Hermit eating Euphylla

[ahochan]

I've been having trouble with my Euphylla coral lately. Over the last few months, several branches have died.

One branch has been slowly dying off lately. Yesterday, I saw that about half the polyps on this branch were gone. This morning, I found one of my hermits sitting on top of that branch, and all the polyps were gone.

What are the chances of the hermit systematically killing off the euphylla? The branches that are still alive are not showing any sign of decay, and they are extending to the same length that they have always been (I've had the euphylla for about 8-10 months).

Could anyone recommend a list of hermits that are not reef safe? Alternatively, a list of hermits that are reef safe. I have 5 hermits in a 60 cm / 100 liter tank/sump. All are different types.

I'm thinking of banishing the hermit to the sump. Would it be ok there without any lights?

 

[Innovator]

I love the term "reef safe" because technically, everything feeds from the reef in one way or another. The blue-legs are notoriously opportunistic as many hermits are so the possibility of limited food supply could provoke hermits into consuming coral tissue; however, ime I see hermits feed directly upon tissue when there is already a problem, such as tissue trauma. What else is in the tank (corals and fish), have you recently changed anything in your routine, what are your tank parameters (just for kicks), and while the tissue is dieing off what did it look like (brown jelly?)?

 

[melosu58]

That would be my prognosis on the brown jelly disease. I had it on my branching anchor or hammer, whatever you want to call it and the best bet is to break the heads that are infected off. Moving this to the sick fish or coral forum.

 

[ahochan]

At work now, so no water parameters:

I haven't really changed anything lately, but now that I think of it, I was away most of December on a business trip, and my wife took care of the tank during that time. When returning, the euphylla did not really extend properly for a few days (not before I made a couple of water changes and added fresh GAC). I guess there is a good chance the health of the coral took a dip while I was away, and only parts of it recovered.

What should I use to cut of the dead and dying branches?

Btw. I haven't really seen any brown tissue. The branches that die just gradually extend less and less until they are gone.

 

[ahochan]

Tank contains: Clark's clown, Yellow tailed damsel, royal gramma, hermits and snails.
Coral: Mushrooms, tree coral, star polyps