Star polyp being eaten

[Davers]

Hi to anyone who can help me:

I have a beautiful star polyp in my tank, which is being eaten badly by my hermits and snails, what can i do to save it before it is all gone,keep taking them off and have moved it but they keep going back.

Am at my wits end!!! do i take out the hermits or grrrrrr

Tks in advance

[bongobrian]

Davers- are you sure the polyps are being eaten by the hermits? and if so, what kind of hermits are we talking about here? blue-leg? scarlet? do you have any angels in the tank or other fish that might be nipping at the coral?

[Davers]

Hi tks for reply,i have blue and red legged hermits, and some turbo snails,plus i small dwarf cherub angel.

I watch the tank all the time and i have never seen the angel touch it,but the hermits are always in it!! i took 6 out of it yesterday and moved the coral,so i was thinking maybe i should get rid of the hermits,i do have quite a few,what do you think ??

[dattack]

I really doubt that your turbo snails are eating your star polyps. If you are concerned about the crabs, then remove them and put them in the sump.

I have a feeling it might be another culprit.

[Davers]

Thanks for reply dattack,but i am convinced it is the hermit crabs,never thought it would be the snails,and as i have very few fish it is unlikely to be one of them,so have decided to take them back to lfs tomorrow,then we will see.Will keep you posted

[Uel]

I have to disagree with dattack on the snails. I have seen my snails eating star polyps and leaving trails in them. I do not have any crabs. I just remove them and put them on a rock. The star polyps are recovering nicely.

[zhenya]

Well,I've seen snails on the star polyps but never seen them eat any of the polyps.If you have some algae on the mat,they'll eat that,I doubt however that they'll eat polyps though.Sometimes I wish they did as it plans to take over all of my rocks and I have other plans for this real estate.Same goes for hermits I think,but if they hungry,they're crabs and will do what needs be done to survive
I agree with Dattack and would advise to look for the real predator of the star polyps.Now,there is some snails that will eat nothing but corals and I hope you don't have any of this characters arround.
Good luck Davers,I hope you find the one responsible.

[Davers]

Well i have moved the coral, and i am taking out most of the hermits, the dwarf angel has never gone near it, and it seems to be making a recovery.

Have just tested for calcium,magnesium,iodine,and phosphates,and the only one that was ok was the phosphates have none of them present.

The other three were slightly off balance!! and have added to the tank today, and will test tomorrow for any changes, so that could have been making a slight difference.

Will let you know tomorrow evening as i am out for the daytime.

Thanks to everybody with your input ;)

[Reefland]

In most cases, Iodine and Magnesium are not really worth watching too closely. Water chages will usually keep these levels ok. Magnesium is worth testing if you are having problems with your calcium levels but typically it stays at a level acceptable in the captive marine environment, as does Iodine. Iodine is good for helping corals recover from injury but I think most people will just dip the affected coral versus trying to adjust their tank to match NSW.

Just my opinion of course,
Scott Z.

[LazyReef]

I learned a long time ago, never put snails in your tank. Sooner or later they eat something you like.

[ravenmore]

I learned a long time ago, never put snails in your tank. Sooner or later they eat something you like.

actually snails such as astreas, turbos, cerith, ect... won't be too much of a problem. However, other "snails" such as some cowries and whelks are meat eaters. Whelks are very common hitchikers and many folks buy cowries for algae control (some do a good job for this btw.....) but they can also be predators.