Cleaner Shrimp Problem

[12gallonbaby]

My cleaner shrimp has started to attack my feather duster and pull off his "feathers". I want to know if anyone has dealt with this before and if there is a way to prevent it. He just started doing this after I had to move him to make room for my clam so I moved my feather duster again and although my cleaner shrimp hasn't been pulling on him as often I am still finding "feathers" throughout my tank.

Here are some pics.
<a href="http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg216/wldctgymnst/?action=view&current=DSC00714.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg216/wldctgymnst/DSC00714.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s249.photobucket.com/albums/gg216/wldctgymnst/?action=view&current=DSC00713.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg216/wldctgymnst/DSC00713.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

you can see the sections I am talking about that look bare. any help or advice would be appreciated because I might just get rid of my shrimp.

 

[BuddhaKiss]

wow, your feather duster looks jacked up.

 

[12gallonbaby]

thanks i know that, but any ideas why or what i should do?

 

[Elan L.]

Did you actually see the cleaner shrim recently take off the feathers or are you just finding them? Featherdusters may loose their feathers due to a lack of food.

 

[BuddhaKiss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13146124#post13146124 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 12gallonbaby
thanks i know that, but any ideas why or what i should do?

LOL sorry, I just never saw a feather duster that messed up before. As far as lack of food, normally, they will lose their entire crown of feathers and retract for a few days. They will eventually re-emerge with a smaller crown. They don't lose feathers like that on their own...at least IME.

Do you have a fuge with a sandbed? You can put it in there and specifically target feed it with some phyto. Give it some time to recover and give it a break from the shrimp .

 

[sl-atl]

+1. The feather duster ought to be fine and re-grow its feathers once the shrimp stops eating them.

I think you may need to target feed your shrimp too. They'll start getting ornery like that if they don't get enough to eat.

 

[Tennyson]

Sometimes shrimp attack worms+corals even when they are well fed.

My peppermint attacks my coco worm and coral, and believe me, its very-well fed.

I don't know why it attacked them though.

Anyway, good luck with youre coco worm.

 

[sl-atl]

Tennyson, Do you have a Caribbean peppermint shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni) or the pacific look-alike (Rhynchocinetes durbanensis)? Some LFS will sell them as the same thing, but R. durbanensis will eat soft corals and otherwise not behave itself. Or maybe you have a bad seed.

Here's an article FWIW: http://fish.suite101.com/article.cfm/peppermint_shrimp_imposters