New Crocea Ultra + Peppermint Shrimp

[jobes]

I just added my new 3" Crocea to my reef and less the twenty four hours later my peppermint shrimp destroyed the entire clam.

The shrimp flipped the clam on it's side and ate the clam from the back side in. I'm so ****ed at those darn things. I've been waiting and wanting one forever too. Is this common? I feed the shrimp very well too.:mad2:

 

[basser1]

WOW!! I'm wondering if your clam was on its' way out, or dying! I have a peppermint shrimp in with my Maxima clam.... No problems! Sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[jobes]

It was from my private reefer. I did inform him as soon as it happened. So would you say it was unhealthy to begin with then? He basically was saying my shrimp must have been starving and that is the reason the clam was eaten. Basically SOL

 

[ROB2005]

How long has your tank been running?

Are your water parameters in check?

 

[jobes]

It's been up for about six months now. Parameters are well withing reason.

 

[johnnybravo234]

B.S. Peppermint shrimp will not bother a clam unless it is already on its way out. What are your water parameters.

 

[jobes]

pH-8.0
Temperature-76.8
Alkalinity-240
Calcium-Unknown
Magnesium-Unknown
Phosphate-Unknown
Ammonia-0.23
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-20
SG-1.025

I do 20% water changes every week (4gal) and I just cant get the ammonia and nitrates down.

Right after accumulation (about an hour) the shrimp attacked the clam as soon as it hit the sand bed and never stopped.

Current photo

 

[mike68]

I half dozen peppermint shrimp in my 72 they never bothered any of my clams. i have 9 , its been my experience that when clams go they go quick. they will look good one day and almost dead the next.

 

[Kieth71]

I had my peppermint shrimp kill a hammer coral..they were bought to eat all the aiptasia in my tank which they did.I have no idea if they would eat a clam since i dont have one but i am going to remove them before i add any more lps or a clam to make sure.

 

[ianiwane]

I wouldn't say Ammonia-0.23 is well with in reason. Any detectable ammonia is very bad.

 

[jobes]

Yes I agree bad statement on my behalf. With all the water changes I do and easy on the feedings I just cant seem to get it down let alone undetectable.

 

[rc02116]

I think you need to find out the source of the ammonia first. Ammonia is usually present when there are die-offs somewhere (either during initial cycle or something just dies). Clams are VERY sensitive to ammonia and could succumb very quickly, even with the smallest trace.

 

[basser1]

Do you have an LFS near-by? If so, take a water sample and have them check your params for you. I noticed you don't list Ca, Mag, or phospate. These are important as well. especially Ca. Clams are known to suck up Calcium! I have a 29 gallon Biocube and I do 5 gallon water changes weekly. But I use Tropic Marin salt and it's known to be low in Ca., so I dose for Alk., Ca., and Mag. daily.

Also you may want to look into the idea of a skimmer. I run one 24/7 in my tank. I think you need to work on getting your params in check before attemting to try another clam, JMO!

 

[TWallace]

I had something similar happen to a maxima I bought last weekend. It wasn't peppermint shrimp that ate him, but a combination of a Melanurus wrasse and a juvenille red coris wrasse. They killed it in less than 6 hours after introduction. I didn't see them do it, but I found the clam on its side with the byssal gland and associated meaty parts missing. I flipped it back up and watched. Only a few seconds later both wrasses were circling the clam. The red coris knocked it back on its side and took another bite. The mantle was intact and surprisingly the clam still responded to shadows by closing the shell. But its guts were completely gone.

The clam looked to be in great health when I got it. I have a 8-9" derasa in the same tank and the wrasses don't bother it at all. The derasa has been in my system for 2 and a half years.

For the record, I also have peppermint shrimp in my tank and they didn't bother the new maxima.

I've read in the past that both of these species of wrasse are actually beneficial to clams, as they eat pyramidellid snails. In fact, this is mentioned on Clams Direct's site, regarding the red coris (Coris gaimard).

 

[Sound]

I have to peppermint shrimp and they don't touch my clam. I have a crocea. It must have been dying already. I also have a scallop with no insident. Was the ammonia at that measurement before you added the clam?

 

[Genetics]

I don't believe peppermints have the ability to kill a clam without perpetually bothering it to the point of starvation. With any move involving clams, the change in water chemistry can be enough to push them into shock. This can result in death within a week or less of being added to an aquarium.

 

[Merfin70]

I don't have a clam but I can say that my (now removed) Peppermints would go after any newly introduced LPS. I've also heard similar from a couple of others. Any new LPS to the tank would get attacked for the first 24 hours, afterwhich, the shrimp would them generally leave it alone. Over time, all of the LPS would recover but I removed the shrimp as I got tired of losing a couple of heads every time I added something to the tank.

The shrimp were not cleaning off dead tissue. I watched them eat very nice, healty heads of an acan and micro before I was finally able to catch them.