Help me 3 fish dead over 2 weeks plus funny noises from tank :-( arrrrrrrrrrrrr

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ravensaxo

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May 13, 2004
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Someone please help im having trouble
had my tank set up now for nearly 5-6 months had in there 2 clowns and 3 green chromis which i cycled the tank with added a scooter bleany and a young regal tank , had a malu anem + a button coral + a candy coral , skimmer canister filter and uv + clean up crew
Everything was going great water test wicked coral is thriving button polyps have grown so much candy coral is wicked malu is doing ok and everything was living the dream in my tank .
until one day started to hear cracking noises from the tank not very often my wife thought i was going mad lol .
then about 2 weeks ago woke up 1 day to find my beloved regal tang on the sand with a bite out of his side , sobb fished him out nearly crying .
1 week on got over the death and everything was great didnt really hear the noises from the tank wasnt listening though then woke up friday morning 1 week on from the death of the tang to find my scooter bleany dead on the bottem similare place to where the tang was , devestation struck again , water test were fine everything is ok . 1 week on again and this morning woke up to find 1 of my loved clowns dead on the bottem with a slit right down him and no eyes , he was there living happily in the malu this morning at 2 am at 7 am he was dead the funny cracking noises have appeared and the nitrates have risen from 10 to 20 ummmmmmmmmmmmmm cant see any evidence of a mantis only got 3 smallish peices of live rock in there . any ideas anyone
i need to buy my live clowny a friend but cant until i find out whats going on . 1 a week for 3 weeks ummmmmmmmmm dont know what to do .
please help
 
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benjen

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Apr 26, 2004
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With a smasher mantis, I would expect you to be losing hermits and snails in droves, not just fish. However, there is a remote possibility that you have a spearer mantis, in which case all fish in there are in serious trouble. Spearers generally live in sand burrows, not rock burrows and prefer eating fish and other soft creatures. However, I don't think spearers make the same popping sound as smashers...

However, I think you need to describe further what the wounds looked like and see if you could have anything else in there that could be doing it. My first suspicion with dead fish is the closest damsel or large crab...

If you have a mantis (especially a spearer) and catch it, there are people who will pay decent money for it on Reef Central and other places.
 
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ravensaxo

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I have just been sat up waiting for some movement in the tank all of a sudden i saw a emptyhermit shell which i thought was empty walking round the little bugger inside is not one of my 6 blue legged hermits which i have but has browny legs and seems to have 1 claw bigger than the other i think , when he saw me he scurred away . could this be the culprit ?????????? my tang had a peice out of his side and my clown was slit under his neck and his eyes werent there and he looked like someone had a small meal of him . the popping / cracking noises i havent heard tonight heard one this aft all my rock was cured does this matter ? plus who is this starnger in my tank noticed also my button pollip there is somthing livin in there too looks like a feather dusterworm!!!

hope no more of my fish are dead in the morning my clowny is hiding inside the malu anem hope he is ok .
should i remove this foriegn crab ?
could he be the killer
my cleaner crew consits of 6 blue legged hermits different sizes 2 cleaner shrimp 6 turbo snails and a dancing shrimp .
but now i have this crab to deal with hope i havent got a mantis in here !!
 
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benjen

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I got one of these in my shipment of scarlett reef hermits from etropicals.com:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/Arthropoda/CrustaceanPIX/Hermit CrabPIX/Dardanus_megistosAQFJ.jpg
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/Arthropoda/CrustaceanPIX/Hermit CrabPIX/Dardanus_megistosKBR.jpg

Here is a quick description:
Dardanus megistos (Herbst 1789), Shell-Breaking Reef Hermit Crab, often sold as the White Spotted. Members of this genus are predaceous, and will gladly consume any fishes they can get their claws on. To six inches. Place with large, aware fishes only.

Live Aquaria sells them as the "Common Hermit Crab."

Do a search for a hermit crab that looks like the one you've got, but I'd take it out and move it to a quarantine tank if you have one. I keep a 10 gallon nano specifically for troublemakers or potential troublemakers.
 
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