Peppermint Shrimp Eaten...or Just a Molt

[jonboyb]

Came home today to find one of my Emerald Crabs walking around with what appears to be one of my peppermints in his claw. The peppermints have been in for a week+ and were very active, and assumably healthy. I don't see an emerald catching a peppermint (roadrunner vs. coyote metaphor) unless it was dead. I'm not seeing any meat, just shell. Any chance it's just a molt? While I can't locate both peppermints I have (not unusual), the one I can find seems fine and is actually hanging out a few inches from the emerald and peppermint remains

I really need the peppermint to finish off my little hard to reach aiptasias. If my emeralds are going to be eating them, then the emeralds will find themselves in my Mantis Shrimp tank as dinner...LOL

 

[roka64]

It could be a molt. Water parameters? How did you acclimate them?

 

[jonboyb]

SG 1.024
pH 8.2-8.4 (morning vs. night)
ammonia - 0
nitrItes - 0
nitrAtes - <5
kH - 9
temp 77-78
phospates, magnesium, calcium, etc. good too, but I doubt inverts really care. I know iodine plays a part in invert molting, but I do not have that test, nor would I be brave enough to dose iodine from what I've heard.

Drip acclimated for better than 2 hours. My LFS maintains the same parameters as me (or I should say I copied their temp, pH, and SG to ease acclimation)

 

[Caige]

My 2 emerald's killed and ate both my peppermints...

 

[pat8you]

Will be hard to say what happened to him. The molts look very much like the shrimp and its often hard to tell a dead shrimp from the molt. On the other hand emerald's are opportunistic feeders and may pick one off if it gets the chance. You will probably have better luck trying to find your peppermints at night though. I would wait till maybe an hour or so after the lights are out and see if you can put a little food on the bottom and go in with a flashlight and see if you can find them.

 

[jonboyb]

Tried several times overnight to find both shrimp but only caught a glimpse of 1. I'm not going to name my emerald as the culprit, although it sounds like he is the prime suspect Shrimp are not necessarily a "hearty" species anyways, and it could have just died. My emeralds are scared of their own shadows (I've seem amphipods send them scurrying away) and WELL fed. I've been supplementing my cleaner's diet with seaweed, pellets, and shrimp (other than the peppermint). Until I catch them in the act, or my other shrimp disappears, I guess I'll let'em stay.

This stinks though because I wanted to pick up my cleaner shrimp yesterday If my emeralds decide they prefer shrimp, I can't afford to feed them $30 cleaners.

 

[Mighty]

I have the same problem. I picked up two peppermints on Tuesday. Yesterday, I noticed a Nassarius snail going crazy over something. When I got the snail into the open, it looked like it was eating one of my shrimp. I didn't really see much color in the shell that it was latched on to, so I think it was just the molt, but I haven't been able to find more than one of the two.