This thing killed my acro!!!

uchiha · #1 04/29/2007, 10:53 PM

This week, I noticed a little bleaching in my green a. humilis (?), I finally got around to taking out the colony, and inspecting it. I managed to find this really weird looking clear larval crab/shrimp thing stuck in the branches.

I believe this is what was eating my acro, but I would like to be sure that it WAS this and not something else, which may overtake my tank.

This is what I lost:

Here are pics of the 1cm shrimp looking thing:
1

2

3

4

Any help will be greatly appreciated, as I mentioned above, I think it may be some sort of late-larval acro-eating crab???

Cpt Bob · #2 04/29/2007, 11:00 PM

cheeky bastard

uchiha · #3 04/29/2007, 11:02 PM

Yea, tell me about it... I consider myself lucky that i was even able to see and catch the thing, before it got to my other SPS colonies. Losing 1 piece is painful enough. I just want to be sure this was what caused it and not something else!

znut Reefer · #4 04/29/2007, 11:13 PM

I have heard of some shrimps (not sure what they are called)that do live in acros. Some also live inside clams. But I don't know if the one you have there is a friend or Foe?

ScallopKing · #5 04/30/2007, 12:05 AM

Ghost shrimp, friend.

uchiha · #6 04/30/2007, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ScallopKing
Ghost shrimp, friend.

As in FW ghost shrimp? This isn't one of those for sure...

ScallopKing · #7 04/30/2007, 12:37 AM

I've had them before and think one of my acros has one now. I was told it's a ghost shrimp. Who knows, I've never had any problems so far (knock on wood). Sorry about your loss, that was a nice looking coral.

celebrityovernight · #8 04/30/2007, 01:36 AM

hey uchiha, how long have you had that colony? is it a wild colony?

uchiha · #9 04/30/2007, 01:57 AM

It is a wild colony, I purchased it late last year (Oct/Nov?) and experienced a pretty bad brown-out phase. It colored up in January and has been doing rather well (intense green), great PE, and showing growth.

DarkXerox · #10 04/30/2007, 02:18 AM

Oh man, that is bizarre, I'd go over to the invert forum, maybe someone knows there.

Hows the tank lookin tho? I remember it from back on the N-R.com days.

dukes707 · #11 04/30/2007, 03:12 AM

thats the same thing that is living in my tricolor cerealis. i dont know what the thing is, but when i noticed it my colony had begun to brown out. i am gonna take him out just as a precaution. have talked to some fellow reefers in the area and they are just as baffeled as i am. if you find out anything, or get an id on the lil guy keep us posted. i'll keep searching on my end too. later

Ventralis321 · #12 04/30/2007, 05:47 AM

I believe its a squat lobster of some kind. They feed off the mucus on sps. The ones i've seen feed on pocillopora.

dukes707 · #13 04/30/2007, 06:37 AM

any ideas, good or bad?

fijiblue · #14 04/30/2007, 07:38 AM

Ventralis321 is right...more of a lobster than a shrimp. There has been no reports of them harming acros in which they dwell in. However, just like there are bad acro crabs, im willing to bet a bad one of these shows up every now and then.

uchiha · #15 04/30/2007, 01:59 PM

Thanks to all who replied... so it does look like this bugger was the cause of tissue recession; I just got really unlucky. If you guys find one of these, get rid of it ASAP! Better be safe than sorry. Thanks again for the info guys.

DaddyJax · #16 04/30/2007, 03:29 PM

Wow, that sucks! Did you dip the coral back when you first got it? I am suprised that it would live through a dip!

uchiha · #17 04/30/2007, 04:50 PM

Yea, coral was dipped when I first got it... it must've slipped past my scrutiny, it's really hard to see, such a tiny little bugger. I have to point out, I lost half of my pocillopora colony before losing this humilis... it occured one after the other (not simultaneously). Luckily, the pocillopora recovered and has stopped recession of tissue; the humilis wasn't as lucky. The other SPS in my tank are doing just great, and I'm not observing any more bleaching in my tank after removing the critter.

Goodwood · #18 05/02/2007, 03:20 AM

I had one living in a coral once too, just get a flame hawk they love them.

05Xrunner · #19 05/03/2007, 11:57 AM

MAN...I noticed one of my little acros starting to get a dead spot..i picked it up and looked and that little dude fell out in the water. I tried to grab it with my hand and he went down to the sand..I also started smashing the sand there hopeing to maybe smush it. I dipped all my acros already in lugols before. I guess its time to do another dip to make sure its not on there