Who ate my brain?

[Scott Bennett]

I have a 75 gallon fish/reef tank that's been up for 6 months. I added
corals for the first time about 1 month ago. Today, I came home and a
lobe of my Trachophyllia open brain coral on the sand had been - it
looks like - chewed off. The lobe was down to white skeleton in about a
1/2" or 1" round area from one edge in. Overall brain is about 5" by
3". It had been looking fine, so I don't think it was spontaneous
decomposition; pieces were still hanging off, sort of like if you tore
cloth or skin and edges were flapping. The rest of the brain is alive
and still eating.

So: the question is who did it, of the following [I suspect the crab]:
Green emerald Mythrax crab
Cleaner shrimp
Peppermint shrimp
Fire shrimp
Black sea cucumber
1/2" blue leg hermits
Various snails (turbo, nassarius, Margarita)
Purple porcelain crab (filter feeders, so I don't think it's them)
Lawnmower blennie
Firefish (neither fish ever shows interest in corals)

I think this happened because about the same time I added the corals, I
got some turbo snails who really cleaned up the algae in the tank. I
think maybe somebody got hungry. Would it even be possible for it to be
any of the other creatures besides the crab? I've pulled him out of
this tank and moved him to my quarantine tank, if it's likely him I'll
donate him to the LFS based on this non-reef-safe behavior.

Also, any chance the brain will regrow its "flesh" over that eaten area?

Thanks for your guesses!
[Sorry if this is a duplicate post, my newsreader seems to have eaten
the first try.]

[Marc Levenson]

I would blame a fish. I was thinking a Tang fish, but you didn't list it. I
had a pretty Lobophylia (or Lobophytum -- I get those mixed up!), and one of the
two large polyps was in trouble, after being stung by Ricordias.

Still, I thought it would rebound. Instead, my fish decided it tasted better
than it looked, and picked it clean! The other polyp continues to live...

Marc


Scott Bennett wrote:

> I have a 75 gallon fish/reef tank that's been up for 6 months. I added
> corals for the first time about 1 month ago. Today, I came home and a
> lobe of my Trachophyllia open brain coral on the sand had been - it
> looks like - chewed off. The lobe was down to white skeleton in about a
> 1/2" or 1" round area from one edge in. Overall brain is about 5" by
> 3". It had been looking fine, so I don't think it was spontaneous
> decomposition; pieces were still hanging off, sort of like if you tore
> cloth or skin and edges were flapping. The rest of the brain is alive
> and still eating.
>
> So: the question is who did it, of the following [I suspect the crab]:
> Green emerald Mythrax crab
> Cleaner shrimp
> Peppermint shrimp
> Fire shrimp
> Black sea cucumber
> 1/2" blue leg hermits
> Various snails (turbo, nassarius, Margarita)
> Purple porcelain crab (filter feeders, so I don't think it's them)
> Lawnmower blennie
> Firefish (neither fish ever shows interest in corals)
>
> I think this happened because about the same time I added the corals, I
> got some turbo snails who really cleaned up the algae in the tank. I
> think maybe somebody got hungry. Would it even be possible for it to be
> any of the other creatures besides the crab? I've pulled him out of
> this tank and moved him to my quarantine tank, if it's likely him I'll
> donate him to the LFS based on this non-reef-safe behavior.
>
> Also, any chance the brain will regrow its "flesh" over that eaten area?
>
> Thanks for your guesses!
> [Sorry if this is a duplicate post, my newsreader seems to have eaten
> the first try.]

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Scott Bennett]

The right fish would make sense, except that the firefish and blennie
are the only fish in the tank right now, and I don't think either is a
problem. The crab was the closest I could see as an issue. A cucumber
couldn't... and I think it would take all 5 or so of my little hermits
to do this amount of damage in an afternoon.

Sorry about your guy!
Scott

Marc Levenson wrote:
> I would blame a fish. I was thinking a Tang fish, but you didn't list it. I
> had a pretty Lobophylia (or Lobophytum -- I get those mixed up!), and one of the
> two large polyps was in trouble, after being stung by Ricordias.
>
> Still, I thought it would rebound. Instead, my fish decided it tasted better
> than it looked, and picked it clean! The other polyp continues to live...
>
> Marc
>
>
> Scott Bennett wrote:
>
>
>>I have a 75 gallon fish/reef tank that's been up for 6 months. I added
>>corals for the first time about 1 month ago. Today, I came home and a
>>lobe of my Trachophyllia open brain coral on the sand had been - it
>>looks like - chewed off. The lobe was down to white skeleton in about a
>>1/2" or 1" round area from one edge in. Overall brain is about 5" by
>>3". It had been looking fine, so I don't think it was spontaneous
>>decomposition; pieces were still hanging off, sort of like if you tore
>>cloth or skin and edges were flapping. The rest of the brain is alive
>>and still eating.
>>
>>So: the question is who did it, of the following [I suspect the crab]:
>> Green emerald Mythrax crab
>> Cleaner shrimp
>> Peppermint shrimp
>> Fire shrimp
>> Black sea cucumber
>> 1/2" blue leg hermits
>> Various snails (turbo, nassarius, Margarita)
>> Purple porcelain crab (filter feeders, so I don't think it's them)
>> Lawnmower blennie
>> Firefish (neither fish ever shows interest in corals)
>>
>>I think this happened because about the same time I added the corals, I
>>got some turbo snails who really cleaned up the algae in the tank. I
>>think maybe somebody got hungry. Would it even be possible for it to be
>>any of the other creatures besides the crab? I've pulled him out of
>>this tank and moved him to my quarantine tank, if it's likely him I'll
>>donate him to the LFS based on this non-reef-safe behavior.
>>
>>Also, any chance the brain will regrow its "flesh" over that eaten area?
>>
>>Thanks for your guesses!
>>[Sorry if this is a duplicate post, my newsreader seems to have eaten
>>the first try.]
>
>
> --
> Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
> Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
> Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com
>
>

[JP]

My brain once got chewed on as well. I suspected it was one of the crabs,
but I never did find the culprit. One whole mouth was chewed away down to
the skeleton. It did continue to eat and grow back, pretty amazing how
resilient they are. The only change I made was to feed it earlier in the
day so I could keep an eye on things in case whoever did the damage was
after the chunk of shrimp I had fed it.
Hope this helps.

JP


"Scott Bennett" > wrote in message
...
> I have a 75 gallon fish/reef tank that's been up for 6 months. I added
> corals for the first time about 1 month ago. Today, I came home and a
> lobe of my Trachophyllia open brain coral on the sand had been - it
> looks like - chewed off. The lobe was down to white skeleton in about a
> 1/2" or 1" round area from one edge in. Overall brain is about 5" by
> 3". It had been looking fine, so I don't think it was spontaneous
> decomposition; pieces were still hanging off, sort of like if you tore
> cloth or skin and edges were flapping. The rest of the brain is alive
> and still eating.
>
> So: the question is who did it, of the following [I suspect the crab]:
> Green emerald Mythrax crab
> Cleaner shrimp
> Peppermint shrimp
> Fire shrimp
> Black sea cucumber
> 1/2" blue leg hermits
> Various snails (turbo, nassarius, Margarita)
> Purple porcelain crab (filter feeders, so I don't think it's them)
> Lawnmower blennie
> Firefish (neither fish ever shows interest in corals)
>
> I think this happened because about the same time I added the corals, I
> got some turbo snails who really cleaned up the algae in the tank. I
> think maybe somebody got hungry. Would it even be possible for it to be
> any of the other creatures besides the crab? I've pulled him out of
> this tank and moved him to my quarantine tank, if it's likely him I'll
> donate him to the LFS based on this non-reef-safe behavior.
>
> Also, any chance the brain will regrow its "flesh" over that eaten area?
>
> Thanks for your guesses!
> [Sorry if this is a duplicate post, my newsreader seems to have eaten
> the first try.]
>