Had a mantis for 5 hours then it died

[brad s1]

First post here...

I've been in the hobby for 10 years... I've had several tanks...

I just set a mantis tank up in my room

Currently it has a damsel cleaning crew, and some corals... I was just waiting on the mantis... I found a mantis... Yesterday I was told a mantis would be coming in and to come back in the morning (LFS).

I picked it up, I bought it right out of the shipping box and brought it home and floated it in the shipping bag... I trickled it for about 2 hours since I didn't want to shock it, it had been in that bag for probably a day...

Into the tank it goes with the light off

It acted normal for a few hours, paid no attention to the fish or crabs, and dug a hole...

So I'm sitting at my computer a few hours ago and I see that it's out, so I go over to the tank and it's upside down, still alive but looking very sick...

I immediately fill a bowl with water out of my other reef setup which is perfect, put that mantis in there... it struggled for another 30 min then died...

The tank it was in...

Sp 1.025
PH 8.2
No nitrate or nitrite
temp 78

Plus there are things living in there happily... the mantis was about 4" long and a peacock

Even having lived for 5 hours... could it have just been shocked to the point it couldn't take it??? Should I be checking for anything else ???

I find it strange the tank is able to sustain corals and a cleaning crew.. it's had gobys in and out of it, I kept a harlequin in it for a week while I did some work to the main tank... but I drop a mantis in, and it dies in 5-6 hours... I'm at a loss

 

[Giga]

I find that while they are tough it might have been shipped rough or wrong. and was super stressed out. Maybee it was sick. I'm not to sure becuase it dosn't sound like your tank is the problem if you had other coral and creatures. Some types they ship in containers that are not to be used with creatures. Sorry for your luck> I just got a mantis and only acclimated it for 10 minutes. And she laid eggs the next day and comes out and says hello every time I come in the room then goes back in her hole.

 

[brad s1]

The 5 hour survival really confuses me... I mean the tank parameters could be off, but they don't seem to be testing off...

If there was something wrong with the water it's still suitable enough for a cleaning crew and fish... So why not this hardy shrimp?

It was shipped in a quadruple bundle of thick bags with a metal clamp on it... it looked perfectly fine in the bag... seemed perfectly fine for a couple of hours.. then it quickly went south then died...

thanks for the reply by the way!

 

[Giga]

you salt is a little high,but nothing that out of normal. I keep mine at 1.021-1.023 for my mantis. What about your ammonia?

 

[Gonodactylus]

There are a few possible explanations.

1. The O.s was collected using cyanide or some other toxic material. Animals exposed to cyanide will often live a week or more, then die.

2. The O.s was probably packed with oxygen. When you unpacked it, there was probably a considerable drop in dissolved oxygen. If the animal was stressed or poisoned, the reduction in oxygen could be fatal.

3. The most common time to lose stomatopods is the first day after shipping. It is usually not a good idea to accept an animal still in the original bag that it was shipped in. Let the LFS hold it for a day or two.

Roy

 

[brad s1]

Yeah... I'd usually never accept something in the bag, but since it was a mantis I figured it'd be fine... Guess I overestimated its hardiness.

 

[Pea-brain]

Peacocks aren't as hardy as some other mantises that survive cycles and stuff.....Sorry for what happened. That sucks.

Dan

 

[brad s1]

Well I picked up another one... Nice looking Gonodactylus platysoma, maybe 3" in length.

The LFS I bought the peacock from admitted their shipment was lousy and lost half the live stock in it, so I got a full refund in store credit...

I made about 30 phone calls looking for a reasonably priced mantis... One place had 12 in, but wanted between 80-110.... screw that!

The place I found and bought from had several in, but couldn't identify any of them except for the peacock (the reason I went to this store in the first place), which wasn't really a peacock at all but a Neogonodactylus bredini... was all set with that one... I ended up paying 39... still a high price but whatever

anyway I acclimated the Gonodactylus platysoma, dropped it in... Now where the peacock swam around and didn't too much else but die... this one instantly hunted down a hermit and spent the night smashing his shell.

I woke up to him this morning having locked himself in a cave... Once the lights came on he popped out and started chasing my damsel... Looks to be in great shape, they have a lot of personality

 

[dismalorb]

Very good to hear! Have you got any good shots of it yet?

 

[helipilot]

That's great news, waiting for pics.

 

[brad s1]

I will def take some pics as soon as my camera charges tonight and assuming he's still out...

here are some pics of my reef and harlequin...

 

[Pea-brain]

ahhh! Harlequin pictures give me headaches! they are so complex I have no idea what I'm looking at!....its ok, I forgive you

Dan

 

[Agu]

Another problem might be your two hour acclimation. Water in the shipping bag with oxygen is pretty stable. Once you open the bag water quality can degenerate quickly.

 

[Pea-brain]

I like to add amquel, ammo lock or prime to the shipping bag when I get new arrivals. It helps detoxify the ammonia which becomes much more lethal at higher PH's. WHen you open the shipping bag CO2 is replaced with oxeygen, and that raises the PH. Amonia is more harmful at a higher PH.

Dan