bicolor blenny eating moseleya coral

[willienelson]

this coral was healthy this morning. I cam home from work just now and this is how it looks. (sorry for the crappy cell phone pic)

I added a bicolor blenny to the tank about 2 weeks ago. I've been offering him nori everyday, but it turns out he likes one of my favorite LPS instead. in the last 10 minutes ive seen him go over and nip several times. then the real shocker he crapped and it was a neon green, confirming my suspicion that this isnt some kind of disease that i haven't read about.


Do you think the coral is a already likely to die? i dont think it will be easy to remove the blenny. do you think the fact that its green is why he likes it? assuming he eats the whole freaking colony is it likely he will go after scolys and acans? ugh -- don't know what to do:sad2:

 

[albano]

Sometimes the fish are picking at/cleaning the corals with dying tissue... Sometimes they are eating the coral... Watch it close and get ready to remove the blenny or the corals!

 

[basiab]

They are algae eaters so I doubt he is eating coral. If there is any skeleton showing he may be cleaning the algae off of it. But with fish you can never be sure. Maybe he does like your coral. In any case I got one a few weeks ago and he loves Hikari brand Algae Wafers. I have LPS and he does not bother them.

 

[felix tesler]

i think alot of people are missinformed about the bicolor blenny being reef safe they are flesh eaters and will pick at anything with flesh i had a bicolor eat a whole maxima clam i never got the blenny out but what i did was chased him into a hole in my live rock and sealed him in the rock work with epoxy i said a little prayer for him and via con dios

 

[basiab]

Felix surprised me so I looked up info and here is what I found.
"These fishes are normally peaceful tank members, but have been known to pick at other blennies, smaller gobies and dartfish. They normally make a good addition to reef aquariums, but use caution in smaller set ups, or with smaller fleshy corals, as they have been know to pick at the mantles of clams, and at fleshy large polyp stony corals when underfed. In larger reef aquariums they rarely do damage to these corals or clams. "
Anyway I have him in a 24 gallon with fleshy LPS and no problems yet.

 

[felix tesler]

Felix surprised me so I looked up info and here is what I found.
"These fishes are normally peaceful tank members, but have been known to pick at other blennies, smaller gobies and dartfish. They normally make a good addition to reef aquariums, but use caution in smaller set ups, or with smaller fleshy corals, as they have been know to pick at the mantles of clams, and at fleshy large polyp stony corals when underfed. In larger reef aquariums they rarely do damage to these corals or clams. "
Anyway I have him in a 24 gallon with fleshy LPS and no problems yet.

The key word is yet if he turns around one day and starts picki g at a coral you had for years there will be nothing you can do about it or you can do as I did and seal him in the rock work

 

[skene]

I'm sure the little guy saw green and he was hungry for algae... then after he realized its not algae...
I've yet to have seen a bicolor blenny attack LPS to the point of devouring it.

I've kept several bicolors with hammers, frogspawns, torches, wellsos, blastos, scolys and even clams and SPS and have never seen them attack to devour an LPS let alone pick at SPS.

So maybe felix got that one in a thousand "renegade" blenny...

 

[rookie07]

i never got the blenny out but what i did was chased him into a hole in my live rock and sealed him in the rock work with epoxy i said a little prayer for him and via con dios

That is awful!!!! Why would you do that to him?!?!
Next time do proper research and dont starve a fish to death!!!! Ive spent days trying to catch fish, sometimes even weeks!!!

 

[KathyC]

That is awful!!!! Why would you do that to him?!?!
Next time do proper research and dont starve a fish to death!!!! Ive spent days trying to catch fish, sometimes even weeks!!!

+1
You should have put some effort into catching him...

To the OP - please try hard to catch your blenny if you want him gone. Someone here will adopt him in a heartbeat.

 

[felix tesler]

@ kathy i tryed catching him for months and blennies are very smart fish i tried every trick in the book that was my last resort

@ rookie acording to most people that fish is reef safe and i do my research on everything i put in my tank but mine went rouge and then when i did some digging around i found out that bicolor blennies are not alge eater they like to pick on flesh and when he was done with my clam he started to pick on the whole reef i was not about to destroy a whole reef for a 40$ fish i love animals just as much as anyone else and i cry when my fish die but when a fish goes rouge it has to be put down just like any animal

 

[willienelson]

the moseyela died, and i removed it from the tank last week. it was definitely the blenny. I decided to let him stay on the hopes that it was just the specific green of the moseleya coral. I setup an 8 gallon tank just in case. to my surprise even though he totally devoured the moseleya he hasnt touched any of my scolys or acans. it was a total bummer losing one of my favorite corals but at least it appears i dont need to devise a scheme to catch this guy.

 

[felix tesler]

Keep your eye on him if he starts picking you need to get him out because he will eat your whole tank a 40$ fish is not worth loosing a 200 $ scoly