Cleaner Shrimp Eating a Clam!?!?!

[funman1]

I know this is usually because they clean up dead things, and are like bristle worms that get blamed for the death of things.
BUT
Went to bed last night clam looked awesome as it always does.
This morning it's crinkled up in its shell and the cleaner shrimp is on top of it picking at it!!

I shewed him away and the clam started to come back out.
1 Hour later the cleaner shrimp is back on top of it picking at it!!!

Now the clam looks really bad, and I can't move it because it's attached to the bottom of the tank and don't want to hurt his foot.
And I could never catch the shrimp??

What would you recommend?

Thanks

 

[lilleahseafreak]

i have never heard of this problem

you could catch the shrimp using a small sodabottle fish trap
i know when i used one to try and catch a damsel fish my cleaner shrimps were the first to get in there! but keep an eye on the trap as they are better at getting back out the hole than a fish.

 

[FunGuy]

I added two large cleaner shrimps to my tank before, which had a clam. They both picked at my clam all the time. Don't know why, but it did disturb it a bit. Both of the cleaners died eventually so the clam is happy.

 

[H20Sidhe]

When I was given a flame scallop, (not my choice - long story) one cleaner shrimp ripped off a small part of the frilly part of its mantle. It didn't seem to bother the scallop one bit, but it upset me. I kept a close eye on them & there was no further trouble. I eventually decided that there must have been something wrong with that piece of tissue. That shrimp would also pick at my wart whenever I had my hands in the tank, but it didn't mess with my 'normal' skin.

Have your shrimp & clam both been in the tank for awhile, or are they new to each other? I know how upset I get when my tank inhabitants feud. I hope your clam is OK!

 

[funman1]

The clam is not looking so hot right now.
The shrimp was added about 3 weeks ago

I'm still trying to figure out how to get the shrimp out.

 

[H20Sidhe]

I've used the soda bottle trap as Leah suggested to remove cleaner shrimp. I baited it with a piece of shrimp. The shrimp that always jumped on my hand I could just dip out of the tank with a tupperware container.

As I am sure you know, the shrimp is probably just reacting to a doomed clam, but I would do everything possible to try to protect it, just like you are trying to do. Is there any way you can expose enough of the byssal thread of the clam to snip it 1/2 inch or so away from the shell? That shouldn't hurt the clam at all & then you could move it to a hospital tank. If you really can't get either of them out, can you fashion a cage out of eggcrate or something to keep the shrimp away from the clam?

 

[MrMikeB]

Cleaners are notorious for picking up on dead or dying things in the tank well before most catch on. I would suspect the clam is actually dying and/or dead and the cleaner is, well, cleaning it by pulling off the dead parts.

When my clams died, my cleaners were all over them, which alerted me to their failing health in the first place. They went pretty fast once they started going downhill (within 2 days). I would not suggest the cleaners actually killed it, just reacting to the fact its dying.

Either way, you would do well to remove the clam from your system before it totally kills over completely and wipes out the tank with a massive ammonia spike. A QT tank would be optimal right about now.

Hoping for the best....

 

[funman1]

Update,
The shrimp has been removed (That day)
The clam is well on it's way to recovery.

It's almost looking like it was before it was attacked.
There is still a small chunk of mantle missing where the shrimp ate it, but it seems to be growing back.

Yeah Mike I know sometimes things get blamed wrongly like the bristle worms, but Now that the clam is recovering, I'm going to say this shrimp was wired wrong and needs to be behind bars for LIFE.
He'll never see a clam again for the rest of his life.


I know it's been said a thousand times
"NOTHING is 100% reef safe", and now I truly belive that.
It all depends on the animals behavior and attitude, and no 2 are the same

Watch ALL your creatues to see if they ever turn on each other.

 

[MrMikeB]

Steve, that is really bizarre about the shrimp! If you would like, in a couple of weeks and you still have the convict, I can take him off your hands and do a little experimentation with him with the shrimp tanks.