Help!! My birdsnest was attacked by a crab!!

glb · May 21, 2015

Yesterday I pulled a hermit off my purple birdsnest and today the base and some other areas are bleached!!!! The color in the pic is off because of the flash but it does show the white areas. Here's before:.

Here's after:

My alk is 9, ph 7.8-8.1, ca 490, mg 1380, temp 78, SG 1.025 and nitrates 5-7ppm. Nothing's drastically changed as far as water chemistry. What happened and what do I do????

cloak · May 21, 2015

If your absolutely positively sure the hermit crab did that then all you really can do is wait. The coral should heal up on it's own given time. If this is STN/RTN due to a fluctuation in your alkalinity then your going to want to fix that ASAP. Keeping this stable is key, especially for sps corals. GL.

You might want to remove the hermit crab btw.

glb · May 21, 2015

cloak said:
If your absolutely positively sure the hermit crab did that then all you really can do is wait. The coral should heal up on it's own given time. If this is STN/RTN due to a fluctuation in your alkalinity then your going to want to fix that ASAP. Keeping this stable is key, especially for sps corals. GL.

You might want to remove the hermit crab btw.

Thanks for your quick response. I'm not sure it's the crab but it happened right after I caught the crab on the coral. I did have a .4kh jump yesterday when I added Kalk. I try to keep the alk at about 9.0. It jumped from 8.8 to 9.2. I measure the Kalk very carefully and usually 1/3 cup raises my kh by .2. I added 1/3 cup and got a bigger jump. Testing was with a Hanna Checker before and after adding. I know there's a +\- of 5ppm for the checker. I think in ppm it went from 156-162. Would that jump in alk be enough to cause this?

glb · May 21, 2015

I just found another culprit. Sexy shrimp. It's to the left of the base of the top left stem.

RavenSF · May 21, 2015

I dunno if I'd blame the inverts unless you saw them actively picking at the coral. I've got a peppermint shrimp that used to spend all his time hanging out in my cats paw Stylopora.

glb · May 21, 2015

RavenSF said:
I dunno if I'd blame the inverts unless you saw them actively picking at the coral. I've got a peppermint shrimp that used to spend all his time hanging out in my cats paw Stylopora.

I think you're probably right. Could a .4kh jump cause it?

RavenSF · May 21, 2015

It could be although that's not much. How's your mag? I've caused RTN by overdosing mag.

sawdonkey · May 21, 2015

glb said:
I think you're probably right. Could a .4kh jump cause it?

I don't think a .4 swing is going to cause issues, especially with birdsnest. However, I also doubt the issue is your inverts.

RavenSF · May 21, 2015

I'm far from an expert but for STN and RTN my advice is always dip in Lugol's. You can also cover the edges where it's receding in super glue.

glb · May 21, 2015

RavenSF said:
It could be although that's not much. How's your mag? I've caused RTN by overdosing mag.

I never dose mg but it's always about 1380ppm. I have to add more salt mix to get SG where I want it, so my guess is that's where it comes from. It's weird, the number is always the same. Is 1380 a problem?

glb · May 21, 2015

sawdonkey said:
I don't think a .4 swing is going to cause issues, especially with birdsnest. However, I also doubt the issue is your inverts.

Ok good. That's a relief on both issues. I touched it because it started to come loose from its rock but I don't think that was it either.

glb · May 21, 2015

RavenSF said:
I'm far from an expert but for STN and RTN my advice is always dip in Lugol's. You can also cover the edges where it's receding in super glue.

Does the glue stop the receding?

RavenSF · May 22, 2015

The glue can stop with the receding, but I would only do it for RTN when it's sort of a hail mary. 1380 mg is fine. I'd try to lugol's dip and a good water change. If it progresses try fragging the piece with parts that aren't affecting. If it's slowly happening, I wouldn't try anything drastic. Also have you changed it's lighting conditions?

swk · May 22, 2015

I'm pretty sure that sexy shrimp have a established reputation for munching birdsnest corals. I wouldn't blame the hermit and I don't think that alk swing is major enough to cause this.

glb · May 22, 2015

RavenSF said:
The glue can stop with the receding, but I would only do it for RTN when it's sort of a hail mary. 1380 mg is fine. I'd try to lugol's dip and a good water change. If it progresses try fragging the piece with parts that aren't affecting. If it's slowly happening, I wouldn't try anything drastic. Also have you changed it's lighting conditions?

No lighting changes. Blues at 40% for 8hrs and whites at 15% for 4 hours. There was a big overnight bleaching and now it's seems to have slowed or stopped.

joshbbert · May 22, 2015

Ive never beem able to keep birdsnest becuase my sexy shrimp eat them idk why but ive lost two to them, I dont know how common it is but i watched the buggers do it. They dont mess with any other sps

evolved · May 22, 2015

swk said:
sexy shrimp have a established reputation for munching birdsnest corals

This. Stylos too, and probably Pocillopora for that matter.

joshbbert · May 22, 2015

evolved said:
This. Stylos too, and probably Pocillopora for that matter.

Yup no poci's either leaves the acros and digi alone tho. Man thanks for this I thought I just had crazy shrimp

glb · May 22, 2015

Ok here's today's pic. The white is spreading, but not quickly and there's still a lot of color. Should I just wait it out or should I start fragging?

glb · May 22, 2015

joshbbert said:
Ive never beem able to keep birdsnest becuase my sexy shrimp eat them idk why but ive lost two to them, I dont know how common it is but i watched the buggers do it. They dont mess with any other sps

Great. I just got the sexy shrimp. My yellow birdsnest they're leaving alone for now. How could those cute little varmits do such a thing?