Cleaner shrimp eating anemone guts?

[Ngoodermuth]

We just purchased a green carpet men today- big, beautiful, full color, closed mouth. Looked very healthy. Brought it home and acclimated for over an hour (salinity in bag was .022, tank is .024) Once bag salinity matched tank we moved it into the display. It very quickly attached itself to the rock and moved itself a bit, still extended and looking good.

A few hours later I noticed it's filaments were exposed, which I read could be an internal water change of sorts...helping it adjust to it's new environment. It was still extended at this point.

As I was watching, to my horror, my cleaner shrimp walked right up to its mouth and ripped out a chunk of its insides! Immediately, it started to shrivel up and is subsequently not looking so hot.

What are the chances it might recover? Is it a goner??

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[Ngoodermuth]

Pretty sure it's a goner, it got real droopy and is only holding on to the rock with half it's foot. Killer cleaner shrimp?? [emoji494][emoji33] I didn't see that one coming...


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[Ngoodermuth]

Cleaner shrimp eating anemone guts?

Well, it's still hanging in there. I'm a little nervous about it dying in the tank overnight...any suggestions? Anyone? (crickets)


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[f3honda4me]

Shrimp would only do that if the nem was already dying.

 

[OrionN]

You need to protect the anemone from the shrimp until or if it recover.

 

[Ngoodermuth]

Shrimp would only do that if the nem was already dying.

The thought crossed my mind, except the nem didn't start to shrivel up until immediately after the shrimp ripped a chunk of its guts out :/ I mean, it was a very fast negative reaction.

It's definitely still alive right now, maybe even looking a little better, but I've isolated it in a small container inside the tank to observe. I'm not sure how long I can keep it here and I'm getting ready for bed. Should I put it back in the sand and hope for the best?


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[Ngoodermuth]

You need to protect the anemone from the shrimp until or if it recover.

The shrimp is in a mesh breeder box jail for now...if the nem doesn't die, he might get banished to the sump until it settles in.


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[joshky]

Looks like a haddoni on my phone so infection may or may not be an issue here, could the cleaner shrimp have simply removed a piece of leftover food? If the carpets continues to do badly you'll probably want to setup a HT and treat with cipro.

 

[NYCBOB]

Was ur carpet sticky when u got it? A healthy carpet would have gobbled up the cleaner shrimp.

 

[Ngoodermuth]

Cleaner shrimp eating anemone guts?

Looks like a haddoni on my phone so infection may or may not be an issue here, could the cleaner shrimp have simply removed a piece of leftover food? If the carpets continues to do badly you'll probably want to setup a HT and treat with cipro.

Yep, Haddoni.

No, it wasn't food it was definitely filaments... I watched the whole thing. I can get cipro from my vet I'm assuming? I have to take my dog today anyway, I can ask while I'm there.


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[humphreyhh]

That's very strange to me. I also suspect the thing shrimp pulled out from the nem might be some food not fully digested. If it was really part of the nem then I think the nem was already in very bad condition.

We have the same carpet nem. But many times my cleanershrimp wanted to get close to her to steal food got shocked by her sting and immediately backed out. She never had a problem fending off the shrimp even when she was just introduced to the tank...But I did have problem with shrimp messing with bubble tip anemones...I think you can leave it in the main tank since anemone needs time to adjust to new environment (if it's still healthy) but definitely keep the shrimp away for now.

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[Ngoodermuth]

Was ur carpet sticky when u got it? A healthy carpet would have gobbled up the cleaner shrimp.

It was sticky, but we literally just got it so I'm sure it was stressed out. Plus, we had to acclimate the salinity so it was in the bag for a little while. Between temp and dripping it was between 1.5-2 hours.

The shrimp got stuck a bit on the way to its mouth but pulled himself free. I thought for sure I was going to see him eat the shrimp...not the other way around [emoji30]


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[Ngoodermuth]

That's very strange to me. I also suspect the thing shrimp pulled out from the nem might be some food not fully digested. If it was really part of the nem then I think the nem was already in very bad condition.

We have the same carpet nem. But many times my cleanershrimp wanted to get close to her to steal food got shocked by her sting and immediately backed out. She never had a problem fending off the shrimp even when she was just introduced to the tank...But I did have problem with shrimp messing with bubble tip anemones...I think you can leave it in the main tank since anemone needs time to adjust to new environment (if it's still healthy) but definitely keep the shrimp away for now.

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It's still alive this morning but really not looking good. Its not attached to anything, just kind of sitting there. Maybe we missed something when we purchased it, it looked really good...but it may have been ill and we didn't realize it. I do know that it very, very quickly declined after the shrimp pulled that piece of filament off...


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[humphreyhh]

The shrimp attack could be an issue if his health dramatically declined....But Haddon carpet likes to attach to the bottom of the tank through the sand bed. Putting it on the sand bed will only trigger it to try to move or float. To help it settle down, dig a hole through the sand bed to let his foot touch the bottom glass can help it attach. Haddons generally don't attach to rocks or fine sand. If he is still OK and trying to settle down he should attach himself to the glass (or a rock nearby) in matter of minutes (this is what happened to mine).

...if it's really sick now, then put it in a separate tank or box. I suggest to put some LR and sand with it. I would use a clay pot (or bowl shaped container to hold some sand and put the anemone in the pot. This way it still can feel comfortable there and if it recovers, you only need to put the pot back into the tank instead of pulling it off from the box again to irritate him.

If any signs if death such as falling tissue or melting parts are shown then the nem is gone. Don't leave it in the main tank anymore.

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[therealkilo]

Can't speak to your situation, but I got pepp shrimp on multiple occasions only to remove them because they went crazy and started attacking my BTAs, softies and other stuff in tank. I watched it happen multiple times.