High Tide Aquatics

Odd critter and a sad coral

C

Corallus

Supporting Member
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Hoping I get get the benefit of others experience with strange critters on coral. The story - a little over a week ago, I picked up what I think was a frag of purple stylophora from Neptune. Did the 15 min dip w/ Revive and introduced to my tank (on the ground, but nothing blocking the light, what I consider med flow). At that point I notice a small bleached patch that I missed when I picked it up, but hoped it wouldn't get any worse. Today I pulled out the almost completely bleached piece, and noticed a thin fissure in the coral, so I broke it open with a screwdriver and found what looks like a very small crab... with an eggcase.

Here's the coral the day I added it. Note white patch bottom, left.
Crab01.jpg


This guy (or gal I suppose...) is pretty small - maybe 1/4" across
Crab02.jpg


From another angle
Crab03.jpg


On a piece of paper towel
Crab04.jpg

So my concern - Does anybody know what this thing is, and more importantly, is it possibly responsible for damaging the coral? It's in a little cup of tank water while I look through reef hitchhiker websites and decide it's fate.

Thanks for looking!
 
If it's fate is death, please give it to me to put in my pest jar. Always happy to have new critters. :) I'll be at the frag swap on saturday.
 
Sure thing, it's yours if it lives that long. Looks to be something called a gall crab that specializes in burrowing into stoney corals, so it's not going back into my tank. I'll put it in a jar for you, and bring it with me if it survives.
 
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