Hermits attacking my Toadstool!!!

dcflyers7

AC Members
Dec 3, 2004
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Harrisburg, PA
I just added a toadstool leather coral yesterday, and while I didn't expect it to be fully opened/acclimated after one day, I didn't expect to come home and see TWO dwarf red-legs wandering around on it!!! Right now it doesn't look like they did any harm, and I just knocked the hermits off of it and down to the sand. Is it normal for hermits to climb on toadstools??? Can they damage or kill my it??? If so, how can I prevent it?
 
My Hermits walk on everything but my anemones. They pick and clean around the hard corals, softies and sponges and get into everything else but I've never seen them actaully harm anything.
 
Hermits typically don't harm corals. They will go after any parts that are dying, but just wandering around on one is harmless. They may steal food from some corals, but again, that's not a big deal.
 
well, i think i just killed my new toadstool... After seeing the hermits walking on it, i noticed that one side of the coral(the tissue part of the coral) was close to some LR, making it easy for them to crawl on. So, after just one day in the tank, I moved the Toadstool onto a different piece of LR slightly higher in the tank. It hadn't really started to open yet anyway, but now its shrunk even more, and is showing some discoloration, particularly one small spot on the corner of one of the "folds" turned dark brown(darker than the normal tan appearance). I think I made the typical rookie mistake and got impatient!!! I hope it makes it....help!!!
 
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