Peppermint Shrimp eating brain coral

[jmpowie]

I have 5 Peppermint Shrimp and they are eating my brain corals. I thought Peppermint Shrimp are reef safe. I tried moving the coral up higher in the tank to try to keep the shrimp off them but after a hour or so they go right back to it. I have put so much food in the tank to feed them I now have a alge bloom. Is there anything that I can do?

 

[fishstick4sale]

yea remove them all, and never get shrimp again like me. i had every single shrimp i can get and they all picked at my coral those

[hr]
! i hate shrimp.... but the cleaner i think was the only one who didnt pick at them but he didnt live long because my other shrimp ate him too!@

 

[florida joe]

They are reef safe, but they will eat decomposing organic material. It is possible your coral is dieing. They will also work their way over everything in your tank so moving your coral will not prevent them from finding a food source if it is presented to them. Can you Isolate the coral and monitor it for disease ?
Also remember any uneaten food that may find its way on to your corals will be feed upon by the shrimp giving the impression that they are eating the corals

 

[jmpowie]

"They are reef safe, but they will eat decomposing organic material. It is possible your coral is dieing."
No the coral are not dieing or disease. The shrimp are just eating live good corals. I moved the coral into the filter for a few weeks and the parts of the eaten corals grew back. I put the corals back into the tank last night and the shimp ate a big part again. I just put them back into the filter about a few hours ago. Peppermint Shrimp are not reef safe.

 

[stanlalee]

I have learned with "anything" that is suspect reef safe should not be kept with open brain (I'm just going to assume its open brain based on my experiences with it). Every semi-reef fish or animal I've had wether it be puffer, dwarf angel or invert go STRAIGHT for open brain even if they leave everything else alone. when I had open brain I eventually moved it to the sump because I got tired of everything I tried semi reef safe picking on it. I know many others who have had the exact same experience. I believe it has something to do with the mucus it produces thats attractive to the livestock. peppermints are suspect when it comes to eating corals. not beyond them at all if they take a liking to it just like they are hit and miss with aiptasia.

 

[debbie]

Get rid of them all, trade them in for a cleaner shrimp. I had peppermint and camelbacks they cleaned up all my mushrooms in a very short time. I would not call them reef safe IMO

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by Stanlalee
http:///forum/post/3024864
I have learned with "anything" that is suspect reef safe should not be kept with open brain (I'm just going to assume its open brain based on my experiences with it). Every semi-reef fish or animal I've had wether it be puffer, dwarf angel or invert go STRAIGHT for open brain even if they leave everything else alone. when I had open brain I eventually moved it to the sump because I got tired of everything I tried semi reef safe picking on it. I know many others who have had the exact same experience. I believe it has something to do with the mucus it produces thats attractive to the livestock. peppermints are suspect when it comes to eating corals. not beyond them at all if they take a liking to it just like they are hit and miss with aiptasia.
Extremely interesting. I think this would be a great thread for you to start. I am sure SWF can collect enough pertinent data to come to a definitive conclusion as to the peppermints being reef safe or introduce with caution

 

[zigster]

my pep shrimp started eating my new hammer. shrimp all gone(tasted good with a little old bay seasoning).

 

[mech-a-nic]

Wow news to me 5 peperments not a coral touched including the maze brain and the mushrooms. I keep them just just incase of aptisia. besides its fun to watch the cleaner and fire shrimps chase them off at feeding time

 

[coral keeper]

The shrimp are eating your corals because you don't feed them enough. I've never had a problem with any shrimp. =)

 

[loopy101]

wow that is crazy!! my pep shrimp i dont really go out of my way to feed them but they do eat well. and the closest thing ive seen is in my open brain coral when i fed the coral the shrimp jumped up and ate some of the food before the coral swallowed it. but that was only one time that it happened. so i find it interesting to hear about them eating corals.

 

[davmul]

what goes around, comes around.............
I just pulled my pep shrimp out of the mouth of a very large candy cane polyp. His entire tail section and back legs were caught inside the coral. He is free now but he is coverted in mucus and his back legs seem to be broken. I don't think he will make it.

 

[freshman]

I had a green open brain....and it was fine.
Once it started to die thats when my shrimp started to eat it.

 

[taznut]

this is the first i have heard of this... ... i have 7 (orded 5 SWF was nice) and just got corals... as of now, unfortunitly, they have plenty of aiptasia to eat

 

[stdreb27]

There is another option out there. You could have camel shrimp
These are labeled as peps from somewhere

personally I think these are camels too
These are camels

Here is a pep

Camels aren't really reef safe.
But imo anything that eats aspatia (which if it were pretty and non agressive would be considered a coral) can't be reef safe...

 

[herbanshaman]

This is my first post to the forum, I'm new to the reefer community.
I'm posting because I've noticed my own peppermint shrimp (trained to eat aiptasia) has been nibbling at my open brain coral,
Now before anyone leaps to conclusions about him being non-coral safe and having developed a "coral craving" I'd like to suggest something else -- Grooming.
This particular brain coral seemed to be suffering from a slow recession, maybe from protozoa (or my shrimps nibbling) and I've noticed that he only picks at the white edges of the brain coral, as if he were tryin to groom the sick areas off. He doesn't mess with the primary lobe what so ever, just the sickly looking edge bit. He cleans it up to the point of healthy tissue. He lives right beneath the one he seems to be grooming, so I wonder if he's conciously doing housekeeping.
..... I fed him today b/c I was afraid he was just hungry and actually doing the damage I thought was protazoa. I should have waited longer to see how things played out with the grooming/eating. I don't plan on any more direct feedings.