A warning to all

I came home today to my blue legs making short work of my birds nest

 

I'm sorry, I just don't trust crabs

 

:O Wow, those little Bast***s... I'm sorry..

 

I have only had crabs bother my corals when they are dead or dying. I would suggest checking into it and see if there is something going on with the coral.

 

Blue leg hermits? They won't do this is the coral is alive. It's either dying from some other cause, or your hermits aren't blue legs.

 

I've had them pick at decaying tissue on a monti and a zoa colony, but that's the only time I have noticed it happening in my tank.

 

Normally I would agree with you about the blue legs, but this birdnest was in great conditions as well as growing. I had a green birdnest that the Sexy’s did the same thing too. The only thing I can think of as to why this would happen is, I no longer feed the whole tank since I got my dendro. When I spot feed the dendro the fish/inverts in the tank come over and they get spot fed as well, so there is no extra feed lying around for them to eat. I will have to go back to feed the whole tank as well as spot feeding and see if they go rogue again.
Blue leg are still a very important part of the CUC in my book, but reef safe, I think not. More like certain coral safe.

 

I have to agree with everyone else on the Blue Legs. They don't attack healthy tissue. Is it possible that a feeder tentacle from a nearby LPS could have struck the Birdsnest (they can be over 6" long BTW)? Possible Pocci warfare? I had a small piece of Torch "break" off of the colony, and float onto my Birds of Paradise one afternoon, killing the entire branch.

And on the Sexy shrimp, they are known to munch on corals, living or dead. The wife wants some, but she has to get her own damn tank before I'll let those pests in.

 

i will clip off the dead branch and move it with the other Birdnests and see what happens

 

Yeah, sexy shrimp are known coral eaters.