what is this?!? please help asap!

Ah OK LOL I was a bit confused! We were kinda hoping this was our culprit, since now were back to square one... let the fun continue!!
 
15 damsels in a 55g tank? How long have they been in there? Sounds a little overstocked to me.

What kind of tank set up do you have? Reef? FOWLR? If its possible, can you dismantle your rocks piece by piece and try to find he culprit? Take a rock out do a quick FW dip and see what comes screaming out. Then qt that rock is SW for a bit then do he next rock.
 
No, we never had 15 at one time. Started with 4, they all disappeared, put 4 more in, they too disappeared and so on. There's currently only 1 damsel and 1 lionfish. The most we had at one time was 1 damsel, 2 clowns, 1 (small) tang (I forget the name of it but they're recommended for smaller tanks) and a snowflake eel. All have since disappeared and the damsel if the only original fish left.
 
And its a reef tank. Well be buying a house (hopefully in the next few months) and planned on doing the dip since we need to take the tank down then anyway. Unless, once the lights come back on and the lion is missing, its getting dipped like today. I can't find him right now, but it's pretty dark in there. If whatever it is took down the lion in under 24 hours I'm a bit scared to put my hand in there! LOL
 
Hmm. Do they disappear quickly or one by one over several days? I just want to be sure they aren't dying of something else besides a mantis. If you tank is 10 years old, it could very well handle dying fish without you ever seeing a body or ammonia spike. I have had anthias die on me and disappear over night in a 6 mo old tank never to be seen again.

If its a mantis, it might not be hungry enough to go for your bait depending on its last meal... So if he traps arn't working, it's because it's not hungry enough. So don't feed for a couple of days and see if the trap catches anything. Two days won't hurt your fish.
 
The damsels would disappear at one time. Them the eel went and a few days later the tang was gone. The eel was in there for 6-9 months or so and very active and healthy, same with the tang, but he only lasted about a month or 2. The damsels barely made it a few days. The last damsel that disappeared was just a few months ago, I fell in love with the blue velvets and brought one home. He seemed fine, and 10 mins later GONE. I had jumped in the shower so I didn't witness the disappearance, but it was the middle of the day, so we searched the tank and found no traces of him.
 
I assume you acclimated the damsels right?

When you lost the eel, did you put anything new in the tank? Rock? Coral frag? Something that a mantis could have hitched in on?

It does sound like a mantis. Maybe a pretty good sized one at that...
 
Lionfish could definitely be eating the damsels but I suspect a Eunicid worm. They can get very large and remain hidden for years. My LFS just pulled a 4 foot long one out their tank a couple weeks back. Must have came in as a juvenile hitch hiker and been in the tank for years.
 
The damsels were the first fish in the tank in the last few years, he had all corals and rock until I came around LOL... the Daisy polyp rock was put in and things started to disappear, so yeah, were assuming SOMETHING hitchhiked on that. The lion has only been in since yesterday, so he's not what's been eating anything. We thought maybe the eel, but moved him to the sump and they continued to go missing, then the eel disappeared too.
 
Reefahholic said:
Wouldn't you hear the mantis at night clicking?
Click to expand...

Not if it was the spearing-type of mantis. They don't click. And they are more 'fish-hunters' than the hammer-type which usually go for mainly inverts. My initial thought would be a eunicid worm followed by a mantis though a large gorilla crab is not out of the question. But considering that whatever it is took out a foot-long eel, my bet is a eunicid worm or spearing-type mantis.
 
Well if it were a eunicid wouldn't the corals be the first to go before the fish?

But either way, I wouldn't add any more livestock until you get whatever is in there out. :)
 
You said you moved the eel to the sump and then he dissapeared too?!? huh?!? how could something be getting from the display to the sump then back to the display???? do you have cats?...maybe a racoon is getting into your house at night for a snack.
 
We put the eel back in the display, he didn't disappear out of the sump; sorry for not being more clear with that statement. All our corals have been OK with the exception of the daisy polyps, but at that time we had a starfish in there as well, so I'm betting on him being the culprit there. Actually, I forgot about the starfish, we did find him dead, but the body was gone pretty fast. Not sure how fast the CUC takes care of that... A lot of hermit crabs have gone missing as well, we found a pile of empty shells in the back corner of the tank, but then wouldn't that point to the smashing type mantis? We are done adding more fish for now; hoping if anything, the venomous lionfish will help defer anymore disappearances. LOL I like to call the tank our own little piece of the Bermuda triangle. Can't figure out how Marty (our damsel) has made it so long when everything has gone... but I won't complain that he's made it thus far! (And, to our surprise, the lion and him get along pretty well so far!)
 
Anemone said:
Your picture is of a chiton, and it's not your culprit. It's actually a very cool and harmless hitchhiker.

Your missing fish sound more like a mantis shrimp or a gorilla crab (but neither of those would take out a foot-long moray. For that, I'd look on the carpet and behind the tank - they commonly go carpet-surfing).

Kevin
Click to expand...

We made a trip to the LFS today, and figured take it along with since we already going; you were absolutely right!

The tank is fully sealed, so no chance of the eel escaping, and no chance of cats (or raccoons lol) getting into the tank when were not looking. The cat typically doesn't venture into the room the tank is in anyway, and the door to the room is kept closed when we aren't in there.
 
My guess would be carpet nem, lion fish, eel, and disease.....or just scared of other tank inhabitants.....

Nothing peaceful In that tank except the dead.....

Why look elsewhere?
 
mysterybox said:
My guess would be carpet nem, lion fish, eel, and disease.....or just scared of other tank inhabitants.....

Nothing peaceful In that tank except the dead.....

Why look elsewhere?
Click to expand...

the only things that have disappeared since we got the nem were the clowns; one of which never housed there. everything else disappeared before we added him to the tank, and fish still went missing when the eel was in the sump. The lion we only got yesterday, so he's not to blame either. Everything looked and acted healthy (im in no way an expert; or even novice lol; on disease though) and also the one damsel has survived all of this, but hes the only one still standing 2 years after its started. If disease wiped everything else out, wouldn't it have affected him as well?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

G
What fish is this?
Replies
2
Views
111
galpinj
G
L
What to say
Replies
4
Views
1K
wvned
wvned
L
Lighting Options
Replies
1
Views
78
Reefing102
Reefing102
wvned
Not sure what to do
Replies
8
Views
1K
OrionN
OrionN
T
Trying to identify what ate my Torch Coral
Replies
12
Views
271
Uncle99
Uncle99
Back
Top