I think I have a mantis...HEEEELP!!!

[alrha]

that is a beautiful tang - enjoy it!

 

[Dmitry]

She looks gorgeous in photos; I hope she makes it!!

 

[alrha]

just keep her away from the sushi chef hiding in there.

 

[Dmitry]

One more Chromis down...!

 

[nanoreefer22]

Wow...Dmitry that reallys gotta suck.

 

[Dmitry]

There's definitely something in there, even if I have neither seen nor heard it. I think I have two solutions: let it eat everything and starve it out. Or take everything apart. I tend to lean towards the latter. because I really don't want to lose my remaining Clown, Angelfish, and upcoming Tang..but it'll be a logistical nightmare to do all that on my own again. Grrr!!! Why did I sign up for this again??

 

[nanoreefer22]

Hehehe....dont stress it Dmitry...something happens to everyone sometime. Just try to pin point where the little killer is at then maybe you could target that certain rock of section of the tank. How is everything else in the tank looking?

 

[Dmitry]

That's the thing: I haven't seen anything or heard anything so it's impossible to narrow it down where that damned thing is. If I knew which rock he was in things would be soooo much easier!! But they never are and it's getting kind of discouraging. :-(

 

[nanoreefer22]

arghhh that sucks. Seen any dead fish? or bones or something?

 

[Dmitry]

The only dead fish I saw was one of the Chromises as the Skunk Shrimp was trying to eat it. I got it out of the tank. No one else. And the Chromis that disappeared last night, and the Clown before it, were very active and eating, etc. So...I doubt they were sick. (Though I'm not a fish-doctor.) It just doesn't make any sense!!!! And then if I take all the rocks out and drop them in super-salty water...and find nothing. Then what?! Ugh!

 

[House of Laughter]

take it apart and stop the madness.

House

 

[nanoreefer22]

take it apart and stop the madness.

House

Yea I think I'd do that too.....cause your probably gonna keep on losing fish like this.

 

[Dmitry]

Yeah, I'm sure I am. Well, almost sure. I did a night vigil for a few hours last night with some bait on a net (clelverly thinking I'd be able to catch it, or at least see something), but nothing. Saw nothing, heard nothing strange. But the mind does play tricks on you where every minute I thought: there it is! No. There it is! No. All I caught was a nassirius snail. He's back in the tank. I'll try again for a few hours tonight. Otherwise...Tuesday during the day will be the day. If anyone finds themselves bored, come on over! We can go a'shrimp huntin'!

 

[Dmitry]

All my trap caught last night were 9 silly nassirius snails. It took me half an hour to get them out of there with a tweezer at 3:30am! Sheesh!

I was talking to Steve last night and he thought it very strange that if there's a Mantis in there that I haven't seen it. (Also, wondered if a Mantis could eat that much fish in such a short period of time.) He wondered about any stray voltage in there. (I don't have a thingy to measure that). But...today I discovered one of my power-heads wasn't working, so I took it out...and discovered that the in-take nozzle was turned so far to one side that it was actually loose/open. But the PH was plugged in. Would electricity have been leaking because of this? I've had my hands in the tank and didn't feel anything, but then I'm not a fish. Any thoughts? I have no idea how long the PH has been this way.

 

[House of Laughter]

D,

if you are using powerheads, then you are definately inorducing stray volts into the system. How much, I am not sure and whether or not the dead pump caused the issues will remain a mystery. I would test and test again.

Sometime this week, we need to move on the fish, so keep me abreast.

House

 

[Dmitry]

The "dead" pump had to do something, I think. It was plugged into electricity, but not "working" because the motor was disconnected. All that electricity had to go somewhere...

 

[pmui]

Dmitry,

did you ever find the dead fish? looked behind the tank? if the fish died, i would think the Nass. snail may have eaten the body. Have you checked the filter and sump?

Peter

 

[Dmitry]

Nope, in all this time only found one fish in the tank - as it was being eaten by a Skunk Shrimp. Since yesterday morning the last of the Chromises vanished! So all I have left in there is a Clown, Coral Beauty (who doesn't seem to avoid any area of the rockwork), Skunk Shrimp, and a bunch of hermits/nassirius/turbos. I sat in front of the tank for an hour last night and didn't see anyone walking around except the Skunk. So...I still don't know what's going on. I guess I'll be breaking down all the rocks this week and putting each rock into a super-salty water (just how salty should it be, by the way??) to see if anyone comes out. That'll be a major pain in the butt, but how else to avoid it? Grrr!

 

[Deanos]

I guess I'll be breaking down all the rocks this week and putting each rock into a super-salty water (just how salty should it be, by the way??) to see if anyone comes out. That'll be a major pain in the butt, but how else to avoid it? Grrr!

Dmitry, I posted 2 links in the beginning of this thread addressing the ways to catch & remove a mantis shrimp. :sigh1:

 

[Dmitry]

Thanks Deanos! I've tried the bottle method, but only managed to catch a bunch of nassirius snails and pep shrimp. It's like the darned thing isn't even in there! If I had seen it at least I'd know what I was dealing with, but I'm really just kind of assuming that's what's going on. And that's why I keep going in circles with no resolution and am so reluctant to break down the rockwork in the tank. The only "evidence" is missing fish, which could have been eaten by others in the tank. I'm just not sure of the cause of death and have not seen a culprit. I'll try a trap again tonight...but have no hope!