Hermit Crabs on My Pavona Coral

[rhitee93]

Hi All,

I've had this pavona for about 7 months now. It has grown quite a bit, but I have noticed that some of my hermit crabs tend to be stuck to it a lot lately. I flicked 3 of them off right before I took this picture. They are usually wedged deep in the folds of the coral, and it has me wondering if the inner parts of the coral are dying off. I wouldn't have guessed anything was wrong with the coral, but I'm kind of new at this so I thought I'd ask what you all think.

Here is is today:

What it looked like in early March:

 

[TX_REEF]

it looks like its healthy and growing to me. I have seen hermit crabs eat coral, but usually larger hermit crabs eating LPS.

 

[rhitee93]

I'm wondering if they simply didn't get their shells wedged into position crawling over the coral, and then couldn't get back out. At least one of them didn't move appreciably for over a day.

 

[exnisstech]

Nice growth. My hermits always seem to hang out on a coral durring the day. Ussualy they pile up together.

 

[rhitee93]

...and here it is again this morning as the hermit crab taxi stand.