Peppermint shrimp messing with Acans?

[Oldsalt01]

I was recently given two very small Acans with multiple heads on each piece. After acclimating them AND dipping I added them to my 14g Biocube. Three hours after that I noted their feeding polyps were extended. The next morning the center of all the heads on one piece were gone. Just white skeletons showing where their mouths had been 24 hrs earlier. The other piece seems OK, although I haven't seen their polyps out since, even during feedings. My question is: would my Peppermint's be chowing down on them? I have two and they are very active. I trapped them out this morning and relegated them to my QT. The only other things in the tank are a bonded pair of Ocellaris, a Tail-spot Blenny, one Mithrax crab, a leather Toadstool, some dwarf Ceriths and two Trochus. I will add that the Acans were pretty beat up after a disaster at my local LFS, but the fact that they had extended their polyps that soon after transition led me to believe they were relatively happy. Input, people. I need input.

 

[Mmbra]

I can confirm they eat acans and lps.

 

[Oldsalt01]

Hmm. Should have done more research. Maybe I can swap them out for a Royal Gramma I've had my eye on. Guess all I can do is wait to see if the Acans recover. Thanks for the confirmation.

 

[dodgerblew]

I can confirm they eat acans and lps.

So can I. I had no idea it was even in there and it ate over 1k worth, some overnight. I eventually shined a flashlight into tank at 2am and there it was standing on the acan and chowing down

 

[Oldsalt01]

Should I be concerned about the Mithrax? These are my first real corals, unless you count the Toadstool. I've had no luck with zoas, but the price for the Acans was right.... FREE!

 

[dodgerblew]

I once had a mithrax who picked on coral but more that didn't. It's like angels, some do and some don't. Just watch it

 

[Oldsalt01]

Here's a pic of the carnage. Unfortunately the DoF of the Macro lens is such that the injured piece is slightly out of focus, but I think you get the idea. Looks like there's one little head intact on this side of the piece and another on the other side. I also note on the unscathed piece the feeding polyps are out. That's a very good sign. Going to be difficult to spot feed the injured ones and I'm wondering that since the centers are gone if they stand a chance at all. Hopefully the zooanthellae in their tissues will be enough to sustain them 'til (if) they repair themselves.

 

[dodgerblew]

Both of those can recover. I'd turn off flow and feed them some oyster feast and cycloppeeze or nutramar ova for awhile

 

[Vincent100]

Healthy purple acan frag dead and gone within 2 to 3 days , watched these little devil's picking at it none stop , their still in my tank as I'm unable to catch them ...had the frag for a few months , before I added the peps

 

[Oldsalt01]

Both of those can recover. I'd turn off flow and feed them some oyster feast and cycloppeeze or nutramar ova for awhile

OK. This may be a stupid question but how will they eat with no mouths or feeding polyps? Or have they just retracted them because of the attack? I'm willing to do whatever it takes to give them a chance.

 

[Oldsalt01]

Healthy purple acan frag dead and gone within 2 to 3 days , watched these little devil's picking at it none stop , their still in my tank as I'm unable to catch them ...had the frag for a few months , before I added the peps

I just took a small plastic water bottle, cut the top off and shoved it backwards inside the bottom, tied some mono to it, put some granular food inside and had both of them out of the tank in less than an hour. They now have a temporary home in my QT til I can get to my trusty LFS to swap em for a Royal Gramma. I'm sorry for your loss. That was a pretty frag.

 

[Vincent100]

Thanks , was a nice frag ...gutted it's gone
I've tried the bottle trap but they know I'm after them because I've chased them about now for awhile
Here's a pic of my tank , the acan is on the shelf at the left side next to the candy canes

 

[Oldsalt01]

Beautiful tank. Try leaving the bottle trap in over night if you haven't already. Shrimps have very short attention spans, lol.

 

[cgdcinc]

I learned about peppermint shrimp the hard way. I had one in my tank that was a model citizen. Added another and in seconds was ripping off torch tentacles as I watched in horror. My torch in pieces floating around my tank! Had them both out in minutes with a trap. I will never trust pepps in my tank again. Sorry about the Acans.

 

[Oldsalt01]

I learned about peppermint shrimp the hard way. I had one in my tank that was a model citizen. Added another and in seconds was ripping off torch tentacles as I watched in horror. My torch in pieces floating around my tank! Had them both out in minutes with a trap. I will never trust pepps in my tank again. Sorry about the Acans.

Thanks. I've been getting a lot of feedback on what to do next, and I am hopeful I can save the damaged heads. If not, I still have the two tiny ones to work with. Now I'm wondering if the shrimp were the cause of all my zoa failures (7 different frags over the course of the last 18 months). And here I was blaming missing something in the chemistry, which looks really good. In fact, almost too clean for zoas!

 

[DSC reef]

Are you absolutely sure its a peppermint shrimp and not a camel shrimp? I've never had peppermint shrimp go after acans or LPS unless the coral had food in its mouth. Anything can happen though.

 

[EW_Fish]

So can I. I had no idea it was even in there and it ate over 1k worth, some overnight. I eventually shined a flashlight into tank at 2am and there it was standing on the acan and chowing down

I can also say yes they will eat the centers out of the acans. Watched it WITH my lights on. I had started target feeding the shrimp and acans and then it started to happen. Noticed that the acans seemed not happy and I didn't know why. One day sitting on the couch and looked over there he was eating the center out of my rainbow acans.. Needless to say I got a water bottle and frozen food put it in the water bottle fill it up with tank water and within 3 min I caught me a peppermint shrimp.

 

[Oldsalt01]

Are you absolutely sure its a peppermint shrimp and not a camel shrimp? I've never had peppermint shrimp go after acans or LPS unless the coral had food in its mouth. Anything can happen though.

Positive ID. Lysmatta Wundermani. NO doubt about it. Rostrum is the correct shape.

 

[cgdcinc]

Thanks. I've been getting a lot of feedback on what to do next, and I am hopeful I can save the damaged heads. If not, I still have the two tiny ones to work with. Now I'm wondering if the shrimp were the cause of all my zoa failures (7 different frags over the course of the last 18 months). And here I was blaming missing something in the chemistry, which looks really good. In fact, almost too clean for zoas!

Acans are amazing in that I have thought they were completely gone and left the rock they were on in the tank and next thing you know they are growing back again.

 

[Vincent cimmino]

I had a camel shrimp do the same thing, it destroyed a few frags, I took out half the live rock to be able to catch him and get him out, and my corals took a few months but recovered thankfully, I should have researched more before dropping him in my tank