Something ate yellow polys and feather dusters

[fishy all the time]

I have been noticing that something has been slowly eating my yellow star polyps. Everyday a little bit is missing and now they are all gone...plowed them off just like grass. Both of my feather dusters have been eaten as well. The tubes seem like they were eaten through and there seems to be no more worm inside. What is going on? I have tried looking at night but I have not been able to see anything. I did find a hugh brittle star that I never knew was in there...I dont know if it came off of the christmas tree rock that I just bought or has always been in there. Any ideas would be great. In my tank I have lots of crabs and snail (blue and red legs), a sally light foot, anemonie crab, peppermint shrimp, yellow tang, maroon clown, cinnamon clow, manderine goby, and orange spot goby. Thank you for any help.

 

[crazy4reefs]

i think the peppermint shrimp might have done it. i have heard of them eating feather dusters and polyps if they run out of food.
not positive though.

 

[fishy all the time]

I have also heard that peppermint shrimp can confuse yellow polyps for aptasia.

 

[jazzey]

if it's not your little p. shrimp then maybe you have a manits shrimp in your tank? I hope not though and if you do have one good luck getting that little devil out.
Jazzey

 

[fishy all the time]

You know the funny thing is, I hear this clicking noise a lot but I never can find anything. I look alll the time with a red light when the lights are out. Last weekend my fish tank stand let go at all 4 corners so I had to get the tank on a new sand. That ment I had to drain the water out and take out the rocks. I found lots of cool stuff that has been hiding in the rocks, including a big feather duster. I rearranged the rocks with the feather duster out and the tube is already eaten off. I am getting really frustrated. I am worried my christmas tree rock will be next My brown button polys, frog spawn, torch coral, brain, flower pot and shrooms are fine. There is one shrimp missing though. No snails or crabs seem to be missing and there are tons of slugs.

 

[bang guy]

I've never known a Mantis to eat any type of coral. You might well have a Mantis, but I don't think it's eating your polyps. The clicking could also be a harmless Pistol Shrimp.

 

[hunterdaddy]

Pistol shrimp are preadtors. They will kill and eat other shrimp and crabs. They use their pistol claw to stun the victim then lunch time.

 

[bang guy]

WOW! Have you seen that? That's new to me but I've only had a few. Do they actually hunt down other shrimp?

 

[birdy]

I just pulled my two peppermint shrimp because I saw them kill a new fish, then I added some hermits and snails and they immediately started trying to eat the hermits and snails, they are now in a holding tank awaiting trial . I had also seen them pestering my feather duster but they were never successful in killing it.

 

[nacl-h2o]

A mantis nor pistol shrimp would have eaten your yellow polyps, but Peppermint Shrimp are notorious for eating Feather dusters, Yellow polyps, Sea mat, Button polyps and many other Zoanthid type polyps. Peppermints are probably your problem.HTH

 

[mpgt]

Pistol (and mantis) shrimp have little hammer-like weapons they thump fish and inverts with. Their speed and accuracy make them very highly effective predators. Mantis shrimp have been reported to break thick aquarium glass. I saw a documentary which compared a pistol shrimp's little hammers to a .22 bullet (either speed or force, can't remember). Mantis shrimp have the most highly developed and far ranging (both ends of the light spectrum) eye sight in the animal kingdom. If you look closely, you can see a grid pattern on their eyes that lets them precisely pinpoint their prey.

 

[bang guy]

It's obvious Mantis are excellent predators, I've witnessed it! I'm skeptical about Pistol Shrimp being able to hunt. They are extremely skittish and have very poor eyesight. I know they are omnivores, I've seen them eat frozen scallops with relish. I've also seen them shoo Stomatella, hermits, and other snails out of their den unharmed. They were just picked up and deposited a few inches from the entrance, a few snaps to shoo them away, then back to the den. This isn't the action of a predator. But as I stated, I've only had a few so my experience is limited.

 

[fishy all the time]

Maybe it is the peppermint shrimp doing all of the harm. He comes out and eats foos sometimes in the morning when I dump it into the tank. I cant believe how many yellow polyps he ate all at once. What a pig. If I wanted to take him out how could I catch the dang thing. They are so fast and I never really see the thing?

 

[bang guy]

Start hand feeding it right after the light go out. Then one day 'swipe" with the net and he's gone.

 

[birdy]

I caught mine the first time I tried, I put a piece of shrimp in
a net and they went in the net to get it, and out they came!

 

[j21kickster]

Actually i saw a video about the pistol shrimp - it was cool to watch it kill the shrimp- the shrimp got close and the pistol snapped 3 times and the shock killed him and the pistol consumed him -so yes it is possible

 

[j21kickster]

that they can eat a shrimp that is

 

[goblinshark]

I know that this may sound strange but I had the same thing happen to me about 6 months ago when I still had the nano running. I had a peppermint shrimp in the tank and after I noticed that something was eating my button polyps with the green centers and I was missing a feather duster I caught the shrimp and gave it to my cuz and he put it in his fish with LR tank. Now here is the thing, the polyps kept getting munched on and I finally got so pissed off that I set up my camcorder to record the polyps for the duration of a tape. What I found was that a very large worm was eating the polyps and would also chomp on the near by dusters. I was told by Dr. Ron Shimek that he had never heard of it happening and that he had a bunch of these worms in his own tank without incident and others said the same. I ended up breaking the little 5 pound rock that it called home into about five or six smaller pieces and caught the worm which had been broken in half and put it in fresh water. I was told that if the worm were to break in two it would grow another head and become two worms. I now have a few of these worms in my bigger tank and I hope that they don't eat my polyps. The worm was not a bristle worm! I will add a link to a pic of a smaller version of the worm I caught (the small one was also in the nano). The polyps also grew back bigger and nicer so don't worry too much about the polyps being all munched on. There is also a link of the worm biting a bamboo skewer.
http://members.fishingworks.com/Gobl...vc00037400.jpg
http://members.fishingworks.com/Gobl...vc00032506.jpg
http://members.fishingworks.com/Gobl...vc00031896.jpg
http://members.fishingworks.com/Gobl...vc00026909.jpg http://members.fishingworks.com/Gobl...vc00033989.jpg

 

[j21kickster]

I constantly unpack live rock at my work and i see thoes worms come in all the time- i have heard of them being problems so i pick them off when i can.

 

[wamp]

Unlike the Mantis Shrimp, it is not harmful and will not pose any threat in the tank, with the possible exception of smaller shrimp.