acro

[desbug13]

Hi guys,

need some advise. juz saw this thing hanging ard the acro. is it fm the acro itself? will it do any harm? thanks!

[moron_clown]

they slime when they feel threatened or stressed.

[typrobin]

they slime when they feel threatened or stressed.

that's when u need a tunze to blow the slime off before the acro gets choke...

[surfedelic]

Don't worry too much by the slime - that's how they trap food sometimes. It has also been reported by some scientific report that the coral does transport food to other coral via this slime mode.

When under stress, sps usu slime more then that but normally if it is just a bit - there is noting to worry about.

I posted in another thread that I saw my acro crab eating the slime - so it seems to be true that the slime trap food otherwise the crab wouldn't be eating it.

My 2 cents

[desbug13]

oh yes, therelives a crab in there too. been trying to get it out but it keeps playing 'police catch thief'. is it ok to leave the crab there?

thanks for the advices.

[surfedelic]

Check out this discussion regarding acro crab.

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=18591

[lightningstrike]

oh yes, therelives a crab in there too. been trying to get it out but it keeps playing 'police catch thief'. is it ok to leave the crab there?

thanks for the advices.

it depends whether it is a acro crab. if it is brown hairy aka evil-looking, crush it!!!

[danano]

If it's not hairy, it's probably an acro crab. If so, you can leave it there. It'll keep it's home clean.

[desbug13]

looking at it, there's no hair on the crab. looks like the colour of the acro. so far no damage to the acro. i'll juz leave it there. thanks!

[weisoon]

slight slime is due to acro crab 'rubbing' the tissues of the acro to entice it to secrete slime so that it can eat the slime as food IMHO.

[danano]

slight slime is due to acro crab 'rubbing' the tissues of the acro to entice it to secrete slime so that it can eat the slime as food IMHO.

weisoon, that's the first I've heard of such an occurance. Personally, I've never seen it happen to any of my acros with acro crabs in them. The acro crabs perform a useful function by consuming/removing detritus and food particles trapped in between the branches.

Detritus and food particles that remain trapped in between branches or crevices of sps may cause some tissue recession over time. Hence, good circulation and turbulent flow is important as well.

[FuEl]

weisoon, that's the first I've heard of such an occurance. Personally, I've never seen it happen to any of my acros with acro crabs in them. The acro crabs perform a useful function by consuming/removing detritus and food particles trapped in between the branches.

Detritus and food particles that remain trapped in between branches or crevices of sps may cause some tissue recession over time. Hence, good circulation and turbulent flow is important as well.

I second that. Large colonies with acro crabs have been proven to do better compared to similar sized colonies without symbiotic acro crabs or fish. Don't think the crab will need to stimulate the sps to secrete mucus as sps do it naturally to remove settled debri and other possible pathogens. But then again the mucus might be an essential part in the acro crab diet. I've not had any luck keeping an acro crab alive when taken away from its host. Either due to the importance of acro mucus to its diet or it gets stressed so severely without a host that it dies.

[weisoon]

weisoon, that's the first I've heard of such an occurance. Personally, I've never seen it happen to any of my acros with acro crabs in them. The acro crabs perform a useful function by consuming/removing detritus and food particles trapped in between the branches.

Detritus and food particles that remain trapped in between branches or crevices of sps may cause some tissue recession over time. Hence, good circulation and turbulent flow is important as well.

danano

I may be wrong or the papers that I read may be wrong. Maybe as a form of discussion, you can enlighten how the fiji super clean water where acros exists, the crabs can actually survive. wouldn't there be virtually non-existence of detritus/food particles in these waters?

In nature as well as in our sps tank, we provide good current flows and chances that pieces of detritus being caught in the acros will be quite slim.

Maybe as in the picture posted, there may be more slime than usual probably caused by stress. But I guess if the theory I mentioned is true, then the crab will only stimulate the acros just enough to produce slime for it consumption and not too much to the extend that stressed the acro and then causing it to die. As in the 'just enough', slime will be quite difficut to be spotted through the human eye. In this case, is a loose-loose situation as then the crab will place itself in a dangerous situation as well if the host dies.

However, I amy be wrong.....

[tineng]

interestingly enough, my acros that have the slimely look thread does not seems to have acro crab livng in it while those with acro crab does not have the slimely hairs.....both colony are about the same share and size (both colony now brown...)

so could it mean that the slime are produce by something else and the acro crab just clears it of the acro????

[SharkBait]

interestingly enough, my acros that have the slimely look thread does not seems to have acro crab livng in it while those with acro crab does not have the slimely hairs.....both colony are about the same share and size (both colony now brown...)

so could it mean that the slime are produce by something else and the acro crab just clears it of the acro????

Its sliming could be a sign of poor health and the fact that the slime remains on the acro could mean that its a waterflow problem.