Help - what caused new Micromussa to die overnight?

[Pau Hana Reefer]

I bought an aquacultured Micromussa ultra lord coral last week, arrived via mail last Friday. It looked like it was doing fine this past week even up until last night... then today, it was nothing but a skeleton.

I'm puzzled about how it went from being full of polyps last night to being a bare skeleton today. I read of other's experiences where acans and micromussas were eaten by peppermint shrimp or hermit crabs (I have both). Anyone have any experiences like this or have any ideas what could have caused this to happen?

My water parameters taken tonight:
Salinity - 1.025
pH - 8.3
Nitrates - trace
Phosphates - 0
Alk - 7.504
Calcium - 480

Thanks in advance for any help and guidance.

 

[Retro Reefer]

Peppermint shrimps are famous for this, very unlikely It was your hermits

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Peppermint shrimps are famous for this, very unlikely It was your hermits

Thanks for confirming @Retro Reefer .

Is there anything I can do to keep this from happening again (other than getting rid of the peppermint shrimps)? And do they eat any other corals?

 

[Retro Reefer]

IMO peppermints are not suitable for a reef tank, they will aggravate many corals especially at feeding time.

 

[Leadfooted]

Remove the peppermints , use the DIY plastic bottle trap , don’t want another night.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

IMO peppermints are not suitable for a reef tank, they will aggravate many corals especially at feeding time.

Thanks again. I now wonder how many other other corals (all LPS) they killed over the past year.

 

[sixty_reefer]

There’s also the possibility that they have been starved for a wile or close proximity with another coral that could have stung it.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Remove the peppermints , use the DIY plastic bottle trap , don’t want another night.

Thanks @Leadfooted . I just looked up that trap and looks simple enough to do. I'm definitely going to do that today. I just need to go out and buy a soda. Lol.

What size bottle works best? Any suggestions for best bait?

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

There’s also the possibility that they have been starved for a wile or close proximity with another coral that could have stung it.

Thanks @sixty_reefer . I wondered if that was a cause too. Would this cause a frag go from having all its polyps one day to bare skeleton overnight?

 

[sixty_reefer]

Thanks @sixty_reefer . I wondered if that was a cause too. Would this cause a frag go from having all its polyps one day to bare skeleton overnight?

if the coral was starving you would see some signs first, colour lost and some flesh. If stug by another coral is well possible to lose all it’s flesh in a matter of hours. What other corals have you got in a 8in range from that coral location?

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

if the coral was starving you would see some signs first, colour lost and some flesh. If stug by another coral is well possible to lose all it’s flesh in a matter of hours. What other corals have you got in a 8in range from that coral location?

Good to know. I have a small single head grape coral.

 

[ScottR]

I noticed that peppermints like any new LPS added to my tank. I’ve tried feeding them larger meals to keep them full and it doesn’t work. Lost many heads of acans and others. Tried the bottle trap and they are scared to go in. So I took some tongs with a cube of frozen in one hand. Peppermints went straight for it and I had scissors in the other hand. Cut in half. Was hard to do but I can’t have them eating corals

 

[sixty_reefer]

Good to know. I have a small single head grape coral.

Bubble coral has the ability to do that, several stories on the internet.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Sexy shrimp if have no shrimp eating fish are very entertaining to watch. Will not hurt a coral.
I have also had zero issues with pom pom crabs eating a coral. There is a post of one stealing a bta on here, but if have no anemones their hands are a bit full to eat a coral.
Coral banded shrimp for me have been reef safe, but i stick to the smaller yellow ones, as can get large and closer related to a lobster than a shrimp, so if have smaller fish always that slight chance.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

I noticed that peppermints like any new LPS added to my tank. I’ve tried feeding them larger meals to keep them full and it doesn’t work. Lost many heads of acans and others. Tried the bottle trap and they are scared to go in. So I took some tongs with a cube of frozen in one hand. Peppermints went straight for it and I had scissors in the other hand. Cut in half. Was hard to do but I can’t have them eating corals

Thanks @ScottR. I read of others having a tough time catching them (including the plastic bottle trap). I'll consider this as last resort. Hate the thought of killing a living thing... but if they are in fact killing my corals, they gotta go!

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

Bubble coral has the ability to do that, several stories on the internet.

Awesome... so this is a possibility too then. Because come to think of it, the two other frags I lost over the past several months were within 6-10 inches of this one.

Will bubble/grape coral take out other euphyllia too?

 

[Fishy212]

Peppermint shrimps go after zoas as well. Could not figure it out for a long time until one night I used a flashlight and literally saw one ripping at one. A lot of people and especially online vendors state that they are reef safe... but I guess they might have had an anomaly.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Awesome... so this is a possibility too then. Because come to think of it, the two other frags I lost over the past several months were within 6-10 inches of this one.


Will bubble/grape coral take out other euphyllia too?

yeah, found this video on tube so that you can have an idea of what’s happening wend lights go off

 

[piranhaman00]

Same thing happened to my acans, removed peppermint shrimp and it stopped.

 

[ScottR]

Thanks @ScottR. I read of others having a tough time catching them (including the plastic bottle trap). I'll consider this as last resort. Hate the thought of killing a living thing... but if they are in fact killing my corals, they gotta go!

I had someone mention once to get a red net. I in fact did. It’s called an infrared net.... supposedly they can’t see red but anyway, still couldn’t catch them. But it’s an 8” net which is too big anyway.