Shrimp Eating Away Acro Tissue

[Mellow]

hi all,

this is urgent!!! just noticed a small white patch on my acro. and i realised that there is some peppermint shrimp look alike living between the branches. it looks alot like a peppermint shrimp( shape wise) except that it's almost translucent and green which really blended in with my acro. really worried that it might belong to the same family as the peppermint shrimps and are eating away my acro tissues(which i suspect it is doing now). Any idea what is that?? and who knows how to remove them??? just as my acro is starting to encrust over the rock and grow, this has to happen...help!!! tried to suck it out while changing water just now but not working...

[SpiderOne]

dun think this is the cause of your problem. it should be a pistol. they are commonly found in acros and i had a pair that fit the description u provided that used to live in my table..... before i dropped it

[Mellow]

Hi spider,

thanks for the help..oh..pistol..haha..weird name. so that means the pistol isn't the one doing the damage izzit??? that's good! hmm...but is there a possibility that, because there are also 2 small crabs living in the colony, they shade off that particular area of the acro, causing it to turn white? my water parameters are ok...so dun think it's because of my water

nitrate: 5

nitrite/ammonia: 0

calcium: 420

dKH: 8

temperature: 26-28

lighting: 10000k 250w 13" above my 3 feet tank... the acro is about 6 inches below the water surface. directly under my MH

[SpiderOne]

the crabs cant possibly stay in the same area all the time.. so i dun think it will be blocking off too much light..maybe u got bad attitude crabs. almost every single acro colony i've owned has come with these porcelain crabs or pistols. unless its a hairy crab . shld be alright. if by any chance u know u have a hairy crab in your tank get rid of it asap.will harm the acro

your paras look ok .

[Mellow]

ok...great!!! any pics of a hairy crab? i know most acros comes with a resident crap..but i can't really tell the difference between a porcelain crab and a hairy one? porcelain crabs got no hair on it at all izzit? i've got a crab which has alot of tiny hairs on it. could it be the culprit? how to catch it out if it is? tweezer??

[SpiderOne]

Porcelain=smooth shell

hairy = hairy

many tiny hair?? get rid of it asaP!!

[Mellow]

Forgot to ask...by the way, how does a hairy crap damage the acro? it eats away the tissue on the acro izzit? thanks for all the help...

[SpiderOne]

i cant remember. i think it was polyp by polyp.

[Mellow]

ok. good news!!! i've just caught the crab, spidy...but i still need a confirmation. are the tips of the pincers of a hairy crab black? the shell looks abit rough when i took it out of the water..could be the hair that makes it look rough.

[SpiderOne]

put it back in the water. and look at it. why dont u juz release it back into the sea. better safe than sorry

[Mellow]

yah...i laid it to rest already..haha...fed it to my brother's fresh water fish.... decided not to take any chances and since that crab is highly likely to be the one causing the damage...the green shrimp( pistol) and the other crab( porcelain crab) are definitely not the ones, as u've told me..so left with the last crab..thanks alot for your help again.

[sherman]

ok. good news!!! i've just caught the crab, spidy...but i still need a confirmation. are the tips of the pincers of a hairy crab black? the shell looks abit rough when i took it out of the water..could be the hair that makes it look rough.

Hi,

How u do it?Trap???

[Mellow]

nope..was pretty sure i wouldn't be able to catch it hiding in the acro colony last night...but this morning it went to my other acro frags...so i just removed the whole frag which hasnt encrusted over the rock and removed it...lucky huh!!!

[Dispar_Anthias]

Porcelain=smooth shell

hairy = hairy

many tiny hair?? get rid of it asaP!!

Ah talking about crab wonder if anyone of you went to ML few months ago and get a crab known as teddy bear crab from there. Man it cost $45 but it look cute