Sexy Shrimp are NOT REEF SAFE

[elwaine]

Before purchasing sexy shrimp for my 4 gallon pico, I did a lot of reading. The consensus appeared to be that sexy shrimp are reef safe. Well, they are definitely NOT reef safe when it comes to SPS corals. I fed the shrimp frequenlty with both meaty foods and combo tablets - which the 3 shrimp ate eagerly. Nevertheless, this is what they did to my pink bird's nest SPS frag:

Newly acquired Bird's Nest (note the shrimp on the back of the coral):

One week later: (note the denuded tissue at the base of the coral.)

I watched the damage as it occurred and initially took no action, because several people wrote that the shrimp only eat dead tissue and do not eat healthy coral tissue. That is incorrect. I'm sorry I ignored the old advice that any creature with claws can damage corals.

The shrimp were traded at my LFS. The question now is: will the coral recover? Stay tuned... same place... different time.

 

[cloak]

What about that other sps coral in the background? That one looks a little damaged as well on the bottom. Are you sure your alkalinity isn't bouncing around? (RTN/STN) What I'm seeing does look familiar, and I've never had a sexy shrimp before.

 

[elwaine]

Are you sure it wasn't a fluctuation in your alkalinity?

Yes, I'm sure. I have been closely monitoring dKH and Calcium and they have been steady at 8.3 and 450, respectively. (The reason I've been monitoring those parameters every other day is that the pink bird's nest is one of two sps corals that I recently added to my pico. The rest are softies.) Besides, it makes no sense to me that an imbalance in alkalinity would effect only the base of the coral.

The other sps frag you see in the photo is barely an inch tall, and was one of the tiny frags that broke off of the main pink bird's nest specimen during shipment. The base of that tiny frag is white because of damage from super glue. That photo was taken a week ago and the tiny frag is now growing over the damaged base.

I have several tiny frags that are doing quite nicely. I also have a nice Ponape bird's nest in another location. The shrimp did not spend much time on the Ponape and it has very little damage. The shrimp ignored the tiny frags altogether and, for the most part, did not visit the Ponape coral. They preferred to hang out on the larger pink bird's nest coral, and that's where the major damage took place.

I could see the shrimp eating away at the base of the pink bird's nest coral. But as I wrote, above, I thought they were removing dead tissue... fool that I was. :headwally:

 

[Haleyf1024]

I have had my sexy shrimp for about a year now, first in with my dwarf seahorses and now in my reef tank with a bunch of coral. He hosts my RBTA and doesn't get fed directly (just whatever he catches when I feed my fish) and I have never observed him eating or destroying my birdsnest or any other coral. The most I have seen him do is try to host the birdsnest when the bubble tip closes up. Maybe I got lucky though?

 

[cloak]

Besides, it makes no sense to me that an imbalance in alkalinity would effect only the base of the coral.

You might want to get a second opinion on this. Try posting this in the sps forum and see what they say.

 

[elwaine]

I have had my sexy shrimp for about a year now, first in with my dwarf seahorses and now in my reef tank with a bunch of coral. He hosts my RBTA and doesn't get fed directly (just whatever he catches when I feed my fish) and I have never observed him eating or destroying my birdsnest or any other coral. The most I have seen him do is try to host the birdsnest when the bubble tip closes up. Maybe I got lucky though?

Yes. That is the experience of many - but not all - posters on this topic (via a google search). The reason I posted this report is to warn others that sometimes, those shrimp do damage corals.

 

[elwaine]

You might want to get a second opinion on this. Try posting this in the sps forum and see what they say.

That is a good suggestion. Thank you. But I think I will wait a few weeks to see if the coral recovers, now that the shrimp are no longer in the tank. As I noted, my water parameters have been spot on, so I do not understand why the coral would lose tissue on the basis of an imbalance in the dKH when no such imbalance existed. In fact, all of the parameters (dKH, Ca, PO4, NO3, pH, and salinity) have been normal and steady.

If the coral recovers, sans shrimp, that should be fairly conclusive evidence that those cute little buggers can (at least at times) damage coral. Perhaps my sexy shrimp didn't think I was sexy enough for them and ate my coral in protest. :rollface:

 

[elwaine]

Oh oh. I may have jumped the gun and accused the shrimp when they were not to blame. Even though my phosphates test normal, maybe phosphate is leaching from the base of the LR that I have attached the bird's nest coral to. Maybe what I am seeing is RTN. If so, the sexy shrimp could have been eating dying tissue after all. "” I sure hope I don't get sued by attorneys representing the sexy shrimp I sold to my LFS.

Then again, why is it only that one sps that is affected?

I'm really puzzled. Maybe time will tell.

 

[fermentedhiker]

Since sexy shrimp prefer to be associated with a nem I wonder if it's possible that the damage is unintentional and just from all the time they spend on it. Much like clowns deciding to associate with LPS corals can damage and sometimes kill them. It would be interesting to see if you had a mini carpet or a rock flower if they would have left the birds nest alone?

 

[Livewreck]

That's an interesting question.

 

[elwaine]

Yes. An interesting question.

There isn't much room in a 4 gallon pico so the three shrimp - even though quite small - kept pestering most of the corals on a routine basis. But they did take up residence, so to speak, in the pink bird's nest coral. I suppose that the irritation alone could have triggered RTN. But that's just a guess.

As much as I liked having the sexy shrimp, I'm glad they are gone. My blue Sympodium coral colony now stays open all day. I suspect I'll see better growth in a few of the corals now that they stay open.

I originally intended to get a rock flower anemone but my scape doesn't lend itself to wanderers that are picky about light and water flow, and have the wherewithal to do something about it.

 

[Calappidae]

Yeah, I wouldn't blame the shrimp just yet.

There are indeed reports of them eat sps specifically.. but there are very few and most of them come up with the same theory, it's the coral dying (which IMHO is very possible).

Not saying it isn't false that sexy shrimp are or are not reef safe.. but just adding to the discussion that every other case I've heard and seen involved the same coral and same shrimp.

Personally my single sexy shrimp never leaves his ricordea to touch my birdsnest (when I had one.. bryopsis..)

 

[elwaine]

Yeah, I wouldn't blame the shrimp just yet.

There are indeed reports of them eat sps specifically.. but there are very few and most of them come up with the same theory, it's the coral dying (which IMHO is very possible).

I think you are correct. I jumped the gun. I now doubt that the sexy shrimp had anything to due with the tissue necrosis.:headwally: