I have had 2 peppermint shrimp in my tank for a long while, and they havn't done the job with the aiptasia that I was hoping for, but they also havn't caused me any harm. I have heard a few horror stories of peppermints destroying acans and some other LPS corals (mostly by trying to steal food and then eating dead or damaged tissue from what I understand), but never had any definate proof. About a week ago, I got another peppermint in a full setup that I bought and decided to just throw him in with the others (looked EXACTLY the same, not a camel shrimp), and this morning I noticed an acan lord frag that is half gone overnight. I can't say "for sure" that this is the problem, but it wasn't within obvious reach for warfare with another coral, since it is sitting on the bottom almost completely surrounded by other acan lords, and none of my fish have ever eaten anything either. There hasn't been any other new additions to that side of the tank, and I just did a water change and tested everthing. Only issue is that my PH is trying to creep below 8, but that's why I knew I was due for a change.
Might have gotten a bad Peppermint shrimp
- Thread starter Faciosity
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Thought I would add that this coral has been doing great, and was about twice the size of when I got it a couple months back. I moved it up on a frag rack where it gets more flow (and more light) and it doesn't seem to be doing any better or worse. It does look like there is a little bit of loose flesh that may be getting infection, and this may have even been the reason for the shrimp eating it (if that's what's happened), so if it doesn't look obviously better tomorrow, I will cut off the dead parts with a wet tile saw to ensure that infection will not spread.
And if I wake up tomorrow and something else looks like that, what's the best way to hunt a peppermint shrimp?
And if I wake up tomorrow and something else looks like that, what's the best way to hunt a peppermint shrimp?
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DTECH07
M.I.A
mine eat out my hand and i hold the net in the other, while they are hunting my hand i net them. that works for me.
Update:
I don't know what happened to the acan, but I cut the dead spots away and it is doing very well. Maybe I was a little hasty to blame the "new addition" when there are a thousand and one things that can begin killing a coral. Havn't seen the shrimp, or had any other problems since.
I don't know what happened to the acan, but I cut the dead spots away and it is doing very well. Maybe I was a little hasty to blame the "new addition" when there are a thousand and one things that can begin killing a coral. Havn't seen the shrimp, or had any other problems since.
LeslieH
Well-known member
It's true, crustaceans are usually the first suspect when something goes wrong. When mild-mannered shrimp & crabs don't behave the way they're supposed to there are several reasons. One is that the animal was badly identified from the start - like the red fiddler crab that was being advertised as a "red emerald crab" by a LFS. Another problem are species complexes - groups of species that look alike but may have different feeding & behavior. One example of that is the Caribbean peppermint shrimp. At least 6 similar species were being sold under the name. Then there's the common situation where captive animals simply aren't getting enough of the right food. They're hungry & they start eating whatever's around. In a tank that usually means corals. Finally, animals don't read and they don't go on-line to check out all the descriptions of their behavior & feeding that humans have written. Poor things just don't know what they're supposed to do! :-D
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