Uhhh ... maybe you guys can help me.

[Jordan55]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=573663

Thanks

 

[crafty_50mitchell]

In a 12 gallon tank? If you are sure you have a mantis (and I wouldnt be positive, since things die in reefs..not to mention nano-reefs) I would simply place your coral(s) on the substrate and freshwater dip your rocks. Unless the random deaths have been of specifically all your shelled inhabitants, or all of your finned ones I would start to look at your water parameters instead.

There is an excellent chance that it is a pistol shrimp which is doing the clicking which would jack up your shelled buddies as well. It's just a little too easy for reefers to blame mantis shrimps for lost livestock, I find I have lost one fish to a mantis and the rest (including corals) to my own neglegence/ignorance regarding water parameters. Just something to consider.
Good luck,
Brian

p.s. of coarse it could be a mantis wreakin havic

 

[Jordan55]

Well I did see it. And what I saw was what I think to be a mantis. If it was a pistol, it would most liekly come out more and wouldn't have moved the way it did when it darted back into the tank. The "mantis" I saw scurried across the floor and had his little back flippers moving very fast.

 

[crafty_50mitchell]

I dont doubt that you saw a mantis or a pistol (which by the way are not really more social unless they are coupled up with a companion gobie) but I am wondering what you have lost up to this point that would be another critters fault.
I would still reccomend that you freshwater dip your rock, it may be a pain to upset the aquascaping that you have in place right now, but (and trust the experience of many people here) will be much successfull than setting out any sort of trap sold or DIY'd. Anyway I was not saying that you dont know what your talking about regarding what you saw or your reef chemistry experience, just that many times it is easy to to say A=C while looking past B.
Good luck,
Brian

 

[Jordan55]

Yea. I don't think what ever it is has killed my fish because all of my fish have died while fully in contact. I have noticed a lot of hermits and snails dead though. I am trying the bottle trap now, if that does not work by morning, FW dip it is!

 

[crafty_50mitchell]

While we are still both online posting back-and -forth I'd like to ask what your evidence of dead snails and hermits looks like, for example do you see dead bodies around? empty shells? etc.
Brian

 

[Jordan55]

I have seen dead bodies, empty shells, torn up bodies. I just thought it was other hermits. Truthfully, I believe it is a mantis. I saw it, it moved like a mantis. I will not the exact truth untill tomorrow or the next day though.

 

[crafty_50mitchell]

Well one thing to consider: if it is a mantis you would see crushed shells (fragements anyway) and not too many dead bodies. When "smashing" stomatopods go after a hermit/snail they generally will smack the shell (which would leave a little bit of evidence behind), kill the inhabitant, then drag the body into their home, eat, then bury what they do not finish thus saving the rest for future use/tank parameter problems. Which would of coarse leave a trail behind (i.e. shell frag's). Just my experience of coarse,
Brian

 

[Jordan55]

Thanks for the info. I will probably take out he rock today or tomorrow. What it is, it will come out.