help my star polyps are being mowed down

so i got star polyps the other day my 2nd coral ever. put them in the tank next day looked great, bright green colors,great flow patterns over the colony, looked awsome. today i woke up and half the colony was still retracted thought it could be just still getting acclimated only 3 days old. so whole day went on and i just noticed my pepperment shrimp mowing them down like grass. at this rate my whole colony should be gone by morning, so im hoping someone may have a trick on how to catch 1 nasty peppermint shrimp.....please..im going hunting tonight.

 

It may be OK

HI,
It may be ok. I have seen hermits crawling all over mine even my shrimp will groom them, they will retract due to contact for hours, if your water has any buffer added they may retract for days, so go slow don't worry too much there are plenty of possiable other things that can happen.
Doug

 

Peppermint shrimp have been known to pick at coral polyps so if you need to remove it, make yourself a trap:

Building Your Own DIY Fish Trap

Now, that being said, are you sure that you've got a peppermint shrimp and not a camel back shrimp? They do look similar and the camel back is a known coral eater.

 

if your trying to catch a shrimp in that fish trap tho make sure its on the bottom and has something he eats in it