Leather coral 'rotting out'

[dawgwe1]

I have a larger green polyp toadstool leather that I just noticed a hole in the middle of it about the size of a nickel. Also noticed another white area on the surface about half that size, just not eating away at it yet. Almost looked like a fungus or something was eating away at the center of the coral. Noticed my emerald crab sitting in there last week but did not think much of it. Not sure if the crab was eating at it and started the problem?? Any case - Decided to pull the leather and toss it. Before tossing I cut a few frags from around the edges, used rubber bands to attach each to small pieces of rock, and then dipped the frags in coral dip for about 10 minutes. Has anyone had this problem before? Also - do you think the frags are safe to keep?

 

[MAC2]

I had the same thing happen to my green finger leather. It took a while, but I finally saw the emerald crab (red) feeding on it at night. I had a heck of a time catching the crab!

 

[dawgwe1]

If the crab caused it, I feel a little better about keeping the frags. I had an easy time catching the crab - it was dead on the bottom of the tank a couple days ago..:angel: It was the second emerald crab I have tried to keep over the last two years. For whatever reason I can not keep them alive for more than a month or two. No more crabs. :razz:

 

[MAC2]

I never had a problem with the green emerald crabs eating a coral. I too had a hard time keeping them alive over long periods. I don't think they have enough to eat in the tanks and maybe that is why it started munching on my coral.

 

[senji]

i had an emerald crab eat the polyps off som of my sps and 2 of my birds nests.

 

[sedrostyle]

I've had my leather coral kinda rot away for like a week or so at a time. The next day I was going to pull it out and it looked more alive and well the next day. dunno what happen to it all my peramiters were perfect. Idk good luck

 

[user 26995]

My clowns host my green polyp toadstool. For a long time they were feeding it. the food would sit in the center of it and it caused a hole to start. The hole got about 2-3" deep. I suctioned the food and whatever else was in it out and just kept it cleaned out and it healed up.
Hasnt been an issue now for a year.