FAVIA - is this RTN or hungry sexy shrimp?

[illjoshlli]

I came into work today to find a 1/3 of my Favia(I think it is anyway..) gone. It looks like it was eaten but I’m not sure. Could this be RTN? I can’t test my levels at the moment but everything else in the tank looks good. I have a small Maxima clam, birdsnest, blue tip table acro, polyps, digita, mini maxi anemone.

I have 4 sexy shrimp in my tank and I’m wondering if they got hungry. I usually feed them pellets every day but I’m not here on the weekends so they go hungry. I have an acro eating shrimp (camel back) at home and this looks similar to the carnage she causes.

I have not heard of sexy shrimp eating coral likes this but I did find a few of them hanging out on it today. But then they tend to hangout on all my coral with out causing damage…. They do seem to be eating it but i'm not sure.

 

[illjoshlli]

Adding pics

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[illjoshlli]

Lps lovers Does this look like rtn? or was it dinner?

when I have seen rtn before (non lps) there is usually a little bit of stuff actually coming off the coral. This is pretty clean

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[maxx56dog]

most likely RTN, but the sexy shrimp could make the RTN worse

 

[scolley]

Subscribed, because I see the same behavior in my tank. I've got several sexy's and if anything RTN's or STN's the sexy's are there. Though any kind of necrosis is pretty rare among my LPS, far more common for SPS.

Either way, I suspect they are just getting a free meal. Either in the form of the necrotic tissue, or some other organism (possibly related to the necrosis) too small to see.

I CAN make a point against that however... I've got other several types of other shrimp and crabs that also love a good meal. But they don't show up to the same spot. Why? Could it be because the meal is healthy coral tissue, a thing they don't eat?

Interested in other replies. Great question.

 

[sqwat]

definatlt rtn and the shrimp is eating dead tissue but usually doesnt eat the healthy tishue and can help it from spreading but sometimes its to late and the coral goes down.if you believe its the shrimp doing it get a small plastic cup dip the coral and put the cup over it for protection as it heals.gl

 

[xraided199]

yes the sexies i have had love dead tissue on any unhealthy coral, i am guessing something else that got to the coral unfortunately (looked like a great piece, im sorry about it...)

 

[iamwrasseman]

i have a few tanks wit hsexy shrimp in them and i have never seen them "cause" this but i did add a torch that i had dipped because of a head recessing and the immediatly found the dead tissue and started in on dinner .

 

[illjoshlli]

well, so it's fully gone now. The Sexy shrimp are still suspect. I decided to leave it in there and see what happens and it appeared to only RTN over the weekends. During the week I wouldn't see much if any change from Monday to Friday but every Monday morning when I came into the office more was gone. Maybe, two days off from staring at it made it stand out more but unfed hungry shrimp on the weekends makes more sense to me.

I have had an acro also RTN over the past few weeks (I have another post on that) and the shrimp never went near it. I’m not sure what is going on. I tested last week and all the levels were stable (no3, po,Amonia all 0. Cal >480, alk 9, PH 8.2(?)) the temp does fluctuate a lot 80-82 at night 76 in the day.. I’m getting growth on my other corals (a monti, 2 chalice, a maxim clam, polyps).

 

[devildog999]

If worried about hungry shrimp in the future, why not buy a automated feeder to feed the the pellets over the weekend? At least that way you wouldn't have to worry about the sexies getting hungry.

 

[illjoshlli]

If worried about hungry shrimp in the future, why not buy a automated feeder to feed the the pellets over the weekend? At least that way you wouldn't have to worry about the sexies getting hungry.

I wish there was any easy way to do that with out it being an eyesore. I also want to keep the lid on at all times. It helps with evaporation and it keeps my snails from making it into the filtration.

 

[mos90]

i had a peppermint shrimp pick at my pagoda cup and kill it. i will catch them on my brain coral once in awhile. it doesnt like it. ill never do any type on shrimp except cleaners in a reef tank from now on.

 

[xCry0x]

aside from the lid issue who cares about the eye sore of an auto feeder over the weekend? lol.

I got one the other week for my home tank and it looks dumb as hell but allows me to give my fish a feeding every day at noon when I am at work.

 

[ilovesoda]

For Future Reference -


Had 3 sexy shrimp that ate small red acan colony, as well as favia and various brain corals.

The shrimp were siphoned out and returned to the store. All corals healed after the vacancy .

 

[scolley]

IMO the OP's problem was the loss of way too much tissue to be blamed on sexy shrimp. And I believe they were just getting a nice meal of dying tissue. That said, I'm personally not convinced that they do not - at times - eat healthy tissue. I CANNOT state with certainty that my observations lead to a reasonable conclusion that they DO. However, it appears to me that they MIGHT.

So I got rid of all of mine but the one I cannot catch. And the problems I was experiencing have diminished in direct proportion to the number sexy's no longer in my tank vs. the one remaining - and have remained that way over quite a number of months.

 

[Miltonic]

that was def dinner