Gold Rim Tang Eating Coral

[mattshell81]

Never heard much of this from this specific type of tang so I was just wondering if any of you ever had any Acanthurus tangs eat coral. I first noticed when moving corals from the sand to new rocks due to a court jester goby that kept burying them. I watched the gold rim rip two heads off the acan and spit them out. I thought maybe this was just from me moving them and that this was new behavior but I also caught him picking at the gonipora that had been closed up for a while. I started watching everyday and realized the gonipora is open a little at night but then as soon as the lights come on he picks at it and it stays closed the entire day. Seems like he picks enough to not rip lots of flesh off but it’s enough for the goniopora to never open when the lights are on. For months I had thought it was just being bothered by the occasional sand the goby would put on it but this may have been happening for a long time. Now today I have watched him closer and have seen him pick at the tips of multiple acropora. Most of the ones he is picking at have white tips which I had figured maybe just had been caused by some swing in parameters or my nutrients staying too low but then I noticed my digitata has the tips ripped up and one atomik humilis just has some tears on the tips which I also noticed a few weeks ago but had since healed. Those two corals lead me to believe that he is definitely picking at sps corals that are healthy and not just picking algae off of tips that are already dead.

 

[tzabor10]

Maybe a QT or acclimation box could help

 

[mattshell81]

Maybe a QT or acclimation box could help

I’m going to try to catch the gold rim but not sure if I can lol. He has been a menace to my foxface for a while and I had tried to catch him before but was having a hard time. I'm probably going to have to try to catch him when lights are out or purchase a bigger trap.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

@i cant think @vetteguy53081? I'm no expert on tangs, but don't they do this when there isn't enough food available?

 

[tzabor10]

I’m going to try to catch the gold rim but not sure if I can lol. He has been a menace to my foxface for a while and I had tried to catch him before but was having a hard time. I'm probably going to have to try to catch him when lights are out or purchase a bigger trap.

Remove all the rocks and it will be easier.

 

[mattshell81]

Remove all the rocks and it will be easier.

Sadly in my tank the rocks are two large structures that are cemented together

 

[mattshell81]

@i cant think @vetteguy53081? I'm no expert on tangs, but don't they do this when there isn't enough food available?

Only bigger grazers are he and a foxface and they get a large sheet of nori daily folded up tightly so that it takes them longer to get it all. In additional to that I have auto feeder to off twice of day with a mix of pellets and feed a lot of frozen every evening because I have had issue with bottoming out nutrients. The tank also has a good bit of algae in the lower light areas but only the foxface seems to pick at that. Had a lot of die off in the tank back in December when I had pumps turn back on while using faptasia. My guess would be he was picking algae off of the dead tips of corals originally but then continued once they started to grow back over the death and grew his taste for it that way(most of the corals he’s picking at are effected corals that recovered). I’ve also noticed that other than the digitata every coral he seems to have an appetite for is bright yellow or green.

 

[happyhourhero]

I read this as there was a coral with a gold rim that eats tangs and was going to see if I could get a frag.

In seriousness, I have found that tangs like some slime here and there and will take a little nibble sometimes.

 

[tzabor10]

Sadly in my tank the rocks are two large structures that are cemented together

Too bad. Do you think that you would do that again?

 

[mattshell81]

Too bad. Do you think that you would do that again?

It’s a pain when it comes to catching things for sure but also let me make really cool shelves and I don’t have to worry about the rocks ever getting knocked over by anything I get so I’ll probably continue to do it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Never heard much of this from this specific type of tang so I was just wondering if any of you ever had any Acanthurus tangs eat coral. I first noticed when moving corals from the sand to new rocks due to a court jester goby that kept burying them. I watched the gold rim rip two heads off the acan and spit them out. I thought maybe this was just from me moving them and that this was new behavior but I also caught him picking at the gonipora that had been closed up for a while. I started watching everyday and realized the gonipora is open a little at night but then as soon as the lights come on he picks at it and it stays closed the entire day. Seems like he picks enough to not rip lots of flesh off but it’s enough for the goniopora to never open when the lights are on. For months I had thought it was just being bothered by the occasional sand the goby would put on it but this may have been happening for a long time. Now today I have watched him closer and have seen him pick at the tips of multiple acropora. Most of the ones he is picking at have white tips which I had figured maybe just had been caused by some swing in parameters or my nutrients staying too low but then I noticed my digitata has the tips ripped up and one atomik humilis just has some tears on the tips which I also noticed a few weeks ago but had since healed. Those two corals lead me to believe that he is definitely picking at sps corals that are healthy and not just picking algae off of tips that are already dead.

Ive seen this before with hybrids as tangs never generally do this

 

[mattshell81]

Ive seen this before with hybrids as tangs never generally do this

Yeah I was pretty shocked when I saw it. He’s annoying the Goni enough it won’t open and since the polyps are so retracted it’s hard to see if he actually does much other than annoy it but my wife and I watched him just go to town on the acans and rip a few heads in a row off within a few seconds. He seemed to stop with the scans after that but not if you stop and stare at the tank for a few minutes you can see him just pick on one corals after another. I’ll try to get some videos to show you guys.