Ahh...3 fish in the past month!!!Help!

[bluegirl]

I top off whenever I notice a drop in the water line, which is about every 4-5 days b/c it is a completely closed top system. I top off with RO/DI fresh water and test the salinity 2 hrs after top off. My test kit says 0 nitrates, until today at least.
Ok, lfs used a refractometer (man, I gotta get one of those) and my SG reading was 1.026 their's was 1.024 so a little difference. The test though came out the same on everything.
ph 8.4
nitrites 0
nitrates 20
ammonia 0.50
So I would think that rules out a faulty test kit, and my hydrometer being wayyyy off. The lfs, suggested getting rid of my bristleworms, though I don't think that is the problem. I wonder if it's a mantis.... :thinking:

 

[lion_crazz]

There has to be some kind of aggressive hitch hiker in there I would think then. I have never experienced a problem with bristleworms and I have a ton of them. Do you ever hear any kind of weird noise coming from your tank, like a clicking sound?
And yes, I love my refractometer. They are so easy to use and so accurate.

 

[bluegirl]

No clicking noises that I've noticed. I do have alot of brave bristleworms, they come out when I feed especially. Would a manis bother my shrimp? My poor watchman goby, Clyde, I just hope he survives. I'm gonna make a trap out of a 20oz. bottle and see what I catch.

 

[lion_crazz]

Yeah a mantis would attack a shrimp when the mantis gets hungry and runs out of things to eat.
I hope your goby is okay too. Clyde is the name of my engineer goby

 

[tizzo]

Yeah, in the old days they believed bristles were bad cause when you looked at your dead fish and saw bristles, immediately they were blamed. After researching further, it is now known that a bristle will not kill fish but it will eat it's dead carcass, which is why they are very a beneficial part of the clean up crew. Even the ones you hear about that are bad (fireworms) eat corals, not fish. Not live fish anyway. If you wanna reduce your bristles, reduce your feedings and you will starve them out of your tank. Good luck finding the culprit, this gotta be frustrating!! Oh and yes a mantis will also go after a shrimp. But an isopod will not.

 

[bluegirl]

Thanks guys for all of the imput! I'm gonna try to trap whatever it is. I just hope that I catch it, I want to add another fish but I'm gonna wait until I find out what it is.