Small hermit crab problem

[nichjon]

Need urgent help from expert reefers here. I recently bought a green torch coral and placed it into my tank, but i noticed that as the days go by, sections of the torch keep dying, until one day when i caught my small hermit crab nipping on the coral. I asked a reef shop about it and they told me that hermits with red legs are coral UNSAFE and those with blue legs are ok with corals. So i went back to check and guess what, it has blue stripes on its legs!

Anyone can help on this? As i plan to buy more torch corals again soon.

Thanks.

[iskay]

Most likely scenario is that your hermit is doing it's clean up job - devouring the dead or dying coral tissues. If so, it's actually helping you by keeping potential tank pollutants away by devouring it.

If you have similar coral species currently in your tank (Euphyllia) and your hermit had never bothered them before, then it's further sign of my hypothesis above.