What's doing this to my SPS?

[Confuse]

My Cali Tort was doing well yesterday and when I got back home today, I came to this.....

Params have been stable for a while.

PO4 ~ 0 (checked today)
NO3 ~ 0
Alk ~ 8
Ca ~430
Temp stable at 78 with chiller on hot days

This was the frag before...

Any help is highly appreciated!

 

[Sorry]

wow that is wild

 

[RRaider]

List all your livestock, something is munching on it.

 

[Confuse]

Two clowns, mystery wrasse, Randall's goby+pistol, starry blenny

 

[ReefEnc]

How deep is ur tank and what kind of lighting... Try moving it up off the sand bed and into good flow... That's weird, and u listed everything right? No starfish in the tank?

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[Confuse]

How deep is ur tank and what kind of lighting... Try moving it up off the sand bed and into good flow... That's weird, and u listed everything right? No starfish in the tank?

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

Tank is a 50g cube 20" high, under a radion running at 65% during peak hours from 12-4PM. The picture of it on the sandbed is when I just got the frag, it's now 2/3's of the way up--it's been there for over a month. I recall seeing a small black starfish not long ago...not sure what kind or if a pest.

 

[blueavatar]

Live rock look green PO4 and NO3 - 0?

 

[Confuse]

Live rock look green PO4 and NO3 - 0?

I've been fighting cyano and trust me, PO4 and NO3 are zero regardless. It sucks up all those nutrients. I test with Hanna and salifert multiple times and friend's tester, always reads 0.

 

[samaytt]

starry blenny

Get rid of him!

 

[Pallobi]

I know a few sPs keepers with starry blennies specifically, and have t had any issues... So that notion is interesting... All fish are different... And I don't think tank depth/location has anything to do with ur issue... Especially since it happened over nite...

 

[lighthouze08]

list all your livestock, something is munching on it.

+1

 

[northbay-reefer]

When fish eats sps they eat the pollyps first.

 

[JT3069]

i say keep a very close eye on that coral and especially after lights are off
watch to see what is actually eating on it before you do any acton!

 

[Allmost]

its a crab doing that.

watch the coral at the middle of the night, u will catch it in action.

 

[Dana42078]

Get rid of him!

Yep....not that he's "eating" it but i bet my last dollar he's nipping at it....i have caught mine doing the same thing and i have lost strawberry shortcake and a rainbow milli....:uzi:

 

[Addiction2SPS]

It might be the blenny. My brother had a blenny that loved picking at birdsnests. It's worth a shot to check when lights are off to see if it's something else.

 

[Finland]

its a crab doing that.

watch the coral at the middle of the night, u will catch it in action.

+1 My first thought was an unwanted hitchhiker crab. I have a starry blenny in my tank, and it is a model citizen. Never saw it nip at the corals. By the looks of your coral, it is a little more than nipping. Something is eating it.

 

[jamey1015]

+1 on a crab

I had a sally lightfoot literately cut the entire top off frags like that right before my eyes!!!

 

[Confuse]

I'll keep an eye out at lights out. I do have an acro crab, but it lives comfortably in my small mille colony and was never any trouble. Can any other kind of SPS pests do something like this? Flatworms? Redbugs?

 

[jsousa]

Crab. I had the same problem. Problem stopped when I found the crab on the coral in the middle of the night and removed him and the coral at the same time. Nipping stopped. Crabs are opportunistic feeders and can suck *** from time to time.