Tangs eating coral?

[coralkurd]

My yellow eye kole tang just started going after my toadstool. I don't know if he is taking bites off but every time the polyps come out he nips at them until they retract. so mad and sad cause I love both but Its looking like I will have to catch this sucker. my toadstool has 3 frags of it in the tank and he only goes after the mother colony.

 

[vetteguy53081]

My yellow eye kole tang just started going after my toadstool. I don't know if he is taking bites off but every time the polyps come out he nips at them until they retract. so mad and sad cause I love both but Its looking like I will have to catch this sucker. my toadstool has 3 frags of it in the tank and he only goes after the mother colony.

is it going after the polyps or food that has dropped onto it? They also if, there is not enough current develop a fil on their surface which collects algae and I could see the interest. Not typical of Any tang to go after or show interest in leathers of any type

 

[Isabel’s Hobby]

That was my guess as well. I have a gem tang and he or she I’ve seen nipping on the surface of my toad and comes out that it wasn’t going after the polyps at all. once there was no more food or slime on it ... it stopped completely. Took a few days in a row. Honestly my toad would have been the one leaving my tank not the gem
But both are very happy now

On that note I’ve seen my purple tang eating akons and he needed to leave I also know my naso eats any daisy especially when they’re pink so no daisy or glove polyps in my tank.
my hippo takes snails from one side to the other side of the tank and just now she keept on trying to pick up a mandarin. I was wondering if he was sick I’ve had him 4+ years.His top fin disappeared and then his tail. I have a small video where the hippo is trying to get to him but finally the mandarin of weeks of fighting passed on. I don’t think it was the hippo what caused the mandarin to die because the mandarin was in that tank for about 1 year longer and until now years later I’ve never seen that hippo go after any other fish or the mandarin before !
My thought is .... maybe these fish are cleaning up a bit ?
If I would be you ... keep an eye on it for a few more days or take the mother toad out and watch if your tang moves on to the smaller once or if that is it.

 

[ladodaniels]

Hi all,
This is new to me, and what i mean by that is that I have had this tang for years now. But today he started to eat coral. Anyone seen that before ?

Yes!!! My Powder Brown Tang decided to eat coral today for the first time in 6 months. I felt so bad because I had to remove it from 200 gallon tank. It eats from my hand, so I don’t understand why.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Is it physically eating the coral or going after food particles that have fallen within the coral?

 

[pdjemail]

My Tomini Tang used to peck at the rocks eating algae I assume. Now it’s doing the same to my Favia.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

My 2 cents is if tangs are going after any coral it is from lack of food and or dying tissue. Need to make sure they have almost a constant supply of algae that will rule out hunger. They usually only go after a single coral when it is gone or only healthy tissue is left they stop unless they are not getting enough food.

 

[Kurdish reefer]

Hi all,
This is new to me, and what i mean by that is that I have had this tang for years now. But today he started to eat coral. Anyone seen that before ?

Yes mine did too i had them for long but suddenly they decided eat my brain corals (blue tang and yellow and purple and sailfin tangs ) they all did this happen to two my friends too

 

[i cant think]

Hi all,
This is new to me, and what i mean by that is that I have had this tang for years now. But today he started to eat coral. Anyone seen that before ?

One thing I have noticed completely different to this thread (Sorry) is how natural the coral and tang look! And it is usually rather rare to find a tang that eats coral but not unheard of.

 

[Saltyanimals]

I noticed my fish sometimes go after the coral bung-hole after I feed. I see my yellow tang and leopard wrasse do that to a very expense indophillia. The coincidence of both teaming up on the same coral at the same time hours after feeding the coral suggest the coral poop is just irresistible. Literally see the entire yellow tang snout into the mouth. Hasn't seen it real permanent damage and likely not the first time they've done this. Maybe just first time I've witnessed it.

 

[amutti]

We’ll just figured out why I keep losing LPS and soft coral I add to my tank… my 9 year old powder blue tang has decided it likes the taste of corals! Specifically, caught it eating a Goni, completely destroy a firework clove frag and ate three polyps of bowser paly to stubs. Ugh! I guess it’s just encrusting and SPS for me.

 

[vetteguy53081]

We’ll just figured out why I keep losing LPS and soft coral I add to my tank… my 9 year old powder blue tang has decided it likes the taste of corals! Specifically, caught it eating a Goni, completely destroy a firework clove frag and ate three polyps of bowser paly to stubs. Ugh! I guess it’s just encrusting and SPS for me.

Eating coral or eating food that has landed on the coral?
I have many tangs and they couldn’t care less about coral

 

[i cant think]

Eating coral or eating food that has landed on the coral?
I have many tangs and they couldn’t care less about coral

I’ve had several tangs in the past that did this and didn’t actually care about coral.

 

[Breadbox]

I've had Chromis nipping my duncans and cloves after I target fed my corals with reef roids(the most likely cause), absolutely, postively do not target feed your corals if you want your fishes to stay away from them.

 

[amutti]

Eating coral or eating food that has landed on the coral?
I have many tangs and they couldn’t care less about coral

Positive eating coral. Many hours after I fed them. It actually detached one of the frags I'd superglued to the rock work trying the bite off the clove polyp. I moved the Bowser to another tank hoping it will recover... hasn't melted yet.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Positive eating coral. Many hours after I fed them. It actually detached one of the frags I'd superglued to the rock work trying the bite off the clove polyp. I moved the Bowser to another tank hoping it will recover... hasn't melted yet.

Ouch
I feel lucky as I have a bunch of tangs