Shrimp eating mushroom

[tippytango]

So, one of my favorite mushrooms, a big, healthy blue/purple discosoma, is officially my fire shrimps favorite snack. It is now reduced to the size of a nickel, shriveled up with some blackening. I’m contemplating giving away the shrimp.
I’ve read some threads saying fire shrimps will only eat corals that are dying… I’m thinking maybe this doesn’t apply to mushrooms? This mushroom was definitely not dying but rather thriving forsure.
Over the past week I’ve put extra effort to make sure the shrimp is getting plenty of food and I actually thought the blue mushroom was making a comeback. But yesterday evening and this morning, I again witnessed the shrimp picking away at the mushroom. No, not cleaning it, actually picking at the shroom itself.
I have basically come to hate this shrimp. But I’d feel a little guilty getting rid of it because my daughter likes it a lot.
Anyways… anyone else have this issue before? I suppose if I give him away I will instead get a watchmen/pistol pair.
Thanks!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Generally not nature of fire or any shrimp
Are you sure it’s not going after uneaten food?

 

[Bombschell]

I had a cleaner shrimp that I think caused the death of my favorite micromussa colony by snatching food out of it's mouths. I think it damaged the coral causing an infection or something I could not stop even with multiple dips and at that point the shrimp would obviously run over there and start picking at it again.

 

[tippytango]

Generally not nature of fire or any shrimp
Are you sure it’s not going after uneaten food?

No I don’t think he’s eating uneaten food. I see him grazing on my red discosomas for food but this is different with the blue one. Here is an example of what happens to the mouth after he attacks it (this happened this morning). it’s like the mouth gets all bubbled up and irritated/inverted. It does recover and go back to looking normal… but clearly the overall mushroom is severely struggling. And it all started with the shrimp attacking it. I do believe it first started after a fed reef roids… I know I squirted too much in the direction of the blue mushroom and the shrimp got to cleaning it all up. But then it got more aggressive and it has continued with just that blue mushroom for 2-3 weeks now. (I don’t let any extra food go on that shroom now). Before that reef roid feeding, the blue mushroom was BIG and beautiful!

so ya, I don’t know what to do. I could just let the abuse continue on. I think the mushroom is trying to recover but can’t with the ongoing attacks

 

[MarshallB]

Do you focus feed your shrimp? In my experience if I dont give it a chunk of food when I feed it will start checking nearby coral for easy food to find. They will dig into the mouth if need be to get it too.

 

[tippytango]

Do you focus feed your shrimp? In my experience if I dont give it a chunk of food when I feed it will start checking nearby coral for easy food to find. They will dig into the mouth if need be to get it too.

I think I got a little lazy focus feeding it before the bad behavior started. I thought he was getting plenty of leftovers. I am trying harder to get him enough food now…. Maybe that will be the solution. Thanks!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I would place shroom in an acclimation box to heal

 

[damsels are not mean]

If the shrimp wants to eat mushrooms you'd expect it not to stop at just the one. I am leaning towards this being a dying coral or it trying to snatch food and irritating the coral. Mushrooms do that stringy stuff when they get really stressed or irritated but I have never seen one not recover from such a state, and I had a tank full of em. It's possible the coral got sick or something and it's possible it captured something you fed to the tank and the shrimp was hungry.