• Someone is eating corals.

  • Maria6659

Good day, dear forum members. I encountered a problem: someone is eating SPS (small-polyped corals) at night. Not just nibbling, but actually biting off branches. Can anyone suggest who this might be? What methods of control could be used? I apologize for the quality of the photo; it's taken with a point-and-shoot camera. The inhabitants of the aquarium include: yellow zebrasoma, hepatus, helmon, a pair of clownfish (melanopus), royal gramma, fire goby, and a boxer shrimp.

Derek7322

These are 100% illegal immigrants. Anyone, even the smallest one, can easily do this overnight.

Andrew7823

I also suspect that. But the aquarium is almost a year old, and I only noticed signs of damage a couple of days ago. Can a small one do this? The branches are just bitten off at the root. Could this be the result of palolo activity?

Amy1672

Can you provide more photos, a general view? Do you observe the life of your reef at night?

Rodney3101

Palolo loves umbrellas and softness... For the ikos, such acropora in the shape of deer antlers is a delicacy... They bite off tiny pieces with their claws, gnaw on them, and spit them out... So, at night with a flashlight...

Michael

I vote for option A. I had a similar experience. Suddenly, out of nowhere, branches from the acropora started being bitten off at night. I had to keep watch to figure out who the vandal was. It turned out to be a small, hairy creature with blue eyes. I had to kill it and extract it (getting it out of the acropora alive was impossible).

Leslie

I caught my 2 dogs on a glass with shrimp. Everything went smoothly and efficiently, just like in the textbook.

Jacob4800

The photos are not of good quality, the camera is old. It's embarrassing to post such photos. Today I plan to stand by the aquarium with a flashlight, and I'll try to catch the pest.

John828

I made a trap for sheep today, and I will try to catch them today. I will keep you updated on the progress of the catch. Thank you to everyone who responded!

Jill9137

Here is the overall view of the aquarium. Please don't criticize the quality, it couldn't be better. The left side of the aquarium has been attacked by a pest. It all started with the breakage of the montipora leaf, and now the millepora has been nibbled. After turning off the lights today, I will try the trap.

Michelle13

Observe at night, they definitely misbehave. You might have to watch for more than one night. I had both shaggy and spotted and striped ones, but I didn't have SPS back then; if I had, they probably would have touched them too, as they really trimmed them down and damaged the umbrellas. I managed to catch them in a couple of nights (this doesn't mean just sitting by the tank with a flashlight; I approached for 5-10 minutes with a flashlight from 10 PM to 1 AM about five or six times), but it took me longer to get rid of them. Wait for responses from marine aquarium enthusiasts who have a lot of SPS; I think they might have had similar cases as yours.

Jacob4800

How are you doing with the troublemakers in the aquarium? It's been three nights; how are the results?

Debra8438

Well, I don't have anything to brag about yet. I've set the trap three times, but I haven't caught a single one. I constantly see small ones after the lights go out. No one else has touched the corals, either they've eaten enough or they're hiding. I'll keep trying until I catch one.