What's Wrong W/ This Coral?

[euphoria]

After much observation I think I found out why this is happening.
I think it's my hermit crabs. Often I saw at least 2 of them walking over the coral and taking little bites off of it. I wasn't home for 2 days and when I came back it was almost all white

I've also seen my crabs walking over my sponges, and upon careful observation I can now see that the ends of my sponges are also kinda bitten off.
Have any of you experienced this w/ your crabs? If it wasn't for keeping the sand clean, I'd get rid of all of them.

 

[gregvabch]

what kind of hermit crabs are they?

 

[euphoria]

Donno for sure. I'll post a pic later on. They are not the blueleg types. They are much smaller.

 

[spsaddict]

hermits are scavengers, if the coral was thiving they wouldnt be eating it, the hermits senseced the plte wasdying and decided to eat.. they didnt kill the coral