what is happening!?

[jimbob21123]

over the course of the last 3 or 4 weeks i have had healthy fish just disappear without a trace. a yellow tang, a hippo tang, a clownfish, and just noticed 2 of my turbo snails i guess been ate nothing but the shell left. ive read that i would more than likely hear a mantis shrimp if i had one and been checking every night for something in the tank but cant seem to figure out what is going on. i have a sally lightfoot, 2 cleaner shrimp and a peppermint shrimp but none of these seem to be bothering anything. i dont have an anemone or any coral large enough to eat the fish. any ideas what could be happening?

[rkelley_10]

Google "El Chupacabra"

[jimbob21123]

yeah i dont think thats going to be it. thanks anyways rory, oh yeah frags are doing great

[Neuticle]

New tank? Were the fish sick at all?

[jimbob21123]

tanks about 8 months old and all fish were healthy

[Amphiprion]

Sounds like you need to be night diving. Get a flashlight and carefully search for any potential culprits. There are plenty out there. including mantis shrimp (stomatopods), predatory crabs, certain worms (Oenone), some snails (usually whelks), etc. Just see if you see something large and out of the ordinary.

[Crustman]

I agree, something may be getting fish while they sleep. Look for Green Death starfish. It is a brittlestar.

Tom

[strout]

Keep us updated, I vote for a crab, but I don't know, seems like a crab couldn't catch a healthy fish.

[Amphiprion]

Keep us updated, I vote for a crab, but I don't know, seems like a crab couldn't catch a healthy fish.

I think you might be surprised. They are quite good at it, especially with sleeping fish . Any snails and hermit crabs (as well as many other things, like other crabs, shrimp, etc.) will definitely take a hit with a predatory crab or mantis shrimp. Oenone fulgida mainly only attacks fish, so none of the others would be disappearing.

[jimbob21123]

just took all coral and rock out of the tank and closely inspected each piece and all the hole the best i could and stirred through the sand and no sign of anything, also no sign of fish remains or bones or anything. i know whatever it is probably got deep down in a rock whenever i started pulling stuff out but i was hoping whatever it was wouldnt of been in a real deep hole at the time. also found 2 more turbo snails that shell had been cleaned out so thats 4 snails total that been eaten. so far it only been fish and snails, my shrimp and sally lightfoot still in there. been looking each night and at different times of the night and cant find anything. its been about a week since anything else has disappeared but only fish i even have left now is a dang 4 dollar blue damsel and scared to go spend 60 dollars for something to end up being food. thanks everyone for there suggestions so far hopefully i can find out what is eating everything and get it out and get my tank back to normal

[Amphiprion]

Your method is ineffective for several reasons, one of which you already stated. If it is a crab, then it can not only retreat into a deep hole, but they are intelligent enough to plug the entrance with a piece of rock or shell to completely hide and camouflage the opening. You wouldn't even notice it that way. Other things aren't quite that smart, but they can retreat and remain fully hidden. You only successfully managed to scare it and keep it hidden for longer. Follow my suggestion and go in at night with a dim flashlight and see if you can't find anything. You can try using a red lens (or red plastic wrap), but that's no guarantee, as many animals (especially mantis shrimp) can still easily see red light.

[strout]

Try the coke bottle trick, if hes in there you should be able to catch him.

[jimbob21123]

yeah im going to make a little trap tonight and hope ill get lucky

[strout]

Little trap, it better be a big one with all the fish hes ate. Good luck catching him.