I might have a mantis...heeeeeeelp!!!!

dmitry

dmitry

Member
One more Chromis down overnight!
I still haven't seen or heard anything, though...except the missing fish.
 
dmitry

dmitry

Member
Well, after the second Clownfish vanished I finally decided there was nothing to do but break everything down. Took out every piece of rock, dipped it in super salty water, poked a tweezer into holes, left rocks without water for up to 30mins while working on other rocks...and found nothing.
No Mantis, no unexplainable creatures. So now I'm back to wondering what's killed my fishies. For now the only survivor is a Coral Beauty; I'm holding my fingers crossed for her!
 
sw65galma

sw65galma

Active Member
they are not going into the overflows by anychance? caught in an unprotected powerhead??
thats a lot of fish to be losing over night
 
dmitry

dmitry

Member
I've looked in the overflow box and all of my power-heads are visible. I guess 7 fish disappeared in about 3 weeks. (I saw the body of one being eaten by the Skunk Shrimp.) There were always several days between disappearings, which made me think that it was a Mantis feeding. But since I found nothing hiding in the rocks the cause must have been the water....except the readings came fine except for slightly high nitrate, which has gone down. Someone suggested that there might have been an ammonia spike immediately after the transfer into the new tank that may have gone down quickly, but had done the damage. The Clown might have survived the longest perhaps because she was the healthiest/hardiest. But it was already too late. I don't know...
 
batman1820

batman1820

Member
wow this sounds like a horror story its so exciting. Anyway, dig through the sand and look for fish remains or bones or something. Good Luck.
 
1journeyman

1journeyman

Active Member
Sounds to me much more likely that something non-biological is killing the fish. How well oxygenated is your tank? Temp? pH at night?
 
hot883

hot883

Active Member
I'm experiencing something similar. So far I have lost a yellow gobie 1/2", 1 firefish gobie 2 1/2", and my new ricordea/yuma 2-2 1/2"
 
jdboy

jdboy

Member
My yellow tang in my avitar is gone along with a blenny and several emerald crabs. The only thing I've noticed is the clicking noises especially at night. Never had any idea what they were till I started reading this thread. Now I think I'll have to try to catch this little killer.
 
dmitry

dmitry

Member
I'm sorry to hear your losses guys! I feel your pain!

jdboy: You should definitely investigate the possibility of a Mantis if you're hearing clicking noises at night (and it's not your thermometer, or the shells of snails, hitting the glass of the tank in the current.) Did you add any live rock recently?
The Coral Beauty and my Skunk Shrimp are still alive and healthy (as of this morning.) And so are snails/hermits. Maybe they have hooked up to keep the tank all to themselves? The Angel kills them and the Shrimp gets rid of the evidence?

The water readings (I use Salifert) all come out ok........
 
jdboy

jdboy

Member
I've had my tank setup for 9 months or so now and I've heard the clicking for mostly the whole time but never really new what it could be. The more I read this thread the more I thought it could be a mantis. Actually the first casualty was my blue star fish. I had forgotten about him.
 
nicole05

nicole05

Member
Originally Posted by philgmiami
chec behind your tank ,on the floor, i had a fish once stuck to my base board like a piece of beef jerky

what is a mantis?im new
 
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