mantis

[danagui]

does anybody know how to tell if you have a mantis shrimp or fish eating worm?

i've found 2 dead and eaten fish under the same live rock a couple of days ago. i haven't heard the knocking noise so i'm supposing it must be a spearer. anybody have any experience?

 

[Drew Shark]

Go searching the tank at night with a flashlight.

 

[gumbii]

you can hear a mantis... loud... and mantis do the noise a couple of times in a row when they are breaking up the rocks...


do you have any large shrimps or crabs...? like arrow crab or coral banded shrimp...?

 

[El Dude]

+1
Night is the only time they can catch fish so make sure you let the tank get nice and quiet and the fish are in their suspended animation state (fish don't sleep more on that in FISH 314, Fish Physiology). ANYWAY I think its time to invest in a mantis trap, those clear acrylic tubes with trap doors. Just because you can't find the mantis doesn't mean it's not there, it has ALL night to hunt and it may just decide to hide out all night on the one night you decide to look for it(see murphy's law)...good luck.

 

[gumbii]

yeah, mantis trap... ask the LFS if they can get you the mantis trap from blue life... that's what i used to get rid of the giant pistol shrimp that was killing my fish... it's dark see thru acrylic or something, and it has a spring... works great...

 

[reefsUP]

I've had this happen in different tanks and it was #1 large serpent star fish #2 medium emerald crab

 

[danagui]

Thanks guys. Only shrimp I have are fire, cleaner, and camel. No recent casualties but I'm redoing my rock work and destroying apstasia. Couldn't sleep since I'm planning the new set up lol. Large pieces of rock will be getting boiling water injected into crevices in the daylight hours

 

[danagui]

so after the tank was torn down i found 2 rocks that were problematic. 1st one was full of purple coraline but also full of apstasia. the 2nd had a foot long fish eating worm and dozens of free living flat worms (i wanna know how this guy cures his rock!). so instead of prodding around i just dropped the 2 rocks in a container with super high salinity and super high copper content.

my revenge is complete!

 

[El Dude]

Hmmmm...interesting twist. Do make sure you rinse that rock thoroughly before reintroducing it to the tank. Also be on the lookout for more polychaetes around your tank as there may be eggs strewn about. Keep us posted.

 

[BeanMachine]

so after the tank was torn down i found 2 rocks that were problematic. 1st one was full of purple coraline but also full of apstasia. the 2nd had a foot long fish eating worm and dozens of free living flat worms (i wanna know how this guy cures his rock!). so instead of prodding around i just dropped the 2 rocks in a container with super high salinity and super high copper content.

my revenge is complete!

Are you sure you have a foot long fish eating worm? :laugh: Like a Eunicid worm? Bristle Worms don't eat fish unless their already dead.

Do you intend on using those live rocks for your new setup? You will never get rid of that copper....

Also boiling water really isn't gonna get rid of your problem. It might kill a few but stuff will definitely grow back. I would start with new rock...why risk it?

 

[BeanMachine]

Hmmmm...interesting twist. Do make sure you rinse that rock thoroughly before reintroducing it to the tank. Also be on the lookout for more polychaetes around your tank as there may be eggs strewn about. Keep us posted.

Do not reintroduce that rock into your tank if you use copper. :wavey:

 

[danagui]

Are you sure you have a foot long fish eating worm? :laugh: Like a Eunicid worm? Bristle Worms don't eat fish unless their already dead.

Do you intend on using those live rocks for your new setup? You will never get rid of that copper....

Also boiling water really isn't gonna get rid of your problem. It might kill a few but stuff will definitely grow back. I would start with new rock...why risk it?

I didn't plan on using them again. I just wanted to kill the little bastards. I ave plenty of other rock though so no biggie. Just made me happy to watch them slowly whither away!:evil: