what is eating my lps corals

MikeFisher1972

MikeFisher1972

Member
In the past 2 years or more i have had Frogspawn, hammer, Elegance Coral , toad stoool, and Bubble Coral, Torch Coral.
fish in the tank are.

coral beauty +2 years***
Blue Hippo Tang+2 years***
black combtooth blenny +6 mo ***
yellow wrasse + 1 year in tank
six line wrasse + 1.5 years in tank
mandarin +2 years
fire fish +1 year
blue/green reef chrimis from 1year to 2
black clown "saddle" +1 year
yellow tank +2 years
purple tang +2 years

if it has *** by the fish that is the one in question.
well everyone points the finger at the coral beauty but i have seen the hippos nip at them. Now i dont know if they are just eating around it or eating the skin of the coral.
the question here is does your hippo or has your hippo tang ever eaten your LPS coral?
thank you
 
My hippo tang has never bothered any of my corals (hammers, candy canes, chalice, etc....).

I would point the finger at the angel. What is leading you to the conclusion that a fish is eating them? What exactly is going wrong with your corals?
 
hmm

hmm

Well out of the blue the one head is flat " all other heads are just fine" and you can see the nibble marks on it.
I saw it on a bubble coral when i broke one of the bubbles and ripped it.
The other corals look like that but with bite marks on it. i have had some come back bc they were not eaten all the way. I always see the blue tangs and the blenny around it when i notice it. It looks as they are cleaning the coral like they do the rock. Not like my purple does when he blows at it and the food comes out and then he eats the food.
It was the most obvious when I had the bubbler coral they were picking at it and nipping some of it off.
 
Sounds like you're correct. Someone's making a meal out of your corals. I would still point the finger at the angel. Never had any problems out of my hippo or any other tangs in my tank.
 
purple tang???

purple tang???

I have had him the longest over two years.
I have to get one of them cams that you can put up for surveillance and watch them on the Internet.
 
In 5 years my hippo has never bothered any of my corals except for 1 way. When i get new corals, especially ones that are attached to any size rock, he will pick the rocks for algae and annoy the coral and make them close. I've never seen him actually nip any coral though softies, sps or lps.
 
I discovered a fairly large crab that came out of a rock only at night. He was slowly eating my Caulastrea. One head at a time. I had to take out the rock he was in, because he was too crafty to catch in the aquarium. Finally managed to chase him out of the rock. They often come as hitchhikers in your live rock. Even years later you can find them. You might have to wait a few hours after the lights go out before it will come out. Use a flashlight.
 
Also watch the Blenny, I had a flame tail blenny that i took back to my LFS, he was nipping at everything, took a while to get him out, good luck.
 
I have a hippo that had bitemarks all around my clam. I saw him do it.
Same hippo Ive seen take bites out of my acans. Never touched my zoa's.

I started feeding nori every day instead of once in awhile and it helped alot.
I had also moved my clam and he did'nt bother it anymore.
The acans he only bit occasionally and they recovered. Ive since moved them to my nano.
Still it ticks you off lol.
I had to watch for a long time before I caught him in the act with the acans. He would normally pick around them but once in awhile bite a chunk out.

kass
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14979082#post14979082 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by amore169
Also watch the Blenny, I had a flame tail blenny that i took back to my LFS, he was nipping at everything, took a while to get him out, good luck.
Click to expand...

I was going to mention this as well. I've had a few that would nip at corals.

The invert idea is a sound one as well. Even things like peppermint shrimp will eat LPS sometimes. (Mine did)..

I keep thinking of that huge worm that was taken out of one of the Mod's (or a Team RC member's tank).. can't remember.. I'll search for the link. It was 4 feet long (or more) and the owner had no idea it was in his/her tank.
 
I'm wondering about the blenny too. My bicolor was a coral eater for sure, lps and sps. Wasn't shy about it either. Also, do you have any crabs or shrimp? Check at night for creatures, worms, crabs, and the like.
 
Shrimp might be your problem. You have a few suspect fish too (blenny and tang). Who knows, maybe they all meet up and munch your corals together.
 
well I am noticing that once you have something start to eat your corals in your tank.....other fish will soon follow!

I had a bicolor blenny eat pieces out of my clams last summer. So I moved him to another tank. Everything was quite until I watched my red sea sailfin eating my open brain. The brain was soon retractred and looked horrible. During that time I found one of my clams wiht a hole in the middle of it.

I moved the brain to another tank, and took the dying clam out. I then watched my sailfin go to my acans and eat them. He would do that all the time.

I fed my tank nori and romaine lettuce everyday...couple times a day but yet he kept doing it.

So I tear my tank apart last week and remove the sailfin. I now have watched my scribbled rabbit, my blue tang and another fish eating my acans. They all seemed to have followed the lead of the sailfin and now have a taste for corals.

I have placed a strawberry basket over the affected corals to see if I can catch the guilty parties and allow the coral to recover! Big pain though....good luck
 
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