What's eating the GSP?

[yalan]

I have a GSP rock that both ends have polyps opening up but not the center portion. I noticed in the last couple of days that the purple mat in the center portion is being eating/scraping away by something. They are not being peeled off, definately looks like being scraped off a liitle at a time.

I only have 1 margarita snail, and 1 certh snail, 4 hermits, and 1 emeral crab in the tank. Everthing else in the tank are fine not distrubed. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

 

[LegendLand]

emerald crab

 

[yalan]

I stayed up last night to see what is eating the GSP, to my suprise, it was the scarlet hermit chopping away the GSP. Yes, it is cutting the GSP, not just getting the algea off of it. I couldn't belive it, I thought they are the safest reef hermit....

 

[cjdevito]

No hermit is truly reef safe if they get hungry enough. It's one reason why I recommend either not using any or using them in much reduced numbers from the standard stocking suggestions (something like 1 hermit per 10-20 gallons, IMO, is usually okay).

 

[jeff1974]

wow i did not know that makes me wonder if my crabs ate my brain coral i thought crabs where reef safe guess not

 

[SushiGirl]

If you don't make sure the crabs get fed, they'll feed themselves...

 

[jeff1974]

i just thought that would eat the left over food the fish don't get

 

[jeff@zina.com]

If you're feeding properly there's not much food left over. I tend to feed my hermits, pellet food dropped just for them. I don't over feed, they're still hungry, but if the tank is clean they need something.

Jeff