My liverock ate my fish!!! Help me.

C

coolisjade

AC Members
Mar 4, 2007
34
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Ok heres the story (see pics below):

I recently started a 25 gallon tank saltwater running a fluval 204, heater, powerhead, 2 hood lights: 1 marineglo and 1 powerglo. 20 lb of white sand, 20lb of live sand - on the verge of transitioning to a sump.

I purchased 2 yellow tailed or blue damsels. I had them in there at startup for 2 days after water was conditioned and salt level was set. After the sand cleared they seem to be fine and was nipping at some tetramarine food. I then added 7 lbs of fiji live rock from my lfs.

One day later, I woke up and saw that the damsels seem to be enjoying the live rock. One actually took refuge in the rocks. Later that day, I got home to see that one of the damsels was laying on it's side on the sand, dead, stiff, with its lungs kind of portruding out. The second damsel looked eaten and noticed trails of it's fin on the rock. Half of it's lower body was gone and the rest was also sitting on the sand. I kept the fish so I can show it to my lfs and I also took water samples, not sure if that will help.

Can any of you experts out there please make an assessment of my situation here and help me out? Will this rock eat me while I'm asleep? Should I not stick my fingers in there? Could the fish have died based on the water condition (only 3-4 days into its cycle), landed on the live rock and as it was decaying was eaten by some bacteria in the rock? I did notice that one damsel was picking on the other one. Is it possible that damsels are cannibalistic? Please give me your advice.

Thanks!

pics:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b175/met0s/P1010026.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b175/met0s/P1010027.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b175/met0s/P1010028.jpg
 
^^^ Sounds that way to me.^^^ I would check your tank at night!
 
Definitely sounds like something is in that live rock. Damsels are agressive, but usually one will be more dominant and kill the other with only a couple of injuries to itself. Especially if there are only two.
 
coolisjade said:
thanks for the advice everyone - now how do i get rid of them?
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I would first try to search for the creature. Just so you know what you are dealing with. If you don't want to wait you can try to buy a mantis shrimp trap. Or you could try to lure it out with food. Although the mean guy will probably be full for a while.

I also know there are other methods you can use to kill it while its in the tank. But that will probably cause some horrible water conditions to appear.
 
Germanman said:
trap or if ur lucky u can catch them with a net if the come out at night use a red light it doesnt disturb them. also u can try and crush it but they make really good pests in a species tanks so dont kill it unless u have to.
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lol yeah. I saw someone who had a very nice mantis only home. They are cool creatures when they arn't killing your fish. But you also need a realiable tank. They have strong claws that can easily crack your tank when they grow bigger. On the bright side, maybe they can make some money and sell him to their LFS ^^ Or do a trade in.
 
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