ACK!!! Help w/ID, my polyps are almost gone!!

bdhutier

bdhutier

Member
HELP!!! I picked up some calcified oyster shells in Corpus Christi two weeks ago, and brought home a hitch-hiker. He made it through my QT unseen, and is now in my DT. I saw him yesterday afternoon, and have been trying to capture him, with no luck. Long story short, we went to Chili's tonight, and ran a few errands, and now about 80% of my polyps are gone without a trace. I'm suspecting the crab, but then again, he is only about 1" wide, so he'd have a really big stomach to eat them all (about a 7"x3" strip of polyps packed in crown-to-crown).
The only other thing I can think of are some small goby's, or my brittle star, but they get raw shrimp every other day.
Sorry for the crappy pics, my camera isn't great for close-ups. Any help is appreciated!! BTW, the crab in the pics is from my kids' crab tank, we caught him that same day, and he's much bigger than the one in my DT.



 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
I don't know what the deal with this thread is, LOL. Has it been figured out? I don't think that any of the above mentioned creatures would hurt any coral in any way (depending on what it actually is). Also, what type of coral are we talking about?
 
bdhutier

bdhutier

Member
The coral that were eaten were Zoos. I'm not sure whether any of the above would hurt them or not either, but those three are the only heavy meat-eaters I have. I've had the B-star around 2 months with no problems, so I really don't suspect him.
Does anyone ever have 80-90% of their Zoos completeley disappear within around a 5 hour span, for any other reason than being eaten? I mean, there's literally NO trace of them whatsoever.

Maybe there's something about their life-cycle I don't know, like the mass vacation to a hidden place in the tank?
 
killersnake0

killersnake0

Member
that almost looks like a small stonecrab to me. you should look up some pics. of them. if its a stone get it out because it will try and kill just about everything you have in your tank.
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
Originally Posted by bdhutier
http:///forum/post/2525118
The coral that were eaten were Zoos. I'm not sure whether any of the above would hurt them or not either, but those three are the only heavy meat-eaters I have. I've had the B-star around 2 months with no problems, so I really don't suspect him.
Does anyone ever have 80-90% of their Zoos completeley disappear within around a 5 hour span, for any other reason than being eaten? I mean, there's literally NO trace of them whatsoever.

Maybe there's something about their life-cycle I don't know, like the mass vacation to a hidden place in the tank?


That's pretty much exactly right. They will sometime just fall off the rock and drift away to a different area when they are trying to spread the colony. This usually happens with smaller colonies though. I have no idea how many polyps yours has?
 
brettd

brettd

Member
Look around for a decorator crab! I had the same problem myself. Found the little turd only inches away from the colony by pulling the whole rock out of the tank. He got up and started to walk away.
I couldn't see him when he was right under my nose until he started to walk.
 
bdhutier

bdhutier

Member
Originally Posted by nietzsche
http:///forum/post/2525684
is stone crab what they told you on the maast board?
That's what they said. Are you a member?
I pulled all my LR out, and found him (of course, he was on the next to last rock). He's now in my kids' crab tank. I don't know how many Zoos were taken out, I'd guess around 50-70, but in the LR removal, there wasn't a polyp to be found. Oh well, live and learn... there's nothing I can do now, other than inspect the stuff coming out of QT better.
Thanks for everybody's help!
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
I don't know if it can be that simple. The Zoos would be shriveled down to about the size of VERY tiny raisins. They would be hard to spot even to the bare eye.
 
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