Problem with sudden appearance of mantis Shrimp

[Purple-Tang]

Hi, guys,

I am a very new member to forum, just joined like a week or so ago. Great to see some interesting threads from fellow hobbyist. Saltwater is awesome, I just started it like 9 months ago, because freshwater got boring. I purchased my reef system 5 months ago from ebay, brought it home, set it up and got some fish. It is 135 gallon reef. Anyways, I noticed lately some of the gobies and fishes had scratches on them and mainly, the gobies started to disappear on me. Yesterday, I saw wat appears to be a brown, pinky size, mantis shrimp. It doesnt look threatening, although it did scare away my yellow watchman goby. I had 3 of them, and now, there is only 1 left. I noticed the second watchman goby was torn a bit on the top fin, and was freqently jerking around, like he saw a ghost, and he eventually disappeared on me. My sand goby, was discovered dead, torn near the tail, and the other sand goby was so scared, he jumped up and fell into the overflow box (I saw it there). Do you guys think the mantis shrimp was the cause? He is pinky size, crawls in and out of the cracks in the rock very comfortably. I never noticed him for months, and just last night, I noticed him while feeding the fish. I dont know wat to do, because I want to get rid of him (prollly cook him up and make sushi) because I am upset over the feeling that he might have killed my gobies. Do you guys think he is the cause? If he is, how will I get him out? I do have like 200 pounds of rocks and a lot of corals and fishes currently. By the way, I DID NOT ADD HIM TO THE TANK, I DONT KNOW HOW HE GOT INTO MY TANK. Sorry for the caps, just want to make sure no one thinks I added him. I just want to get him out, but he is kinda fast and shrewd. Also, do you guys know how I can make my rocks purple? It seems that the color of the rocks are fading away to light purple now. I tried purple up, but that dont seem to help right now. Thanks for your time.

Long

[flamingo]

Couldn't say for sure that he IS the cause, but it's of course one of the most likeliest suspects. Have any pics of it?
I'd catch it with a net, or a trap just to make sure that if it is, you won't have this happening anymore.

[PerculaClown]

thats most likely the cause. I would try an inverted soda bottle trap.

[Ice]

Most likely he was a hitch-hiker from your live rock and sometimes, I would imagine, they somehow survived the curing process. Yeah - you definitely want to get rid of him. He will eat your fish. Just be careful not to get your fingers near him. Otherwise they don't also call a mantis shrimp a thumb smasher for nothing. Look for him at night with red covered lenses on your flashlight. Bear in another forum topic also has a mantis shrimp problem as well. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Fishfirst]

I think you mean "thumb splitter" lol, anyway... he very well could be the culprit of your fishes demise IF your parameters have been relatively stable. I would check him out at night with a red colored flash light like ICE suggested.

[Ice]

Well - I WAS close !! LOLOLOLOL !!! Thumb smasher, thumb splitter, blah, blah, blah, what's the difference ?! Oh god, I can't wait to hear Reefneck's response ! LOLOLOL !!! And I'm still learning !! LMAO !!

[Fishfirst]

I'm just givin ya a hard time...

[Reefneck]

Originally Posted by Ice

Well - I WAS close !! LOLOLOLOL !!! Thumb smasher, thumb splitter, blah, blah, blah, what's the difference ?! Oh god, I can't wait to hear Reefneck's response ! LOLOLOL !!! And I'm still learning !! LMAO !!

After reading about this tank and it's inhabitants I am keeping my mouth shut.

I just spent 4 days in the hospital. (Got home last night) and am undergoing Chemotherapy & Radiation for cancer. No wars for me for a little while.

[Ice]

Fishfirst ! You're always giving me a hard time !!! LOLOLOLOLOLOL !!!!

Here's an interesting link I found on mantis shrimp I posted in another forum :

http://ozreef.org/library/articles/mantis_shrimp.html

It talks about the species, behavior, how to find and capture them in a reef tank, etc ...

[TheOldSalt]

If you have a mantis in your tank, then there's no point in speculation--> it IS the cause of your problems, and until you get rid of it, your fish are all doomed.
Shrewd is the word you used, and it's an apt one. Luckily, they are greedier than they are smart, and while you'll never manually catch one, you can trap one. Once you have him in the trap, don't underestimate his ability to ecape or even cause you harm. Net the whole trap and swiftly remove it from the tank once he's in it, and resist the urge to play with it if you don't like having to get stitches. Well, okay, it's still a small one, but it can easily slice you to the bone without effort, so give it the respect it deserves.

[Purple-Tang]

Thanks for the info, TOS. I dont think I will be playing with the sucker, as it has caused me plenty of sleepless nights. When I catch this sucker, it will certainly be his last day on earth, actually, his last day in the reef, because he gonna be boiling in a freshwater pot. Please, no one accuse me of being abusive. Hehehe.