WHAT is killing my gobies????!!!!

[norway]

i have a 20 long with 10 sump
20lbs ls and 30lbs lr
2x65watt pc
protein skimmer
weekly water changes(rodi/oceanic)
auto topoff
bangaii cardinal
pistol shrimp
pink hawaiin crab
various hermits
coral banded shrimp
many softies and a few lps
about 2 months ago i had 1 maroon clown and 1 yellow goby... all of a sudden the goby which i had for over a year disappeared. i thought it was the sorry ass mean clown so i took the clown to the store and traded him for a new bangaii cardinal and new yellow watchman goby. both fish did great for over a month. a couple of days ago the new goby went missing???? is it the pistol shrimp? i thought they were good with gobies??? is there some kind of worm that attacks burrow dwelling species? i have noticed a very long black worm that comes out of a hole in the rocks across the tank from where both gobies stayed. this worm has not messed up any coral or other inverts???so whats going on peoples??

 

[speg]

The pistol shrimp shouldnt be the culprit... though once these guys died he might have dragged them into a burrow of his. It was the goby on your avatar right? Yellow watchman?
You've had it for a year.. maybe it died of old age.. after it died did you test your water to see if there was any spikes that may have caused his death? :thinking:
Can you get a pic of this worm? I doubt the worm did it though... for right now im playing the 'old age' card. :thinking:

 

[angelsrock]

might have been your coral banded shrimp if it's big enough, but most likely they died of someother reason. if you saw them eating them then they most likely died first.

 

[dogstar]

Could also be the Pink H. Crab.

 

[djmpj]

I lost my first Golby. Thought I just had a pistol shrimp but turned out I had a manis too. Any chance of this? Trapped him and got rid of him and my 2nd golby is doing fine.
D

 

[norway]

im pretty sure i dont have a mantis......i know for a fact that the pistol is a pistol. if it was old age then where is the new goby that has gone missing as well. parameters are fine. if something in the tank other than "life" killed the goby it would have effected my other fish right??? especially since the cardinal is a bit more sensitive???

 

[mombostic]

Is that pink Hawaiian crab aka the strawberry crab? My dad is also in the hobby, and he put a strawberry crab into his tank that ended up eliminating four fish before he realized what was going on. Bottom dwelling fish like gobies are easy targets, I think. Is he big enough to kill a fish?

 

[reefiness]

did you ever think mabye they both jumped out... are there any holes in your canopy. have you looked around the tank for a dead fish on the floor??
it happened to my diamond watchmen once he had gotten used to my 29 gallon

 

[nanocuber7]

by the way the worm is most likely a peanut worm i have some of those. they're beneficial so don't worry bout the worms

 

[norway]

the pink h crab is big enough to kill a fish but the goby and crab were together in my 10 and now 20 for over a year......why all of a sudden is the crab going homicidal???
by the way, thanks for all the great responses

 

[traib]

It's the crab or CBS. Trade themin for a non predator species.