harlequin shrimp with front claw damage

[gkaquatic]

so of course something would happen to my harlequin right after posting about finding him/her a mate.

the harlequin has been in my 30g reef tank for about 5 months now and ive had no problems, no one in the tank seems to bother it. there has also been no signs of damage to it since its been in the tank. the harlequin always look in great shape, but just today that seemed to change.
i couldnt find it yesturday so i figured he/she was getting ready to molt. but today when i came home from work my harlequin was in the one corner of the tank and its large claw where all chewed and beat up. i removed the harlequin from the tank and is now in a side bin until it can recoop and then is going to be put in a tank of its own. it looks to me like it was pick at by something in the tank, but i just wanted to make sure it isnt body rot or a disease. the areas that are damaged are red and brown on the edges. *i can get pics if needed, but i really would like to get some other peoples opinions

 

[3steele]

What other fish etc do you have in the tank with him? Could he have gotten stung by something or caught in a power head?

 

[gkaquatic]

gold stripe maroon, sixline, starry blenny, 3 clown gobies, and some hermit crabs. and it couldnt have gotten stuck in the powerhead, they are way higher then the rock and they are visible, i think i would have seen it. not sure about getting stung.

 

[cbr600rri]

did you add anything recently? one possibility could be the shrimp molted and wasn't able to defend him/herself. And let's just say you didn't add anything, it happens where a few months or even years go by w/o any incident and something happens. Before you removed it, did you notice any of your inhabitants picking on him/her. Maroon can get aggressive, sixline can at time or maybe your hermit crabs.

 

[gkaquatic]

my maroon bothers nothing other than the sixline and if i had to take a guess i would say the either the sixline or a hermit crab would mess with the harlequin. nothing is new. the molting and then being unable to defend it self makes the most sence to me.

 

[3steele]

well in any case "Get Well Soon Little Buddy"

 

[gkaquatic]

thanks, she is my favor critter i have, so i was really bummed to see her hurt

 

[3steele]

I want one badly but I know I dont have the experience to care for one

 

[gkaquatic]

im telling u they really aren't as hard to take care of as long as u can get some kind of star fish. like i take chocolate chip stars and cut one leg off a week/ 2 weeks and give it to her. i return the star to another tank where i have two stars that i rotate leg clippings on. the starfish feed sorce in my opion is the hard battle, everything else is like any other invertebrate.

 

[3steele]

Really I am going to read up more on these. I think there the oddest things I have ever seen so they catch my attention. (well besides the mimic octopus) I tend to find things that look weird and mesh them together, its my own little Picasso wrapped in a 20x20x20 frame!

 

[gkaquatic]

check this write up out, pretty much as everything u need to know
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/harlequinshrimp.html