What is eating my sps

Taylor121 · Mar 29, 2016

Hi guys something is eating my sps at night. My monitipora is being left alone but everything else is getting eaten. I'm new to reefing and don't know what it is or how to treat it? I do water changes with ocean water (perks of living in Hawaii) but do you guys think something could of got in from that?

Live stock
Blue damsel
Wild caught Banned shrimp
A couple of hermit crabs

zemuss · Mar 29, 2016

AEFW would be my first guess.

Secondly Red Bugs

G8trBait16 · Mar 29, 2016

zemuss said:
AEFW would be my first guess.

Secondly Red Bugs

I second Zemuss with AEFW.

ritter6788 · Mar 29, 2016

What kind of coral is that? If it's other sps than acros then it's not aefw, red bugs don't really eat acros.

Taylor121 · Mar 29, 2016

They're pocillopora

reefaboo · Mar 29, 2016

its just stn it seems to me ..
insufficient light/flow ,,, heavy nutrients .. other coral stings ... all could cause that ..

ritter6788 · Mar 29, 2016

Taylor121 said:
They're pocillopora

That eliminates aefw, red bug or really any pest. I agree with what @reefaboo just posted. Looks like a water related problem or to me. Where are you getting the corals? Are they aquacultured or wild/maricultured pieces?

Taylor121 · Mar 29, 2016

It's wild/ maricultured corals. At first I thought it could be a problem with water, lighting etc. but parts of the corals look like chunks were bitten out of it. (Sorry about the pictures can't really tell) I'll do some water changes and adjust flow rates and lightning and get back with you guys.
Thank you very much!

shoelaceike · Mar 29, 2016

Do you have astrina stars?

McMullen · Mar 29, 2016

Did you dip or QT? Wild/maricultured/aquacultured can be tough to keep alive even in the best home conditions!

TUSI · Mar 29, 2016

Do you have any urchins by any chance

Taylor121 · Mar 30, 2016

No I don't have any stars and yes I've dipped them before the went in. I just did a 50% water change and Corals are reacting well but You can see the under side of the frag on the top look like something went crazy on it

McMullen · Mar 30, 2016

Hmm, your thinking it's not STN?

It looks like you may be losing flesh on the top too.

Taylor121 · Mar 30, 2016

Yeah there's some missing from the top too, I think it could be both I'm not to sure. I'll do another 50% water change in the next couple of days and check the tank out with lights off to see if there are any critters munching away. I will keep you guys updated

Squamosa · Mar 30, 2016

Did you notice the damage in the morning i.e. did it happen over night?

The reason I'm saying this is that you may have a hitch hiking crab lurking somewhere in your system and it may be taking a liking to your poccis.
Xanthid sp. (gorillas) took a liking to my stylo once!