Help! I think something is attacking my fish.

acrid

acrid

Member
So I have had this maroon clown for about a month. Up until yesterday, he had an anemone that he loved & never left it. Yesterday & today he has had to actually swim around the tank.
This morning I noticed a chunk was missing out of his top front fin. I thought maybe he had just caught it on some rocks, because he was staying under this rock ledge & kept brushing against it. A few hours ago, I noticed he is now missing a chunk out of his bottom fin. So I now doubt the scraping against rocks theory.


What could possibly be attacking my fish? I doubt I have any unknown hitchhiker crabs or shrimp. My LR was uncured and shipped via 2 (or maybe 3) day mail, and when I received it I gave it a good scrubbing & inspection. I do have lots of cool deep caves though.
I added a purple firefish to the tank today. But like I said, this morning the first chunk was missing so it is not the new fish doing the damage. My current theory is either my peppermint or cleaner shrimp is the culprit. Is this completely ridiculous? What do you think?
 
skipperdz

skipperdz

Active Member
what inhabitants do you have besides the fire fish and the maroon clown? this has happened to my maroon to but i had a coral banded shrimp, while in a close quarters tank. once i upgraded to 55g it stopped happening
 
acrid

acrid

Member
It is a 65 gallon tank. The only fish are the maroon clown & the purple firefish. I have a peppermint shrimp, a cleaner shrimp, 2 emerald crabs, a tiny red crab, and about 1 hermit or snail for every gallon.
Only the 2 shrimps have been able to get close enough to the fish to actually touch it.
Maybe it is just him scraping against the rocks. But I wouldn't have thought so...
 
rtspeed

rtspeed

Member
if his fins start to get shredded more and cut up, i would start looking for a mantis or gorilla
 
acrid

acrid

Member
Oh no! That is not what I want to hear (but was half expecting)!
Could either of those survive out of water for 3 days? How small could they be and yet still do damage? Like, could it be teeny tiny, or is it something you would definitely notice?
Like I said, last night was the first night the fish didn't sleep with the anemone. But if I had a predator in the tank, I would have thought I'd lose some hermits or even snails before it would start attacking a fish. And I haven't seen any shells lying around anywhere...
 
acrid

acrid

Member
Well, so this morning there is a tiny piece missing from his back fin. And the top fin looks a little more ragged as well.
I spent an hour last night looking in the tank with my red camera filter taped onto a flashlight, but I didn't see any evil critters. The fish really backs himself deep into the rock, so I am not ruling out that this damage could just being from that. But I am wondering if that is common at all, for fish to tear their fins on the rocks...
 
mcbdz

mcbdz

Active Member
Yes crabs and mantis shrimp can make it and hide well. Do you hear any clicking noise coming from your tank?
 
A

azul1994

Guest
Do you know the exact species of your "tiny red crab". Many crabs are not reef safe.
 
acrid

acrid

Member
No clicking noises... And I doubt the red crab is the culprit, his claws are itty bitty. There is a picture of him here.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/314974/stock-list-advice-please
 
sk8shorty01

sk8shorty01

Active Member
Are that crabs claws pointed or rounded? Most crabs with pointed claws are not very good aquarium inhabitants, so this could be your problem. Where did the crab come from? How big is he?
 
acrid

acrid

Member
His claws are similar to those of emerald crabs. I bought him from my LFS, they said he was a very peaceful crab.
 
rtspeed

rtspeed

Member
just by the look of his claws i have to go with that he is a predator, seeing how sharp they are. i would see if you can catch him and put him in a small container in the tank with holes in it, to see if the damage stops.
 
sk8shorty01

sk8shorty01

Active Member
If you looks closely at an Emerald crabs claws, they are sharp looking from the sides, but from the top they look like little spoons (or paddles) at the ends. Does this red crabs claws look this way as well?
 
m0nk

m0nk

Active Member
Originally Posted by sk8shorty01
http:///forum/post/2554409
If you looks closely at an Emerald crabs claws, they are sharp looking from the sides, but from the top they look like little spoons (or paddles) at the ends. Does this red crabs claws look this way as well?
It's funny, because I keep mentioning this same "paddle" thing (though I usually say they're padded) and no one believes me.

And I agree, from the pic it doesn't look like "paddled" claws, so if they're not, and they do come to a point, that's the indicator whether you have a crab that would/could cause trouble.
 
acrid

acrid

Member
I guess it is possible. But why would he not have eaten any snails or hermits in the weeks I've had him?
I stopped by my LFS & asked the owner about it. His opinion was that the anemone was cleaning bacteria off the fish (like anemones do) and that I have some bad bacteria in the tank. This is possible as the tank is fairly new. He said to get this phosphate trapping stuff to help filter the phosphates, and a very mild antibiotic (e. m. tablets). So we're supposed to run the phosphate filter, dose 1/3 the prescribed amount today, 1/3 tomorrow, and do a 25% water change on Wednesday. Supposedly the fins should start healing within a few days.
Opinions on this?
 
reefman22

reefman22

Member
with the looks of that clowns fins and the rate they are dissappearing id have to vote against bacteria. id isolate the red crab and see whats happening. if it keeps being eaten i would look real close at night for other culprites. it could be bacteria but by the looks of the fins, the bones in the fins have been removed (probably by a bite) so i have to lean toward a predator, but if you see some of the fins wearing away with the spikes of the fins still intact it may be bacteria. id take the crab out for a while either way though. nothin to lose. just my opinion
reefman
 
acrid

acrid

Member
Well, I guess it couldn't hurt. So I took my Crabb McCrabberton out & he is living in the sump temporarily. There is already a mean emerald living there, so I hope he will be ok. I took some more pictures as well that I can post in a bit.
So, should I still try the antibiotic? It couldn't really hurt, could it? He said it would only really hurt clams and Xenia, neither of which I have. I mean, he asked it my phosphates were high, which they kinda were when I tested 2 days ago. And he said if they were high it was bacteria.
 
acrid

acrid

Member
Here are more pictures of the crabby, as promised. In the second one you can see his little claws better. There is also a Sacajawea dollar in there for size reference.

 
rtspeed

rtspeed

Member
i would say that the bacteria thing is a bunch of bull as these are bit marks for sure. The errosion of fins from bacteria start on the outside and work inward degenerating the fin a a more even pace. not as deep cuts as seen in your pictures.
 
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