Blue Legged Hermit eating Hammer coral??

[Eggpaul]

Okay, a few weeks ago my new green walled hammer had brown jelly disease so I dipped it and other than the new empty spot it was fine. It has been opening up and looks awesome under my LED's. But lately I've noticed daily it get smaller and smaller. Seems polyps are disappearing daily from the edges. I noticed a blue legged hermit eating some algae off the skeleton, which is normal. BUT LAST NIGHT after the lights went out, I saw the hermit actually ripping polyps off the edge!!! I doubt they were decaying polyps or I would have noticed them before since I've been keeping my eye on it. I noticed it was ripping away at 2 polyps. The green tips were already gone when I looked, and it was eating the lower portion. I shined a light on it and it walked away. Is this normal? Maybe this explains why I've lost a hammer in the past. If I place the crab in chamber 2 with chaeto and live rock will it survive there?

SG- 1.025
CA- 440
KH- 8.3
MG- 1400
Nitrates- Below 5
phosphates- near undetectible
Biocube 29- Skimmer, refugium with chaeto and live rock in chamber 2. Dosing 2 part daily because of large amount of coral.

 

[Sniperhank]

You added hermit crabs to be part of your clean up crew. It is simply cleaning up the dead and decaying matter, what you paid it to do in a round about way.

 

[Eggpaul]

You added hermit crabs to be part of your clean up crew. It is simply cleaning up the dead and decaying matter, what you paid it to do in a round about way.

But like I said, the hammer is doing fine the last few weeks. Polyps are extending and it's happy. I don't see any decaying polyps. So why would the hermit be eating healthy polyps?

 

[nshepler]

My hermits clean around my polyps all the time, it might look like it's eating it but it's not. I freaked the first time I saw this also.


Shep