Found my arch nemesis (not Plankton!)

[Spongebob]

Is this my arch nemesis? (Not Plankton!)

I saw what appeared to be a molt from my one remaining Pacific cleaner shrimp (I used to have two) this morning...

AS IT WAS BEING SLOWLY PULLED INTO A SMALL HOLE IN THE LIVE ROCK BY SOMETHING THAT HAD CRAWLED INSIDE THE MOLT.

I tried and tried to get a good look at it, assuming it was a mantis (I have seen one in my tank before.) I even grabbed the tongs (from the kitchen) and attempted to seize the critter while it... dined. But I no match for the wily... thing.

After examining the molt, I think that it's not really a molt at all but rather the only remains of the shrimp after having been consumed from the inside out by whatever lived in that rock. Indeed, another of my cleaner shrimp disappeared some time ago, inexplicably.

This is not a bristle worm. Although I didn't see the entire body, I could see enough of the antennae to rule that possibility out.

I believe I have found the mantis I last saw nearly a year ago and NOW I WANT IT OUT OF MY TANK!!!!!!!!

I'd like to save the rock; I've heard of squirting cold water or soda water in the holes of the rock, but I am skeptical. The first thing I'm gonna do is smear what's left of the cleaner shrimp with something yummy like mysid shrimp purée and jam it in my mantis trap. I'll place it as near to his hideout as I can. Who knows, maybe by tomorrow morning I'll have the little bugger.

But I doubt it.

I'm prepared to try different strategies, but I'd like to avoid giving the mantis a chance to simply move to another rock. I think I can yank this one out fairly quickly. Then I'll tweezer a few mushrooms off to start them elsewhere and begin using increasingly more destructive means to encourage a mantis to leave the rock.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[Spongebob]

Gotta eat crow...

I smeared the 'carcass' with mysid shrimp and placed the X-terminator trap near the top of the tank, under a colony of GSPs.

And the lights went out right on time.

The first party interested in the trap was...

A rather large Pacific cleaner shrimp.

It was a molt. I'm gonna leave the trap in, though. Like I said, I did lose a shrimp a couple of weeks ago. He MIGHT have been eaten by a brittle star, but I doubt it. the oral disk isn't big enough to envelop a cleaner. But this thing is growing. Anyone know how to yank a brittle star out without just dismembering it?