Zoa's Dissapearing...

[Bretty999]

I have recently added a few new zoa. frags to my 29g. They do fine for the first couple of days, then they just disappear. The whold thing, basically overnight. I have not seen any zoa eating nudis, but i did discover a LARGE crab. Other thatn the 3 frags, i have not added anything new to the tank. This crab is easily the size of a golf ball. he is white with 2 red spots and black claws. I have only been able to see him 2 times, and have no idea where he came from. There is also a smaller version of the same crab that hides in the front of the rocks. Could they be the culprits?

Thanks...

Brett

 

[cardgenius]

I would bet its the crabs. Somethings gotta be eating them if they just disapear over night and crabs are notorious for eating coral. Id get them out as quickly as possible.

 

[Bretty999]

Ill see if i can get him out...then ill take some pics and post..Thanks!

 

[aquarius77]

I would agree that the crabs might be guilty, but man they sound neat.

People have come up with traps and different ideas to remove fish, shrimp and crabs im sure, without tearing apart your reef. I belive one way is to cut the top 1/4 of a 16oz soda bottle off and invert it and stuff it back into the bottom half of the bottle and the lower it into the tank. Bait it with some food in the bottom and let it there overnight. They crawl in but cant crawl out.
It sounds like you have a big guy in there so that might not be an option for him but look around im sure there is a good extraction method out there. Im interested in the crabs if you do catch them alive!

 

[camaroracer214]

what kind of flow do you have in your tank? is it possible that your flow is too much and blowing some of your zoas off their frag or maybe blowing the whole frag away...sometimes i have to place a frag in many different places just to keep it from blowing away and i've lost some nice frags before.