ugh, I think I'm gonna remove all my LR

[jandree22]

This has gone far enough. My snails and bivalves have been fine, but one Occelaris clown has gone MIA about a month ago, a cleaner has gone MIA about a week ago, and now my other Ocellaris looks like he's on the verge of death(listless, wont eat, swimming in a different corner than usual, some kinda wound on his back stripe, and his rear fin has 3 small tears).

There has been clicking in my tank but it's usually in groups of two.... i don't ever think there were more than that in one shot. Also, my snails appear to be fine. I do, however, have some kinda small crab in there, probably about 2" in diamater. I appears to eat off of the LR whenever I see him, but I'm doubting his friendliness of late. Right now all I have in there are 3 green chromis and the sick Clown.... and a bunch of snails. I also have 3 urchins that I'm going to remove. I'm just gonna take all my LR out and FW dip it all to get rid of whatever is seemingly killing my fish and shrimp. I'm sick of questioning whether or not I have a mantis so I'm gonna give this a go.

What tips do you guys have for me to go ahead with this? I have a small rock with Ricordia on it, what should I do with that?

Thanks

 

[taikonaut]

Try trap first, or see if you can find out where it/they are hiding and remove only that rock.

 

[Anonymous]

Yikes! 8O


Don't be so drastic. I wouldn't freshwater dip my rock...it'll kill good things as well as bad.


So far, you only mentioned one dead clown, one dead cleaner, and a sick clown....I've had tons of fish and shrimp and snails die in my tank and I don't think any of them were killed by a mantis.

The clown that died probably died of whatever is killing the other clown. If a mantis ot a crab got him, then the other clown wouldn't be sick.

The cleaner could have died of anything. Shrimp are pretty delicate and they don't have very long lifespans. If you had him as an adult, he could have died of old age. He could have been stressed by something. The 2" crab could have gotten him durring a molt.


My whole point is that you should explore other options before taking the drastic step of dipping all of your rock in freshwater.

 

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't remove anything.......just let nature take its course...wait a few weeks then purchase a Lionfish. Just my opinion.

 

[jandree22]

i guess I'll make an attempt for the crab first and see what happens. thankfully he has a pretty regular spot so I can probably catch him.

what should I do with the urchins that I remove from my tank and the crab if I can get him?

(BTW: I'm removing the urchins for a completely different reason. They're gobbling up my coralline :roll: )

 

[Juck]

My money is definitely on the crab,, they can move real quick when they want to and a sleeping fish is an easy target.

Seems a shame to mess up such a nice tank.

 

[taikonaut]

what should I do with ...the crab if I can get him?

quote]
see
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=44014

 

[shr00m]

whats he look like, ive got a brown crab with black claws that i suspect may like to eat fish, my clown one time had a gash on his side... he has since recovered, but i know theres a small brown hitchhiker crab a little bigger than a mithrax... but hes brown with black claws, he lives in one rock... i thin i should prolly take him out too.

 

[jandree22]

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=44014

:lol: :roll:

 

[Anonymous]

I would take all crabs out of the tank and back to the lfs.

Jandree22,

What are your water params?

Chris

 

[jandree22]

I saw the trap you can make for Mantis' that involves cutting the top off a spring water bottle then reinserting it upside down. Would the crab be attracted if i tried to make one of those? I would have to make it big enogh to fit in, of course....

as far as my water params, to be honest I'm not sure. I havn't tested in a while. But the tank is established, I dose Kalkwasser, I make bi-weekly water changes religiously, and I'm running a skimmer. They SHOULD be somewhat okay. I will def check though.

 

[Anonymous]

If you're losing anything, especially shrimp, you should check all water perameters right away. including calcium...shrimp can die in a molt without enough available calcium to hardn up properly.

Put the crab in your sump if you don't want to smash it.


I just throw stuff I don't want in the bay, but you don't have that option. :lol:

 

[jandree22]

I thought Iodine was the most imp. element during a molt?

BTW, the Susquehanna River's just a hop, skip, and a jump away....

 

[shr00m]

mithrax crabs are cool and never bother my fish, great addition to any tank.

 

[Juck]

I've had Mithrax crabs kill fish and eat Monti polyps,,, 'great addition to any tank' they ain't ,, well,, not all of them.

 

[hdtran]

The bottle trap will theoretically catch crabs. I've also heard about putting a glass jar near the crab. They slide in, and can't slide out (in theory).

I've found that if you put some bait on the substrate near the crab after lights out, the crab will wander out to look for it, and you can net him/her.

Unless you've actually seen the mantis, I would doubt the mantis killer theory. I've got a mantis hitchhiker, which seems to love to attack pods (whew...). Hasn't gone after anything larger than a pod yet.

Let me know how you move your urchin. Mine seems to like to stick to things, and I don't want to hurt my fingers...

Sorry, I can't help with identifying what has been killing your poor critters, though.

 

[jandree22]

holy crap, I caught the crab! 8O I was pretty easy actually. I saw him on a piece of rock near the back of the tank munchin on my LR. I stood there and pondered how I should *try* to get him, because I've seen how fast the suckers can make a retreat back into the maze of rock. I realized I wasn't clever enough to think of anything so I just reached in and started moving rocks outa the way. I got to the rock he was on and as I pulled it out I realized the crab just kinda locked on and froze in place, probably his defense mechanism so he wouldn't be seen. Pulled the rock out and nudged him into a bucket with a lil water and voila! Now all I gotta do is pluck out my 3 urchins and I'm set. I talked to my LFS tonight and he said he'd take everything off my hands.

hdtran,
I have Coralife aquarium glovesthat are super thick around the hands. I'm sure they're stop the barbs from making contact with my skin. Since you probably don't have them maybe you could try those yellow rubber gloves used for washing dishes? I'm kinda curious though, how strong their suction will be. I'll fill you in as soon as I make an attempt to remove them.... which'll probably be later tonight. :wink:

 

[jandree22]

here's a pic of the bugger. compare him to the crab at the very top of the pic on TBS's crab page....looks awefully similar :roll:

FYI: all that crap in the bucket is just kicked up sand from moving the rocks in the display :wink:

Here it is....

TBS Crabs....

 

[hdtran]

Red variety of Emerald Mithrax (Mithrax sculptus).

Do a search either here or on reefcentral. Emerald mithraxes apparently come, not only in green, but in red (sort of like chiles and Christmas...)

I've still got quite a few in my tank (whenever one is stupid enough to wander out near dark, and I manage to grab it, it's off to see the octopus...)

 

[K9coral]

When u catch that sucker, rip his claws out 1 @ a time .lol then set him free in a freshwater pond....