Suspicous deaths or murders in the community!

[AquaWave523]

We woke up this morning to another dead fish...this time it was the Mr.Batman aka the Black Sailfin Blenny who has been with us with nearly 5 months now!

Two days ago it was the beautiful Jawfish and two days before that the purple psudeochromis....when I examine the bodies of these victims, not much is left of them since the local clean up crew wasted no time to do their job! The only clean evidence of any sort of harassment is that the purple psuedochromis's body was damaged at the top of the fins as if he was bitten badly.

Water Parameters are near perfect:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5ppm
Salanity: 1.025
Temp: 77F

I'm starting to suspect there's a reckless murderer on the lose! These ruthless activities have been occuring when the sun is down.....if anyone has any information or tips, please hit the reply button and give me your advice!

[bmw-legend]

You may have some of Mantis Shrimp or Crabs come out at night:
Check this webside out, hope it help:
http://kb.marinedepot.com/article.as...lBnrTop7091030

[Iron Mike]

sorry for the loss.

[AquaWave523]

Well the only obvious from that list is I have lots of Aptasias. Not sure if thats the cause for the deaths. My tank cracked 4 months ago, I wonder if its because of a Mantis Shrimp? How would I know?

[AquaWave523]

ALSO, one pattern I've noticed is that all the victims have been fishes that either stay in the sand or hide in the rocks and it happens every 2-3 days....Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

[Sisterlimonpot]

It sounds like a night time predator that you have not yet seen in the tank, Use a red light and do some night time viewing, you'll be amazed at what goes on in the tank at night.

[mykdf]

It is not likely to be a mantis. They are generally diurnal--not nocturnal.

Check out this website on stomatopods.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthrop...ist/index.html

[fishy125]

My mandrian is missing part of a tail, it happened overnight too.

[reeferoo]

+1 night predators
there are big nasty worms that eat fish even

do some night spying

[mykdf]

Cracked your glass? Where?

[bmw-legend]

you got to catch that murders before put anything new in that tank...good luck

[epleeds]

i would guess a gorilla crab. I had one in my tank for a few years till i finally found him. He was the cause of multiple fish going missing. how big is your tank? i had to move some rock around till i found him. He looked like an emerald crab but was black with hairy legs/body. mean little bastard..

[AquaWave523]

Ok, we did two rounds of checks after 1 and 2 hours after the lights went out. The only thing we found was tiny small stringy looking worms coming out of the sand, they look harmless and too tiny to even consider them a suspect. Also, we think the Sea Urchin is now dead. .........................................................????

[Caetano_Thiago]

keep at it with the searches. if no luck. you should tear down your rocks and do individual searchs. maybe they are huge brissle worms. or some sort of evil crab. do this asap or your wallet is gonna be very empty

[dalee26]

Try putting a Shrimp in a jar over night by a rock that the possible crab will be able to climb in and go for a meal. They then will not be able to climb out. Sometimes these fellas can hide in the rock and won't come out until you put the rock in saltwater that is roughly 1.035. Not sure if it is a crab, but at least this will help you figure out if it is or not.

Darren

[AquaWave523]

What is this thing? Can anyone tell me?

[AquaWave523]

anyone?

[VacavilleFC3S]

thats just the molt of an amphipod

[Lockhartia]

I feel your pain. I set up my 125ga in May and used completely dead, dried rock that sat in my basement for MONTHS. The only live rock came from my 55ga tank, rock that was given to me in 2003 when a friend tore down his tank. So from 2003 until a few months ago, I had zero ZERO issues in the 55ga with any of my fish or corals. I moved one piece of this rock into my 125ga to seed it.

Anyway, suddenly, over the past few weeks, I've had two firefish wind up dead, their bodies shredded. Then an antennea goby and now my leopard wrasse has a huge gash on her back. I had no idea what was happeneing, and the only tankmate capable of hurting these fish is my foxface.

Well last night I was feeding and caught this motion out of the corner of my eye, and this HUGE half dollar, black crab with white stripes like a zebra popped out of the rocks! I almost DIED! The bizarre thing is, it's not a gorilla crab. It doesn't have the huge, crushing claws, more dainty and scoop-shaped like an emerald crab, but he's still HUGE.

I am completely floored where he came from! But it goes to show, anything could be hiding in your tank, and may pop up when you least expect it! Try turning off all your pumps and do a feeding, especially something tantilizing like frozen mysis. Just pull up a chair and watch, what you find might scare you!

[AquaWave523]

Originally Posted by Lockhartia

I feel your pain. I set up my 125ga in May and used completely dead, dried rock that sat in my basement for MONTHS. The only live rock came from my 55ga tank, rock that was given to me in 2003 when a friend tore down his tank. So from 2003 until a few months ago, I had zero ZERO issues in the 55ga with any of my fish or corals. I moved one piece of this rock into my 125ga to seed it.

Anyway, suddenly, over the past few weeks, I've had two firefish wind up dead, their bodies shredded. Then an antennea goby and now my leopard wrasse has a huge gash on her back. I had no idea what was happeneing, and the only tankmate capable of hurting these fish is my foxface.

Well last night I was feeding and caught this motion out of the corner of my eye, and this HUGE half dollar, black crab with white stripes like a zebra popped out of the rocks! I almost DIED! The bizarre thing is, it's not a gorilla crab. It doesn't have the huge, crushing claws, more dainty and scoop-shaped like an emerald crab, but he's still HUGE.

I am completely floored where he came from! But it goes to show, anything could be hiding in your tank, and may pop up when you least expect it! Try turning off all your pumps and do a feeding, especially something tantilizing like frozen mysis. Just pull up a chair and watch, what you find might scare you!

That's some really insightful advice! Thanks man, i'll keep my eye out!

[AquaWave523]

Originally Posted by Lockhartia

I feel your pain. I set up my 125ga in May and used completely dead, dried rock that sat in my basement for MONTHS. The only live rock came from my 55ga tank, rock that was given to me in 2003 when a friend tore down his tank. So from 2003 until a few months ago, I had zero ZERO issues in the 55ga with any of my fish or corals. I moved one piece of this rock into my 125ga to seed it.

Anyway, suddenly, over the past few weeks, I've had two firefish wind up dead, their bodies shredded. Then an antennea goby and now my leopard wrasse has a huge gash on her back. I had no idea what was happeneing, and the only tankmate capable of hurting these fish is my foxface.

Well last night I was feeding and caught this motion out of the corner of my eye, and this HUGE half dollar, black crab with white stripes like a zebra popped out of the rocks! I almost DIED! The bizarre thing is, it's not a gorilla crab. It doesn't have the huge, crushing claws, more dainty and scoop-shaped like an emerald crab, but he's still HUGE.

I am completely floored where he came from! But it goes to show, anything could be hiding in your tank, and may pop up when you least expect it! Try turning off all your pumps and do a feeding, especially something tantilizing like frozen mysis. Just pull up a chair and watch, what you find might scare you!

That's some really insightful advice! Thanks man, i'll keep an eye out!

[AquaWave523]

Another night with the wife looking for this suspicious predator...we're down there around 1 am with our flashlights. Then my wife started to yell "i see him!", I wasn't sure but she claims its a worm with lots of legs so I removed all the rocks and there it was....an amiphod.

Then there's something moving in the sand, it was a 1 inch bristle worm. Is this safe? Could this been the culprit? I am not sold that the bristle worm has been the one doing all the killing.

I also noticed a bite mark on the leather mushroom as if it had teeth....any ideas?

[Shane Hoffman]

Definately wasnt a 1 inch bristle worm causing that kind of damage. If its big enough to kill your fish it will be big enough to see. I would pull my rock and give it a fresh RO water dip......that suld scare most anything out.....ps wear gloves.

[AquaWave523]

Ah...6 days later and I found something interesting today as I was looking in my tank. I saw this creature in my water return section of the tank. It appears as this monster got itself sucked into the chamber and couldn't find his way back into the community. Until I removed the return pipe and drained all the water into the refugium/sump area.

I couldn't find him after that, so he must be hiding in the refugium somewhere or dug himself into the sand. In any case, I would need some help from the experts here at RC!

Even without a picture, I was hoping my description could help me find the answer to what this bugger is.

I was not able to see the entire body except 3 of his long tentacles from the corner blending in with the black silicone. The skin looks as reptile, green camouflage appearance. It looked as it might have been a star of some sort since there was 3 tentacles....it couldn't been larger than a quarter...anyone have any ideas of what it could be?

[buddah001]

google "Eunice worms"