Parasite in Caulestrea! (pics)

[Kimo]

Eric (and others),

I have had a colony of Caulestrea that I have had for a number of years. This particular coral never did exceptionally well, and it seemed that it would develop holes in the coral heads, which would then die, exposing the skeleton.

Tonight, I saw something in one of those holes MOVE.

It looks like some kind of crab. Here is a picture (sorry about the image quality):

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/3867CaulestreaParasite.jpg

Now that is one of the 2-3 infected heads...I just moved the coral because it was getting stung by some palythoa that just sprouted from my live rock, that is why the edge looks burned.

Also I noticed that several long dead heads have suspicious looking features:

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/3867CaulestreaDamage.jpg

Look at the middle top of the polyp skeleton. It is a perfect round hole that looks very similar to the one in the top picture.

Any ideas? Is this coral dying because of these crazy crustaceans or is it some other water quality issue (I.E. they are symbionts)?

I'd like to save this coral - It's SUCH a pretty one:

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/3867CaulestreaMacro01.jpg

Thanks for your help!!

Jamie

[EricHugo]

Got a picture of the crab? It looks like a pit crab hole, but not sure if it is or not.