something attacked and killed my firetail

[eyeballs]

im new to this hobby and my tank is 5 week old the other day i put a firetail fish in the tank 2 days later i noticed it had beem attacked and had the bottom half of its tail missing. then the next day i found it dead on the bottom of my tank. i have also lost a cleaner shrimp. i have had my water tested and that is all fine. in my tank i have 2 clownfish 2 green/blue cromis 2 cleaner shrimp 1 pepper shrimp 2 emerald crabs and 3 hermit crabs. do u think i could have a hitch hiker like a mantis shrimp or pistail shrimp? and if so any good ideas on getting it out i have heard the only thing to do is stay up at night and watch for it. then find were it is and kill it or remove the live rock it is in.

 

[kajunsausage]

Yeah, you've got a hitch hiker on your hands. You've got to act quick before it happens to your clowns.

Buy a mantis shrimp trap. They are about 8 bucks and they work for both mantis shrimps and pistol shrimps.Or you could trap one yourself. I'll provide a link below. I dont think you have a pistol shrimp. Pistol shrimps wont usually kill fast fish but i could be wrong. You never know.
http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pest/catch.htm

 

[meowzer]

Just out of curiosity what size is this tank?

 

[eyeballs]

hi thanks for that im in england so may have to look for one over here. ive heard that if u sit up at night and look for it if u find its hole u can stick somethin in and kill it. i know this is cruel and is not my prefered method but dont want to lose anythin else. my tank is a 125 liter tank so is quiet small but as it is my first thought i would start small. is there any way i could narrow down the search for it like signs of where it may be hiding? i have 2 small corals in there as well are they in danger too?

 

[olemiss]

I'm thinking you have a crab. Mantis and pistols are pretty noisy and generally kill instead of just injuring. LR can be dipped in water with a salinity of 1.030+ and every creature in that rock will come while not killing them or the beneficial bacteria. If that is not an option, place a smooth glass jar with food in the tank at an angle having the opening facing up works. Crabs can't climb out, mixed success with this one. Is a firetail a firefish?

 

[nycbob]

i dont think it was mantis or pistol that killed ur firefish. most likely it was injured during its sleep by either hermits or crabs. without knowing ur tanks specs, its hard to narrow down the cause. mantis would hv killed ur inverts, not just the firefish. 5 week old tank is fairly new. and by the way u posted this thread, i think u r fairly new at the hobby. please list ur tank info, such as tank size, lbs of liverocks, if u want better help. buying a trap would be a waste of ur money.

 

[eyeballs]

yes im very new to this as this is my first tank . my tank is a 125 liter (not sure what that is in gallons) with about 200ib of live rock. im not sure what other info u may want if u want more tell me what and ill post it.

 

[nycbob]

its very possible the firefish was weak to begin with, and the inverts just finished it off. firefish isnt exactly the hardiest fish for a new setup. like i said b4, a mantis would hv killed the inverts in ur tank already.

 

[eyeballs]

its been 4 days since the fire fish died and so far i havent lost anythin else (hopefully not tempting fate here) if i had a mantis would i have lost more by now? i finished work today for christmas so am going to stay up and look to see if i can spot anthin as ive read its nocturnal. also how long should i let my tank establish b4 i put another firetail in? i was also thinking about putting more live rock in for it to hide and swim round. my old firefish didnt swim much i didnt see it much as it sat on the bottom of the tank in the back corner behind some LR.

 

[nycbob]

u can always try ur hand on another firefish.

 

[eyeballs]

and see how it goes if it was to get kill killed or attacked then that could help to say if there was somethin in there? also i could watch it for a while at night to see how it is. should the firefish be quite active?