Royal Gramma dead

[greymach]

I am really confused. My RG was fine yesterday eating and everything and today i woke up and only his head was sitting on the sand. No sign of the rest of his body. I know everyone is going to say i probley have a mantis shrimp but i highly doubt it. The only thing i added were a couple zoo frags. What could have caused this. My other fish are fine. 2 clowns and a coral beauty.

 

[fedukeford]

What kind of inverts do you have?

 

[greymach]

10 tiny blue leg hermits. and 12 snails. The kind that bury themselves in the sand and their antennas stick out of the sand. And a BTA

 

[ryanhayes9]

wha size tank
how much live rock
you might also have a predatory crab. im feeling an all night stakeout

 

[demartini]

The clown decapitated him! :scared: haha sorry...j/k you must have a predator that you haven't found.

 

[wopilot]

i'd be happy if my Grammas died....
J/k
might have a deadly strand of the fungiheadleavingalgae
Honestly...it must be a crab, or mantis

 

[nereef]

the fish could have died at night and then partially cleaned up by hermits. how long did you have this fish?

 

[greymach]

i have had him for about a month. I guess he could have died and got eaten by the crabs. He seemed fine though. Those fish also always sleep in the rocks and he had a certain spot that isnt very accessable to be killed. I dont know i guess anything is possible.

 

[greymach]

Originally Posted by ryanhayes9
wha size tank
how much live rock
you might also have a predatory crab. im feeling an all night stakeout
Its a 55 with 50 #s LR

 

[ice4ice]

I'm stumped too ! Get out the red lensed flashlight and pull an all-nighter. LOL! j/k. A green brittle star maybe ? Predatory crab is possble that you may have had as a hitch hiker on your live rock.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by NEreef
the fish could have died at night and then partially cleaned up by hermits. how long did you have this fish?

It is always tempting to assume a fish was healthy and was killed, but for most of us, in most cases, the fish died of something else and was "cleaned up" by our clean up crews.

 

[renogaw]

i had a gramma for about 4 weeks (three in qt) i did a water change and moved some rocks around and it got stressed. i think it got smacked by some killer gorilla crabs i found after and took out. but i too found the head and spine getting eaten by my hermits. i'd definitely look for a hitchiker crab.

 

[greymach]

Originally Posted by renogaw
i had a gramma for about 4 weeks (three in qt) i did a water change and moved some rocks around and it got stressed. i think it got smacked by some killer gorilla crabs i found after and took out. but i too found the head and spine getting eaten by my hermits. i'd definitely look for a hitchiker crab.
Well thats a little strange...I did a water change and moved some rocks around the day before he was dead in the morning too. Connection??? Maybe

 

[puffer32]

I have had mystery deaths before, one day fine, the next dead and half eaten by my cleanup crew. It happens, sometimes we can't figure out why

 

[renogaw]

Originally Posted by GreyMach
Well thats a little strange...I did a water change and moved some rocks around the day before he was dead in the morning too. Connection??? Maybe

i think i really stressed him out. i gotta learn to stop playing with my aquascape my clowns/goby have been in the tank long enough to not care that their world is changing (as long as i don't touch the clown's barnacles and the goby's cave in the middle)

 

[daninct]

The one time I had something die over night I found him biten but not clean in half with all the remains gone. I have a ton of hemits and even a green brittle star. You would have to had some very hungry cleanup crew members to do that. My money says hitchhiker was the killer (in the kitchen... with a club) and then something else did the remaining eating and swallowed the rest. UNLESS it was a small fish....