Crab Snack?

bcarl77 · Mar 5, 2019

Got a few new zoas about a month ago. This one was doing really well, wide open every day. Tonight I came home an found it like this. Not sure what caused it? I do have an emerald crab and suspect he was responsible. Any other ideas what caused this? Will it heal if I keep the head away from the crab?

Capitol Reef Corals · Mar 6, 2019

Hmm, I have emerald crabs all over my tanks. I always see them pick around the zoas but never at the zoa. And definitely not destroy a zoa like this. Double check and make sure there are no pests eating it at night.

Hard to tell if it will ever recover or not. Usually when zoas rip like this they don't recover for me. But when I'm sure there's a decent probability that it will recover depending on how good your water is and how well zoas do in your tank. I've had zoas that lose all of their "inside juices" from fragging them and they recover from that.

Good luck!

bcarl77 · Mar 6, 2019

I’ve kept an eye on them early in the morning at around 6am, I have seen my emerald near them. Also happened to a different polyp a few weeks ago. Looks like its healing, not open yet. Not sure what else could damage so quickly. No signs of other pests.