Yellow Crab on Acropora?

[ArtsyAxolotl]

I found this little guy in the branches of my acropora today. He must've hitchhiked in when I got it but I didn't see it until now.

I was reading that fuzzy yellow crabs are bad for acropora, but this guy doesn't have the black claw tips I see in other "fuzzy yellow crabs on my acropora" posts. The only reason I'm worried is because my acro hasn't been extending its polyps all the way.

He doesn't seem to be eating the polyps or anything. He just sits nestled in the branches and watches everything, and if I'm feeding the corals he'll eat right from the syringe. I dunno if the kinds of crabs that eat corals will eat things other than coral.

Should I remove him? I like him but if he's hurting the coral I guess I should probably take him out.

 

[drummerboyevil]

He's a lil cutie pie.

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

He sure is. He's fun to watch too. I hope he's a good crab cuz I want to keep him lol

 

[Zacktosterone]

lol i think it's a gorilla crab!!!! i don't think it's a n acro crab. does he have black tips on his mits?

 

[drummerboyevil]

If he's a gorilla I'd totally build a little area for him in the sump haha. I can never bring myself to kill any of the cool creatures that hitchhike in.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

I don't see any black tips? Although he's so small and fuzzy its hard to tell. Will a gorilla crab hurt the acro? I don't really have a place to put him but I don't want to kill him. I felt so bad just taking him off the acro to take his picture

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

I took a couple pictures of the acro and the crab. You can see how teenie his is and how well he blends in. I put a pink square around his little eyes.

But in the other photo I took pics of the acro's polyps and I don't think they're extending fully. I'm worried the acro is getting annoyed by the crab?? What do you guys think? I'm new to SPS.

 

[minus9]

It's hard to tell from my phone, but it looks like your acro is missing some flesh right above your square? Usually from my experience, acro crabs will have dark or black eyes, plus this guy is pretty hairy. If you have a sump, I would put him there.
Just my two pennies.

 

[biggles]

That is a bad guy - get rid of it :thumbdown

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Minus, yea it's missing a patch of skin arm. I knocked a branch off it yesterday by accident. That's a fairly new wound and I'm hoping it'll recover sooner rather than later.

I don't have a sump so I might just have to get rid of him sad, he's super cute! Is there a place where I could buy an actor crab or a crab that'd be beneficial to the coral? Or is it best to just leave the coral solo?

 

[drummerboyevil]

Maybe a local fish store would take him?

 

[Piper27]

That is a bad guy - get rid of it :thumbdown

I agree, I just pulled one off I missed that was the same as that. Found him because it caused damage that started to kill the boat acro. I only keep the white smooth shelled ones or any smooth ones I can Id as good, but most on maricultures are white or like that hairy one you have.

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Would this little crab cause bleaching in the coral? I noticed a couple branches near the base of the acro are really pale and yellow instead of peachy like the rest of the coral. The coral was a sorta teal color when I got it but now it's pinkish. I'm fishing the crab out now regardless... if he's bad, its time for him to go! Just curious if he could have caused that in the coral.

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

Well, mr fuzzy crab is leaving. I'm gonna keep him in a jar overnight just to see what happens, but then I'll probably flush him. I'm a little sad but I think its for the better. Besides, I already have one pain in the *** crab to deal with (stupid emerald. I love him.).

I attached a picture of the coral and its weird coloration. The lights are off but you can see how the tips of the branches are more colorful than the base. And of course one of my peps just had to help (by getting in the way )

It doesn't usually sit on the sandbed btw. Usually the acro is at the top of the tank right under the filter intake. I just couldn't get it back in place cuz I have a bandaid on my dominant hand (I scratched myself cleaning out my axolotl's tank like a moron) so I'm gonna put the coral back when the lights come on in the morning and I can take the bandaid off. I'm sure the peps will want inspect my scratch lol.

Also I dunno if it means anything but I have a Current Orbit led strip. I was told that'd be sufficient since my tank is a nano. My other sps (a stylophora) is doing just fine under the leds (the portions of the skeleton that were killed off by algae are starting to grow over and it has amazing polyp extension, and eats like a champ). The acro just doesn't seem pleased and I don't know if its because of the crab or not. I'm sure part of it is to give it time to recover from its irritating roommate but I'd still like to know what's going on.

I'm new to sps so I still have a lot of questions. Its amazing how pets/living creatures always do the one thing you didn't read about in books/articles/forums, or do the thing just differently enough that you have no idea what to do lol

 

[ArtsyAxolotl]

I'm afraid the coral is dying... can anyone confirm that? It doesn't seem happy..

 

[ezcompany]

the crab is very suspect to the detriment of your coral. general rule of thumb is if the crab is hairy, put it in the sump. if you have to get rid of it give it a quick death instead of flushing it. Or put it in your seafood soup

if you are new to sps, you should be on top of your water parameters, otherwise you are wasting your time and money. All the info you need is on this site, with plenty of info for beginners.

assuming your parameters are okay and there are no other pests on your coral your coral should recover if left alone with good flow and lighting. if it's dying and on its way you can try to frag the dying part out and do a dip in coral rx, mount it as a frag again and see if it survives. i've saved a few pieces like that.