Murderous peppermints?

[johnnybravo234]

I added a couple peppermint shrimp to my reef a few months ago to help eliminate an aipstia problem. They did just that but i think they got violent with my devils hand leather lately. Have you ever seen anything like this? The tissue is not rotting or anything.. its just gone! I caught one of the little buggers on it last night but he ran away as soon as i shined the light on him so i couldnt confirm him as being the culprit. Here are a couple pics.. let me know what you think.

 

[Sk8r]

Someone else was having the same complaint. I've always had peps, and I've lost a few poci polyps to mine, but they stopped it after a few raids, and more food. My personal theory is that they may do this when about to molt. It's not a general habit.

 

[musty baby]

I'm guessing the spot in the leather, and anything else that you've seen them feeding on was having problems prior to the peppermints picking at it. Peppermints love to clean up dying corals, I've never seen them going after healthy tissue.

 

[Juanfer]

I have 4 peppermint shrimp in my 190 gallon reef tank (with leather corals) and they have never bother them or any other coral. do you have tangs in your tank???

 

[johnnybravo234]

Nope no tangs. It hasnt gotten any worse and the leather is molting now. Ill keep an eye on them though. Thanks for the info