Bad Luck Comes In 3's For Sure!

[craigybaby37]

Well as some of you know ive been through a bit of a bad spell with my tank the last month firstly the nitrates problem secondly the ph being very low problem and now thirdly i wake up to find something very very wrong..........

Firslty i see in the back corner of my tank behind some rock that my bangai cardinal was dead. so i fish start to fish it out and under a legde made by the rocks i see my fire shrimp on its side dead...what a great day this is turning out to be.

so i fish them both out and have another look where i got them 2 from and i couldnt believe it when i saw my firefish dead aswell so i fish it out and get on with things before i head off to work.....then i see that my cleaner shrimp hasnt moved for about 10 mins i gave it a very little poke with a scraper and it was stiff as a board and dead as a dodo. There was also an empty snail shell where i found the first 3 which wasnt there before.

Ive got my suspisions that my mantis shrimp is to blame for this what do you think??

All fish were absolutly fine last night eating etc and going about things as they normally do swimming around etc etc and then waking up this morning to find 2 dead fish 2 dead shrimp an 1 empty snail shell something doesnt add up here does it??

The fire shrimp was the only thing to show any damage to its body as some of its shell has been torn off and the meat under it eaten.....i dont exactly know how a mantis shrimp kills it prey but would it kill them with no visible signs to the fish that they were attacked?? The fish almost look like they were scared to death as the fire fishes mouth is wide open and so is the bangai cardinals.

Ive got pics of the fish when dead if anone should want me to post them to examine and see how they died.

When i got in from work today i saw the mantis sitting in its hole in the rock it lives in so ive filled a bucket with ro water an placed the rock in...so far its not come out the rock ime just hoping that when i lifted it out of the tank that it doesnt have a hole anywhere else in the rock that it can run out of into the tank??

 

[chrissaysyes]

the mantis would have eaten them, not just murdered them and wandered off.

 

[Lynden]

It was not a mantis shrimp. If it were just a single fish or invertebrate dying, then perhaps we could consider that.

Fish's muscles often flex after they die, so an open mouth is not unusual. If I were you I would be checking my water conditions.

 

[craigybaby37]

just finished testing and resulkts are as follows

Temp 80 F
PH about 7.6 - 7.8 a little low
Nitrite 0ppm
ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrate 15 - 20ppm
calcium 420ppm
salinity 1.023

anything look odd here appart from the PH ???

 

[chrissaysyes]

yessir. No predator aside from a parasite is going to kill everything in one night

 

[1entra]

Yea it is very strange indeed and I'm sure its the water you have to blame rather than the mantis! You may well have some sort of parasite if the params of ok!

I have some sort of predatory shrimp/crab in my tank but it has never once killed all my fish off in one go, instead my fish have disapeared at the rate of one per week or so! I dipped all my LR in bother fresh water and carbonated water but it didnt come out and I still have not found it so daren't put no more fish in!

Also as said above the mantis would not just kill for the fun of it, instead it would have took out your fish one at a time and ate each one befpre moving onto the next!

I am sorry to hear about your losses as I truely know how it feels as I lost 3 clownfish, a green chromis and many members of my CUC over the period of several weeks and it is very unpleasant especially in your circumstances!

 

[SkiFletch]

I got this one. I commented in my other post to you that the most common reason for low pH is poor gas exchange. If gas exchange is poor enough, not only will acidic CO2 build up in the aquarium, but Oxygen will decrease in the aquarium. If O2 decreases far enough, sensetive animals like bangaii cardinals, and the shrimp literally suffocate to death. Their decomposing bodies then provide an ammonia spike which is enough to kill off other suffocating organisms who are already weakened by the lack of O2. The death process can ramp up and out of control VERY quickly once ammonia is present in a stressed tank, and the whole thing can "crash"

And unfortunately, Mantis shrimp happen to be some of the hardiest organisms out there and can often live through such crash events. They have very efficient gills and can tolerate ammonia, nitrate, and other dissolved organics with ease. So get that gas exchange and pH sorted before continuing.

 

[craigybaby37]

ah that makes sense just one silly question........how to i change the gas exchange??? is it a case of gettin more oxygen into the water by pointing a powerhead toward the surface of the water

 

[SkiFletch]

Yup, as I posted in your other thread, first remove any glass covers on the tank. Second point a powerhead at the surface and really stir it up, and if neither of those work, point a small computer fan or similar at the water surface. Remember, when gas exchange is poor, room air is relatively high in O2 and low in CO2 than the water of your tank. If you increase gas exchange, tank water will trend towards room air for higher O2 and lower CO2, both good things

 

[1entra]

I got this one. I commented in my other post to you that the most common reason for low pH is poor gas exchange. If gas exchange is poor enough, not only will acidic CO2 build up in the aquarium, but Oxygen will decrease in the aquarium. If O2 decreases far enough, sensetive animals like bangaii cardinals, and the shrimp literally suffocate to death. Their decomposing bodies then provide an ammonia spike which is enough to kill off other suffocating organisms who are already weakened by the lack of O2. The death process can ramp up and out of control VERY quickly once ammonia is present in a stressed tank, and the whole thing can "crash"

And unfortunately, Mantis shrimp happen to be some of the hardiest organisms out there and can often live through such crash events. They have very efficient gills and can tolerate ammonia, nitrate, and other dissolved organics with ease. So get that gas exchange and pH sorted before continuing.

Bingo! Well spotted ski

 

[craigybaby37]

ok so ive removed the perspex lid and pointed my koralia 1 towards the surface and its realy stiring the water.

just like to say thanks to eveyone for helpin me out with the few problems ive been having the last month dunno what ide do if i didnt know that you lot were here to help

 

[chrissaysyes]

Of course

 

[Musho3210]

opening your window can help

 

[chrissaysyes]

I tried that once, ended up with baby roaches in my tank from time to time. Scared me because I thought they may have contained pesticides.

 

[1entra]

Just stick with increasing water surface movement as this should help aerate your water!