Killer Cleaner Shrimp... WTF

[pEEshEE]

My 2 friggin cleaner shrimp decide to go to town on my Duncans. :batangel:I thought nothing of it the first time I saw it a few days ago, thinking they were just picking some food or whatnot. Then last night, I see the Duncans completely closed with a film of jelly over them. I guess that's either their defense mechanism, or their guts are flowing out...

Anyway, I'm selling these damn shrimp just as soon as I can catch them... I can't afford to have the same thing happen with the acans!

I transferred the Duncans to my pico at work, to see if they'll recover without any critters bothering them. It looks like 1 head is completely gone, but the other 3 might make it. Fingers are crossed.

Anyone else have similar experiences? Any resolutions short of getting rid of the cleaner shrimp? Bastards did the same thing to one of my newly acquired palythoas... what the freak, man?

 

[Dace]

John i don't think cleaners could harm the Duncan's unless it was starting to die and they started to pick at it then. You know thats there job to eat up anything that's not healthy. i never seen an cleaner harm a acan either. i have 15 cleaners in my 180 and some are XXL and never had a problem. Maybe the Duncan was dying. Hope they recuperate at you job.

 

[pEEshEE]

John i don't think cleaners could harm the Duncan's unless it was starting to die and they started to pick at it then. You know thats there job to eat up anything that's not healthy. i never seen an cleaner harm a acan either. i have 15 cleaners in my 180 and some are XXL and never had a problem. Maybe the Duncan was dying. Hope they recuperate at you job.

That was my initial reaction too... But those Duncans were fed well, and were always extended ever since I got them. This makes me think of the time when the shrimp, one day about 2 weeks ago, picked at the Duncans because there was some Mysis shrimp inside, which caused the Duncans to close up for the whole day... I saw this and wondered to myself if it would be a problem... but everything seemed normal until yesterday.

Maybe b/c I didn't feed the fish in a day or two, the shrimp got hungry and decided to check out if there was anything in the Duncans? It sounds like a stretch, but like I said before, I'm not taking any chances... they did the same thing to the Cyclopes palys I bought from zoafrag! They just started picking at it until it was no more.:eat:

 

[yiliyang]

How you gonna catch the cleaner shrimps? That is the hard part. You can make a bunch of money if you have a fool proof way of catching them.

My cleaner take food out of the stomach of my anemone. He is unstoppable. Good luck at catching yours. Please post how you are able to catch them after you are done.

Good luck.

 

[pEEshEE]

How you gonna catch the cleaner shrimps? That is the hard part. You can make a bunch of money if you have a fool proof way of catching them.

My cleaner take food out of the stomach of my anemone. He is unstoppable. Good luck at catching yours. Please post how you are able to catch them after you are done.

Good luck.

Worse comes to worst, I'll have to take out all the rock! It's only a 20g, but still a pain... I'll spend a few hours taking these menaces out than chancing them killing another expensive piece. :letitallo

Unless, anyone's got any cool ideas they'd like to share? :idea: Greatly appreciated.

 

[Liz]

:biggrin:Cleaner shrimp are thorough, perfect on their art of "cleaning", I have had my guy for almost a year and he picks only when it is feeding time. :scratchchMaybe he is bored and needs more room to play?

GOOD LUCK catching them!

 

[pEEshEE]

:biggrin:Cleaner shrimp are thorough, perfect on their art of "cleaning", I have had my guy for almost a year and he picks only when it is feeding time. :scratchchMaybe he is bored and needs more room to play?

GOOD LUCK catching them!

Thanks... I agree with that statement as well. This may sound crazy, but the troubles started when I adopted a very tiny cleaner shrimp from a friend when he broke his tank down... I already had a decent sized cleaner shrimp in there that was a perfect model citizen. But it seems like the little one taught the bigger one some bad habits... stealing food. :smash:

You're right though... they probably need more room to play. They're going crazy in there.:frown:

 

[Dace]

:scratchchMaybe he is bored and needs more room to play?

Very true, way to go soon to be mod :biggrin:

 

[pEEshEE]

Liz, is that a minpin in your avatar? Cute. I have a Red one... just had his 7th b-day.:party:

 

[cali_reef]

Interceptor will get rid of the cleaner shrimps for you.

 

[Dace]

Interceptor will get rid of the cleaner shrimps for you.

no you bum, that's not nice.lol if you need help getting him out I'll help you. don't kill the little guys. shame on you pierce. I was going to visit you to help you remove all your over grown acros and give them a home in my tank, But now I'm not going to.........:biggrin:

 

[bad coffee]

dude, if you're not smart enough to catch a cleaner in a 20. . .

Get a big net and put food in it. when the shrimp comes to check it out scoop him up.

B

 

[pEEshEE]

Interceptor will get rid of the cleaner shrimps for you.

I didn't want to say... :approve: lol... but I was thinking that after seeing my $80 Duncans on the verge of death, I was ready to destroy :skull:


Pierce, I still got that chalice piece for ya.

 

[Awibrandy]

Sorry to hear pEEshEE! Hope the duncan recovers quickly.:hug:

 

[cali_reef]

I didn't want to say... :approve: lol... but I was thinking that after seeing my $80 Duncans on the verge of death, I was ready to destroy :skull:

Thats what I was thinking of too.

 

[pEEshEE]

Update, Duncan's are dead... was about to put them in my tank at work, but the smell upon opening the bag was unbearable. Damn u shrimp! Damn u!!!!

 

[deelucky]

damn thats messed up,sorry to hear bro,do i hear shrimp cocktail,ill bring the sauce.

 

[Deanos]

Was it a brown jelly? Brown jelly disease is a quick & common LPS killer. :dead1:

My cleaner shrimp constantly harass my duncanopsammia without permanent harm. I'd look elsewhere to place blame.

 

[pEEshEE]

Hmm... very possible. But it was a clear/white film covering the entire coral. I thought it might have been stung by something, but I don't think the tentacles from my acans are long enough, and the PPE weren't in reach.

If it was brown jelly, are there new ways to combat or prevent it from taking over all LPS in my tank? I've read there's no cure...

 

[Dace]

I'd look elsewhere to place blame.

Very True. Don't worry i got you covered.