Crumbling Live Rock

[kiddow]

I HAVE A NEW TANK, 4 WEEKS OLD, ABOUT 45#LR, I BELEIVE IT HAS CYCLED.
CURRENTLY HAVE 1 YELLOW TAIL DAMSEL AND 10 HERMIT CRABS,
WATER TEST ARE OK,
MY LR SEEMS TO BE CRUMBLING AWAY, I HAVE FOUND SMALL CHUNKS THAT LOOK LIKE THEY HAVE FALLEN OFF OF BIGGER PIECES, ALSO ALOT OF WHITE GROWTH SHOWING UP IN LAST FEW DAYS ON LR, LIKE WHITE COARLINE?
ANY IDEAS?

 

[maroonclownfan]

If the rock is Tuffa rock it is pretty brittle to begin with. Tuffa is very light weight, but crumbles easily. IME. It was most likely cracked before and finally gave way.
The 'white' corralline is some probably die off from the cycle. In time it should come back with good water quality.
Good luck....MCF

 

[logan15]

yes it is mostly likely shatterd pieces of rock just finally giving away save them if you ever have a sump or refuge toss them in their

 

[fshhub]

white patches of coraline are a good sign, coraline as it dies or regrows, will be whitish in color at first.
the rock, could be as mentioned, as long as it actually is rock,and not dead corals or something.
how big are the pieces?

 

[ty_05_f]

Yeah after my cycle the coralline bleached out for some time but came back big time.

 

[kiddow]

thanks all for your help
the pieces (there are only two so far) are about the size of a small plum
at first i had purple and red coralline now all this white stuff, my one fish is doing ok and my little crabs are happy little campers
one question: will i need to get bigger shells for the crabs? or do they grow? it seems they have gotten alittle bigger than when i first got them?
thanks

 

[fshhub]

hermit crabs??
if so, they do need bigger shells
other crabs, their shells grow with them