Hermit Crabs eating my Superman Monti

[jharding08]

How can I prevent my hermit crabs from snacking on my superman monti? It is almost all gone from these little guys. When I see them on it, I push them off, but they are overwhelming.

Any ideas?

[terrypercula]

Are they eating it or just on it cleaning it? I'm sure anything is possible I just never heard of hermits eating SPS before.

[jharding08]

They are definitely eating the polyps and coral. Where they have been is dead, while I still can see some blue and orange encrusting (where they havent been yet) next to the dead spots.

[Lateralus]

Sounds like they are hungry. Get rid of them or toss them in the fuge if you have one.

[jharding08]

Do I not have enough for them to eat in the dizplay then? I have high nitrates, that is why I got them in the first place...to eat the detritus and lower the nitrates.

Could it be the nitrates are caused by something else?

[Pdxile]

A bunch of hermits won't solve nitrate problems. If it eats, it poops. Speaking of eating, it sounds like you've got a more hermits than you have the food to support them.

[jharding08]

What do they eat or how do people feed them if there is no detritus? I can put some in my overflow as that is hard to clean

[Pdxile]

Don't put them in the overflow! One could get trapped easily and clog it, ant you will come home to a house filled with water.
If you decide to keep all those crabs you will have to give them supplemental feedings: just more of what you feed your fish. Then the crabs will eat it, poop it out and raise your nutrient levels, causing algea. You'll also get an increase in bacteria to handle the extra bioload. Your tank will become eutrophic and you will be at risk for a massive bacterial death that will cause oxygen depletion and crash your tank. Now this is an extreme scenario, but you want to Do everything you can to avoid that situation. I'd begin by giving at least 1/2 of your crabs back to the LFS.

[jharding08]

I have an external siphon overflow where there is a bottom that doesn't have the drain on it.


Detritus gathers in there and in the bottom where the drain is. I have a durso pipe on the drain. Can hermits climb that?

[MHG]

Keep your monti alive and the crabs won't eat it. Unless you have some monster chernobyl crags...

[jharding08]

I have less than 20 hermits in a 120 gallon, that isnt too much is it?

[UTCReefer]

They really shouldnt be eating your corals. Are you sure that the coral wasnt sick or dying first?

That many hermits in a 120 should be fine, mine normally just eat left over food or pick stuff off the rocks. They hardly ever walk over any live corals at all, which is why i am wondering if the coral was previously injured or dying.

[jharding08]

I do have high nitrates so it could be dying, but the hermits are definitely on top of it. do they eat the dead parts?

[Calappidae]

What type of hermits are they? Hermits like blue knuckle, halloween, orange knuckle, etc can sometimes not be reef safe if underfed.

[UTCReefer]

Originally Posted by jharding08

I do have high nitrates so it could be dying, but the hermits are definitely on top of it. do they eat the dead parts?

That's been my impression, but it could also depend on what type of crab you have. Most of mine are blue leg hermits.

[jharding08]

They are blue leg from what I can tell

[Psyops]

The chicken or the egg. Which came first. Are your crabs eating the monti and killing it, or the monti is dying and they are just eating the dying parts? Usually it's the latter. If you have high nitrates then how are your other parameters?

Phosphates, alk, calcium for instance.

Alex

[terrypercula]

Sounds like your hermits are getting the bristleworm treatment. By that I mean bristlwworms get a bad name for eating corals and usually the case is the corals already dying and they're cleaning it up. Like I said before though I suppose anything is possible.