Peppermint shrimp damage

[rt67ghy]

I fed my balanophyllia coral yesterday and it ate well and was healthy. Today I woke up to find it like this:

http://imgur.com/0kLl4Ue

It was a few inches near a couple of rocks where 3 peppermint shrimps live. I assume they dug out the food from its stomach. Is this how a sun coral coral looks inside or has its stomach also been dug out? I'm wondering if it'll survive.
Appreciate any feedback.

 

[Hermannsae]

I don't know what happened there.
However, I often saw peppermint shrimps digging out the food from the black & orange once. But I never saw something like in your photo.

 

[Scorpius]

Peppermint shrimp are from the devil. As you turn your back on them they'll attack anything they don't like. You'll never know when they go rogue like this either. One day my shrimp was well behaved the next it decided all my rock flower anemones had to die.

 

[rt67ghy]

Peppermint shrimp are from the devil.

Aren't they though?

I have heard of them suddenly attacking corals and pulling food out of their stomachs. Now I've experienced this first-hand. I'm feeding them aiptasia but I suppose the smell of Reef Mist (which I had fed my balanophyllia) was too much to resist. I have had them only for 2 months but one thing I've noticed is that they stay very close to the rocks they hide under. I may be able to use this against them and keep my suns further away.

 

[rt67ghy]

I don't know what happened there.
However, I often saw peppermint shrimps digging out the food from the black & orange once. But I never saw something like in your photo.[/QUOTE

I'm pretty sure the shrimps are to blame. I don't have anything else in my tank that could have attacked the sun such as crabs. I sometimes see my bubble coral with gaping mouth when there is food in the water. You can see clear inside and strangely I can see rock deep inside just like my balanophyllia where you would expect to see the stomach, so I am more hopeful now. I think the sun is suffering from severe stress and thus the gaping mouth, but there may not be damage inside. I'll post more pics if I see an improvement.

 

[galvintjime]

My peppermint "lobster" (around 4 inches long) will often times go after the mysis that my sun corals grab as I'm feeding so I frequently have to jab at him the with the turkey baster for minutes at a time until the corals can get the food down far enough. I have seen him go after the corals pretty intently even after they've taken the food in completely, but this is a bit rare for me to see. Also, my peppermint shrimp will cruise around the entire tank, not just his rock, so nowhere is safe.

Overall I only really have troubles with them when they can see the food or if the coral took a bit of food bigger than it could fit in its stomach quickly. I have found that every shrimp that I've owned has been like this.

 

[Mioduz]

Glad I ran across this thread. Was going to order 2 peppermint shrimp for my new tank that is cycling. Doesn't sound like they are worth it now

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