Peppermint Shrimp Eating Symphyllia

[MinibowMatt]

Yesterday I noticed some white patches on the upper fleshy surfaces of my rainbow Symphyllia. I just switched from my dual 175's to a 6x39w T5 array (Tek) so I am aware of bleaching possibilities, but it is just this coral and it is only in patches. I just added a pair of peppermints to clean up a couple aiptasia (which they did). I know some have seen them eat corals too. Has anyone experienced a pepp eating their brain corals?

Either way, my aiptasia's are gone, so I am going to trap the shrimp and put them in my prop tank just in case....

sorry no pic of the damage yet..

 

[mfin77]

my peppermint ate my LTA , two starfish. I had two catch him with a shrimp trap.
He was so annoying

 

[Dave VG]

Bleaching would be uniform I would think not spotty. I had brain bleach when I switched from T-5’s to MH’s but it was consistent bleaching over the whole coral. Could the peppermints have been robbing food from it or finding food on it and irritating it in spots. I’ve read they will actually force the mouth open on some corals and steal form there stomach. I really have no actual experience only what I have read about peppermints so maybe someone with them will chime in. Good luck

 

[Dave VG]

mfin77 doesn’t sound like what you had was not a true peppermint shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni) but a dancing shrimp(Rhynchocinetes durbanensis). Very similar and often sold as one in the same but very different feeding habits. The dancing shrimp will eat zoanthids, star polyps and go after star fish and even small hermits etc.

 

[MinibowMatt]

it wouldnt be irritation from them. this is definite flesh removal. not very deep mind you, and no infection or tissue ripping.. just like they stole the color and top layer of skin from three or four small areas, less than 1" sq.... seems like they are the perfect culprit...

 

[roblack]

Matt, I recommend you get those peppermints out ASAP. They attack all kinds of softies and LPS IME. Mean little "bastigez"! yes, they will rip food away from corals that have eaten, out of their mouths or even go down into them and pull from their mouths. They will eat many corals as well. I say "guilty"! HTH.

 

[johnanddawn]

i agree no peps allowed in any of my tanks - although experience suggests to me that usually when this sort of thing happens its a bad sign in that the coral itself was in some sort of trouble to begin with. but even if that is the case removing the peps is still a good thing for the coral to give it time to recover

 

[stunreefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12944364#post12944364 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by roblack
Matt, I recommend you get those peppermints out ASAP. They attack all kinds of softies and LPS IME. Mean little "bastigez"! yes, they will rip food away from corals that have eaten, out of their mouths or even go down into them and pull from their mouths. They will eat many corals as well. I say "guilty"! HTH.

I agree with this 100%!

I came home one night to several damaged aussie acans....didnt think much of it they started to heal back up. fed them the next week, went upstairs, came back down and the little suckers (pepp shrimp) were tearing open my acans polyp by polyp and eating the food out!!! Couldn't believe it!

Never again will I allow those demons near any of my precious LPS!

 

[MinibowMatt]

there coming out... I just gotta catch the buggers!

 

[Mark426]

Peps are the devil himself. I wish I knew that before I put two in my tank. Thought I would never catch those guys. AND..no they were not camels.

 

[Lotus99]

I had similar problems with peppermints, although it was usually with new corals. I saw a peppermint ripping a frogspawn to shreds. It was so bad that tentacles were flying around the tank Mine never did it to established corals, but I have a feeling there must be something in the corals' slime that attracts them.

 

[JJ21]

I still need to get my other peppermint shrimp out. He just about decimated my ricordea and won't let my duncans eat in peace


It makes me scared to get a pair of cleaners now

 

[Dave VG]

Well i guess no peppermint shrimps here.