Halloween hermit picking at coral

[xgeocidex]

I saw my halloween hermit picking at it now it closed and it has this long string thing any ideas? I know there supposed to be reef safe but it was fine before this.

[tcamos]

The crab is an algae eater. The Halloween is actually one of the best algae eating crabs I know. If they aren't getting enough to eat then they might try to get at the algae that lives inside of corals. When corals are agitated they can release this algae, called Zooxanthellae, and the crabs eat it. That's the brown thing you see, a string of algae being released. If the coral won't give it up that way they may just snip off some of the tentacles and munch.

The best thing to do would be to include more algae in the tank for the crab. A sinking algae wafer, or a nori sheet would be good.

I keep 4 of these guys in my tank but it's 210 gallons and they get plenty to eat. Give that a try and see if it leaves the coral alone. If it doesn't then you will have to trade it in as sometimes you just get a rougue crab that likes to pick but it's not normal of this species.

[xgeocidex]

can i give them wardley spirulina discs?

[tcamos]

Yes. They should be happy with those.

[kudagirl]

Hi,
Could anyone tell me the best food for corals,i have both soft and leather corals, but they dont seem to be doing so well as they did in my lfs.
At this momenti am feeding GAMMA NUTRAPLUS(REEF FEED) but they dont seem to be as good as they were in the lfs, is there somethink better that they can have.????

[tcamos]

Zoos and leathers really pull their nutrients from the water itself through absorption. Both are going to get most of their needs through light and really won't need any target feeding. What is the lighting on the tank and how old is it? Having a mature tank is important for corals like these.

[kudagirl]

Hi, Chad,
We have two white and two blue t5 the whites are about six months old and the blues a bit older the tank has been set up for over ten years, but hoped we were feeding the right food.
Thanks for your answer
Sue

[tcamos]

Have these corals been in there the entire time?

[samharper]

I would look at where your positioning the soft and leather corals as both dont really need much light or flow and will close if exposed to too much.