HELP! Something is eating my Stylophora at night!

[jfingers8]

I woke up Sunday morning and noticed that something was eating away at my green Stylophora that night. Then i woke up this morning and looked at my tank before i went to work and something was eating my blue Stylophora. There are sections of both corals that are eaten down right to the skeleton. The parts that aren't damaged all of the polyps are out like normal but i got those sections on both corals that have been eaten away this is driving me nuts. I looked last night like a hour after the lights went off but i didn't find anything. Does anyone have any idea would it could possibly be?

 

[Ed Hahn]

What type of fish, crabs, starfish do you have in same tank? Any fish that has gotten the taste of a coral can be a potential.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

From the bottom up?

 

[Jan]

I had this happen in my tank and it was a mythrix crab that was doing it.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

First need to rule out STN

 

[jfingers8]

ok the type of fish that i have is 2 true percs, 3 lyretail anthias, yellow watchman goby, purple firefish, algae blenny, spotted mandarin, royal gramma, striped fang blenny and the last one would be a foxface that could be a possibility but i have watched him for days and i haven't seen anything and its happening at night because evertime i wake up its a little more damaged. Its not from the bottom up, the bottom of it the tissue is gone but then its spots here and there on the left and right side toward the top. I don't have any mithrax crab i had some along time ago but i haven't seen them in months. They could still be around but i look at my tank all the time and haven't seen anything. I been looking in my tank for the past 2 lights with a flashlight and i can't catch anything its really starting to stress me out whats going on here.

 

[Jan]

I have a mythrix crab that only comes out at night and I catch a glimpse of him about once every 3 months. So yours could still be in the tank and doing that damage. Do you have any other tank to put the stylo? Mine completely regrew when I moved it to a different tank.

Or considering trapping your possible crabs with a water glass with food in it (they can't climb back out)

 

[jfingers8]

well i have a really good LFS so i took them out and brought them both there and he is going to hold them for me till they recover. i know recovery will take a while but at least this way they are left alone and ill see if i can find some kind of crab we will see what happens tonight without the 2 stylo's in there lets see if it goes after something else.