Fire shrimp eating coral?

[ZachsZoo]

Woke up this morning to find that my fire shrimp had killed and eaten an entire 8 head acan colony!!! At first I thought it was because he was just hungry, but I feed pellets every day and LRS nano frenzy 2-3 times a week and he gets a ton of food each feeding so I don't think that's why. I have had him for about 4 months now and he hasn't bothered anything. I am worried he will start eating other, more expensive corals in my tank as it is made up of around 80% LPS and softies, luckily the acans he got to only cost me 20$ but I have many other acans and LPS in the 50-200$ per head range. Anyone know why this might have happened or how to stop it from happening again? I would also like to add that nothing else in my tank could've done this, it is 10 gallons and has a clownfish, small Midas blenny, and a small reef safe brittle star. My parameters are perfectly normal and nothing else in my tank seems stressed. Any input on this will be greatly appreciated.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Nooooo

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

The shrimp didn't kill it and would not kill a healthy coral. This coral was severely weakened or already dead when the shrimp started to pick at it. Cleaner shrimp are scavengers and, well, cleaners. They are not predatory to corals.

 

[cloak]

I don't really have an answer for you, but this doesn't surprise me. Reports like this are becoming more common each day IMO. I've never had a Fire shrimp go rouge like this, but I have had plenty of Peppermint shrimp do this before. These ornamental shrimp are definitely not the angels I once thought they were.

 

[themcnertney]

The shrimp didn't kill it and would not kill a healthy coral. This coral was severely weakened or already dead when the shrimp started to pick at it. Cleaner shrimp are scavengers and, well, cleaners. They are not predatory to corals.

What Bongo Shrimp said...

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

I don't really have an answer for you, but this doesn't surprise me. Reports like this are becoming more common each day IMO. I've never had a Fire shrimp go rouge like this, but I have had plenty of Peppermint shrimp do this before.

Unless people are posting videos of cleaner shrimp attacking and eating healthy corals, there is no evidence to suggest that it is actually happening. Peppermint shrimp are somewhat different in that some species are known to feed on cnidarians, so if you have one of those species, it's not outside the realm of possibility.

 

[cloak]

What does a weakened coral look like? (elaborate) How would one decipher whether the coral is in a weakened state or just having a bad day? Also, why would the shrimp eat a weakened coral in the first place? Something just doesn't add up IMO which leads me to believe that this does in fact happen on a regular basis. The shrimp in all those threads I've seen over the years like this couldn't all have been innocent.

@ZachsZoo How did the coral look the night before?

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

What does a weakened coral look like? How would one decipher whether the coral is in a weakened state or just having a bad day?

In general the obvious signs such as recession, bleaching, or remaining withdrawn for extended periods of time. But it can also be difficult to see anything wrong when it's a case of overall high stress levels. We all know that corals can self destruct in a matter of hours or over night without warning, which leads to scavengers coming in to clean up the mess.

 

[ZachsZoo]

What does a weakened coral look like? (elaborate) How would one decipher whether the coral is in a weakened state or just having a bad day? Also, why would the shrimp eat a weakened coral in the first place? Something just doesn't add up IMO which leads me to believe that this does in fact happen on a regular basis. The shrimp in all those threads I've seen over the years like this couldn't all have been innocent.

@ZachsZoo How did the coral look the night before?

The coral was in no way stressed that night and has never looked stressed before. I've owned this particular acan for a little over a month now and it eats every feeding and seemed to have a healthy growth rate.

 

[ZachsZoo]

Unless people are posting videos of cleaner shrimp attacking and eating healthy corals, there is no evidence to suggest that it is actually happening. Peppermint shrimp are somewhat different in that some species are known to feed on cnidarians, so if you have one of those species, it's not outside the realm of possibility.

I have no peppermint shrimp and I know with no video it is hard to determine what happened but my tank has been very healthy. It has never crashed or shown signs of distress, and I have not had 1 other coral in my tank die since I set it up. I'll also note I have over 30 frags including softies, LPS, and SPS in my tank. I do a 15% water change weekly and test about 2x a week.

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

What does a weakened coral look like? (elaborate) How would one decipher whether the coral is in a weakened state or just having a bad day? Also, why would the shrimp eat a weakened coral in the first place? Something just doesn't add up IMO which leads me to believe that this does in fact happen on a regular basis. The shrimp in all those threads I've seen over the years like this couldn't all have been innocent.

@ZachsZoo How did the coral look the night before?

It is well known and accepted that they eat dead/dying tissue off of fish as part of their cleaner duties, so why is it hard to believe that they would also eat dead/dying tissue of a coral?

The coral was in no way stressed that night and has never looked stressed before. I've owned this particular acan for a little over a month now and it eats every feeding and seemed to have a healthy growth rate.

It's a pretty common occurrence for random corals to die for seemingly no reason over night. Not all issues are visually apparent.

 

[Mark Gray]

I agree I think your coral was weak, now if it was a peppermint shrimp I would say yeah it maybe killed (hate peppermint shrimp)

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

I have no peppermint shrimp and I know with no video it is hard to determine what happened but my tank has been very healthy. It has never crashed or shown signs of distress, and I have not had 1 other coral in my tank die since I set it up. I'll also note I have over 30 frags including softies, LPS, and SPS in my tank. I do a 15% water change weekly and test about 2x a week.

Sorry, didn't mean to suggest that you have peppermints or have poor husbandry practices. I know tons of aquarists who have great husbandry and no predators who occasionally lose a healthy looking frag for no apparent reason, likely due to weakness. There's too many other variables to default to blaming the shrimp without further evidence.

 

[ZachsZoo]

Ok, thanks everyone for your input! I will add to this post if I find any other corals have died or I actually find the shrimp eating any corals

 

[jimo12]

**** happens, what can we do?

 

[scardall]

Unless people are posting videos of cleaner shrimp attacking and eating healthy corals, there is no evidence to suggest that it is actually happening. Peppermint shrimp are somewhat different in that some species are known to feed on cnidarians, so if you have one of those species, it's not outside the realm of possibility.

Those whom claim peppermint shrimp ate their coral, may be incorrect because they may not really have a peppermint shrimp but a Camel Shrimp instead. They look very similar to each other.

 

[Venzzla]

Just curious did the fire shrimp eat anything else in your tank? I have one and I am about to start adding some corals. In particular a couple hammers.

 

[Bot587]

Is your acan in reach of anything that could have stung it?

30 coral frags in 10 gallons, just asking because it sounds like a possibility.

Also, an update on the fire shrimp would be awesome as a buddy of mine is looking at them. My understanding was that they were as close to 100% reef safe as it gets.

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

I've owned all different types of shrimp in multiple reef tanks, fire shrimp are my fav for in a mixed reef. I've had peppermints attack multiple healthy corals and clams, Scarlet cleaners have also on rare occasions attacked healthy corals. IME I've never had a fire shrimp attack any corals or clams. Not saying he didnt do it anything's possible I'm just stating that odds are in his favor being the most "reef safe" shrimp

 

[joelwilliams55]

Fire shrimp will definitely wreck havoc on acans and euphyllia. I’ve seen it happen - 2x. However, both times I saw it was in a tank with no fish and it happened within 2 hours of feeding the corals. Definitely nothing scientific about this but I think they were going after food the coral didn‘t consume. The polyps were damaged during that process which led to recession.