Anemone killed by cleaner shrimp?

[badisbadis101]

I purchased a pair of clownfish and an anemone about 3 weeks ago. They went into quarantine for about 2 weeks before being released into display. These were the first animals in the display tank aside from CUC and a few zoanthids. Anemone appeared to be doing well in quarantine and continued to look good after being release into display.

On Sunday, I purchased a scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp and released it into the display. The shrimp quickly found the anemone and started hanging out around it. A couple times the shrimp would crawl on top of the anemone and cause it to close. However, the anemone would open back up and looked fine.

I was busy Monday and didn't take a close look at the anemone. On Tuesday, the anemone was closed up and look like it had been shredded by something (see picture. Unfortunately this was the only one I took)

I took the anemone out of the display and moved it to the sump/refugium to hopefully protect it from the shrimp. It seemed slightly better on Wednesday, but I got home today and it was obviously gone - a lump of goo which I disposed of.

So, are cleaner shrimp known to harass/mutilate anemones? Could something else have done it?

Tank specs:

50G rimless (36x24x24)
29G sump
Bubble Magnus Curve 5 skimmer
Jebao 1200 DC return pump
2x Jebao wavemakers
2x AI Hydra 26 HD's

~40 lbs live sand
~50 lbs live rock
8x Asteria snails
2x Emerald crabs
2x Percula Clownfish
several small frags

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

 

[badisbadis101]

This was taken in quarantine.

 

[davocean]

If it was the first thing added to your tank I'm guessing a new tank?
That could be one of a number of things gone wrong, but to answer your question, no, a cleaner shrimp will not harm an anemone.

 

[badisbadis101]

The tank is new. It has been running since the beginning of November. I understand that something related to this is likely what did him in.

I wish I had taken a better picture of the bottom of the anemone. It looked like it had been mutilated by something.

More than anything I would like to understand what happened and how I can prevent it in the future. I will test the water again tonight and see if any parameters seem off.

 

[SwampyBill]

+1 on what Davocean said...New tank syndrome is prolly what caused the nem's death. It's suggested to wait 3--6 months before adding any kind of anemone to a new tank due to the fluctuations in water chemistries. Good luck w/ the tank!

 

[NYCBOB]

what kind of anemone was it?

 

[worm5406]

Pictures are not loading on my side.

Wish I could see it.

 

[worm5406]

Can you upload the pictures somewhere else?

 

[rillaboratories]

pictures work for me in IE

 

[Raintree]

Also can't see the pictures. I agree it would have been too soon to add the anemone.

Do you have unprotected powerheads in the tank? If it looked shredded it's possible it dislodged and went into a powerhead. Or the shredded look could just be a side effect of whatever else killed it.