that you own a 55 gallon tank -- This is way, way, way too small for the Yellow Tang and especially the Blue Tang. When there are oversights like this we typically assume that almost every link in the chain is wrong -- Sorry, but years of experience taught us this is usually the case.

The Yellow Tang needs about a minimum of a 120 gallon (4'x2'x2') to be happy for life.

The Blue Tang needs at the very least a 180 gallon (6'x2'x2'), and as this fish grow 1 foot long, I'd sadly say i'd MUCH rather see them in an 8'x3'x2' tank which is 360 gallons. Most people would not go that far though.

Lastly, when someone asks you for information it's not only to weed out what the problem is, but to weed out what *other* problems are. For example, say you give us a system profile.. Well, those are all heavy eating and heavy pooping fish you've got in there. So instead of just not helping we ask 'what kind of skimmer do you have?' -- If you say 'Whats a skimmer?', we know where to send you for help. If you tell us an SCA 302, we know that skimmer can probably handle that biological load from your tank. Does that make sense?

So here's what we want, and need to know in order to properly help most people with most problems:

Alk
Cal
Mag
Salinity
PH
no3
po4

Additionally, we usually like to know:

Tank Size
Skimmer
Lighting
Water Source
Tank age

And probably a few more things I'm forgetting as well. We know, it's a lot to cover, but this is very far from a simple hobby.. It's exceedingly complex, and problems may be from a single, or multiple sources.

So this is a large general post for you to understand where were coming from. I hope it helps.

 

[Pife]

^nicely written.

 

[organism]

So thanks for your feedback, although one of you could use some help in the social interaction department.
I did my research and did not find that any of my fish or crabs were coral eaters.

I'm not sure what research you did, but I would suggest doing more research and asking more questions before purchasing things down the line since it turned out that several of your fish and one of your crabs were coral eaters.

We're all here to help you, but you should understand that what sounds like "I did research and am not sure what's going on" to you sounds like "I didn't do research and killed stuff, and am unable to answer basic questions that I should've known the answers to before buying anything that's alive" to us.

You're caring for living things and need to give them the best lives possible, which involves knowing 100% of everything about something before you consider putting it in your tank. Tank inhabitants are not expendable decorations, which is why you're getting some amount of "social interaction department" grief here. On a side note your damsel will eventually kill off at least a couple of your fish since they get rather douchey once they settle in.

 

[MichaelW]

the lfs test results to me do show an issue. the issue i see is po4 at 0.25. this is higher than most people try to keep (especially for sps) however, i actually see this more as the type of kit your lfs test with as being a standard po4 test and not a low range one. Giving me the impression the lfs may not be giving you the best type of service i would want (testing with very poor kits). this of course is all speculation.
i seriously doubt a red leg hermit caused your issue (especially so fast), if your looking for most likely inhabitant its the puffer... however it could have been a whole array of different things.