any suggestions please

Chimo192

Chimo192

Member
Hi everyone,
Diane here, my husband is away on training to go back to the war in Afghan. I need some suggestions with a peskie critter. A few months ago we started hearing a clicking noise in our tank, fish started disappearing. We searched every rock but always came up empty. Well after my 10th fish gone we did a fresh water dip to the rock, the water was even hot and it sat in the bath for 20 mins, we knew we were going to loose alot. Thinking we got rid of what we predicted a mantis and week later that clicking noise came back.

Well since my husband gone I am determined to get rid of this critter, I miss having a calmn beaitiful tank. I set a water bottle trap with ghost shrimp for a week, every night I caught my perpermint shrimp. Then I tried another test, I took a bucket and added water and salt. A heater andpump to move the water around. I took 2 rocks from the tank and placed it in the bucket. My hopes were if I heard the clicking in the bucket I found the rock it is hiding in, if I heard it again in the tank, go get 2 more rocks and place them in a different bucket. After a week the critter never made a sound in the tank or in the buckets. The local store told me I was wasting my time. So the rocks went back in and tried the bottle trap again.

Last night I heard the ticking again, I looked at the side of my tank and saw it for the first time for just a second, it's huge and ugly. Never went to the trap,my poor pepermint shrimp again.
I stayed up all night in hopes to catch it.
This morning I am at my ends wits and I read putting the rock in a high salinity would make it charge out. I made up a bucket, it was high , saw alot of little things die off but nothing that I saw last night. I did a coral safe dip on my corals. Checked my sand bed, nothing. I placed everything back into the tank, just putting my last coral in and the thing is taunting me, it started clicking. This critter is testing me,playing with my nerves. I am not far from taking the rock out and hitting it with a sledge hammer.

Sorry this is so long, I am really at my ends wits with this mantis. I still don't even know what rock it is hiding in. I'm on my own and don't know what else to do. All i know it killed 7 hermit crabs this week. The only fish I have left is a clown gobie and a yellow wrasse, 2 cleaner shrimps and a pepermint shrimp.

Does anyone have any suggestions, please

Thank you

sorry again for the length
 
wm23oh

wm23oh

Member
Here is some information I was able to gather.

NOTE: I am NO expert and have no idea if this is dangerous to the rock, corals, or anything else on the rock. I took this information from How to Trap a Mantis Shrimp? .

Dunk rock quickly in carbonated water. You may use club soda or make your own liquid by mixing dry ice and saltwater. The mantis shrimp will quickly scoot out of the rock when exposed to this.
Click to expand...

At this point that is what I would do. But also you may want to remove the fish and any other living things that may be able to be considered food from the main tank until your cycle is over since their is more than likely dieoff occurring from the dips you have already done.

Best wishes,
 
seafansar

seafansar

Well-Known Member
Maybe try putting two traps in, one for to keep the peppermint shrimp busy and the other for the mantis. Are you sure it's a mantis? Clicking usually means pistol shrimp, but I guess mantis could make the same noise. Good luck!
 
B

BLAKEJOHN

Active Member
Since you cant seem to find it. Make sure the tank is completely dark every night. Get a flashlight ready with a red film or lens on it (fish and shrimp cannot see the red light). When you hear the noise go and check the tank throughly with the red light. If it is a clicking sound it is probly a pistol shrimp. If it sounds like a sharp tap on the glass then it is probly a mantis.
 
Chimo192

Chimo192

Member
Thank you, I do have a flashlight with a red lens and go to find it when I hear the noise and still can't find it. The last straw before we did the fresh water dip was when my watchman gobie came out of his rocks with a pencil size easrer hole on it's side. I thought pistol shrimp didn't kill fish.
The noise I hear now I am questioning but it's like a tap.

With what I did to my rocks yesterday did I kill my rocks (putting them into a high salinity?) I don't have an extra tank to put my corals in.

This is so stressful, and discoraging
 
Chimo192

Chimo192

Member
For sure I do, the tank brings peace into the house when everything else seems to not to be. I cringe when the lights go out and crings in the morning to see what damage was done.

I even checked behind where the skimmer and filters are to see if it was hiding there, didn't see it.

Our local store got a new shipment of fish and I would love to go and restock but I can't because I will just be feeding this critter (has very expensive taste). In average we pay $69-$89 per fish.
 
D

David Shaw

Well-Known Member
Wow i feel so sorry for you, and totally, completely, understand how you feel.

I too heard a clicking in my tank, laster for months. It drove me CRAZY, it was worse at nights when the lights were off. I couldn't track where it came from. In the end i decided enough was enough, i had to get it sorted.

I spent a whole weekend stripping down the tank. I dipped everything! The dipping flushed everything out including a dreaded Bristle Worm! which i hate. I freshwater dipped the lot, syphoned the sand bed and literally started from scratch to rebuild it.

As i destroyed a lot of the good bacteria in the dipping process, i did a big 50% water change and added a couple of cans of the "good bacteria" beads from the LFS to re-seed the rock, as my ammonia reading spiked, and after a week all the water tests were back to normal.

Thankfully i got NO MORE DAMNED CLICKING. Whatever it was i managed to get rid. I was DREADING hearing it again.

I have read some terrible mantis shrimp story threads. You seem to have done so much to try and sort it by isolating different pieces of rock too. If you see which rock it is in again, like you did that night, i would just get the damned rock out and ditch it.

Thankfully i am back to a serene and peaceful tank now. I am so cautious when adding new rocks and corals now, i dip everything just in case.

I am sure there is a market for LFS to provide critter free pre dipped live rock! So when we get it we know we are critter free.

I SO HOPE you manage to get it out eventually and have it returned to the quiet, beautiful peaceful tank that we all want. I think if i heard a clicking after going through all i went through to eliminate it (as you have) i would just want to quit.

I heard one click last night and nearly shot of the sofa in a panic, luckily it was just a turbo snail around the glass thermometer that had knocked it against the tank.

If i lived local to you, i would come over and help you out as i know how frustrating and depressing that kind of experience can be. I wish you luck and will read your postings with fingers crossed, keep us updated!
 
Chimo192

Chimo192

Member
I am able to borrow a 10gal tank to house my corals but would I need a proper lightening, skimmer. If I dip the rocks again and will need to cycle my main tank it could take 1-2 weeks, will my corals be alright? Do I go buy another bag of live sand to put into the 10 gal.

Thank you for all your patience and understanding

I have nothing else in this area for me to house my corals and 2 fish
 
D

David Shaw

Well-Known Member
You must be at your wits end.

I went through a similar experience 2 weekends ago after months of nocturnal clicking. It sounded like a glass thermometer banging against the glass only really loud. I managed to avoid a re-cycling after dipping. I re-dipped EVERYTHING (much to the dismay of Tammy and Terry :), syphoned the sand bed, then replaced everything including new filter media. Then i did a 50% + water change and added a 2 x double doses, over a week, of live bacteria that i bought from the local LFS (and turned off the skimmer while that seeded the dipped rock) that luckily stopped me going into a re-cycle and brought my water levels into alignment after a few days. I also had no coralline bleaching.

My corals survived and so did the fish and CUC, my only casualty was a fire shrimp.

If i had done all that, and failed i would have ditched all the live rock, sand the works and started from scratch (extreme i know, but the clicking was driving me crazy)

I am sure there are many experts on here that can advise better than me, but all this worked for me, and ultimately i just had to do what i did or go insane!
 
Chimo192

Chimo192

Member
Thank you David,

I know you do understand how I am feeling right now.

Not to sound like I am brainless here (just super stressed) but I need simple explanations so I don't make a huge mistake.

Like if I do the carbonated water dip on my rocks and it does come charging out. I place the rocks back into my tank.

Do I buy a bottle of Cycle? I also have a product called Prime and it's also suppose to help.

Do I leave my corals and fish in the tank?

I turn off my skimmer

Do a water change

Check my water levels daily
 
D

David Shaw

Well-Known Member
Well i don't know what others would say but this is what worked for me.. and i was driven to this point by desperation. Sadly i didn't have a back up tank so i couldn't move corals and fish around.

1) I Removed EVERYTHING except fish and substrate and dipped. As you KNOW you have mantis shrimp i would't quit until i saw it flushed out.

2) Syphoned the substrate and removed 50% of the water whilst doing this, i even syphoned the rear chambers.

3) Changed and replaced all media and scrubbed the tank spotless.

4) Put the live rocks and corals back into the tank with 50% new clean R/O salt water

5) Added twice the recommended live bacteria into the filter media (i recommend the type that comes chilled in the refrigerator, i used a type that came in little pearl sized capsules that slowly dissolve).

6) Tested the water and then added calcium as it was low.

6) a few days later added another 2 x dosing of the chilled bacteria as you can't over dose with them

7) Tested daily

I found out that my Ammonia spiked but it only lasted a day, once the bacteria got to work. I only had one tiny spot of coralline bleaching on one rock, hardly noticeable.

Within a week all water testing came out spot on. I think i got off very lucky that i was back on track within a week. The corals took about 2/3 days to reopen but all is well now.

To be honest, if i lost some corals it would have been a price i was willing to pay to get rid of the clicking. Thats how i felt after being driven nuts.

I am sure most will see what i did as a bad thing, but i was desperate. All i can say is that luckily it worked for me.

I am sure others will offer good advice and alternatives (and tell me off too!!!).. but i did what i did out of desperation.
 
Reefmack

Reefmack

NaClH2O Addicted
PREMIUM
I had an a idea. This may or may not take a while to do. If your pieces of rock will fit into that 10 gallon tank, how about taking one rock at a time & putting it in the 10g tank (heater and small powerhead) and waiting however long it takes and listening for the clicks? You could use normal salinity water and not kill off the rock. If you still hear a click in the main tank, it's not the rock he lives in, and you could then try another rock and wait. If you isolate the rock it's in then do what necessary to get him out of that rock. The only problem with this is that I'm not sure if a mantis will stay in a particular rock or if it will move rock to rock?

The below 2 links may help with some ideas. It's always good to learn about your enemy in order to defeat them.

MantisFAQs

MantisFAQ2

Good luck - I hope you can get him out and start enjoying the tank again.
 
Chimo192

Chimo192

Member
Hi Terri,

I've tried that idea, I took out 2 rocks and placed them in a normal salinity water (same as my main tank), had a heater and a power head. Stayed in that bucket for over a week, not a noise from my tank nor the bucket, it is taunting me and the local store told me I was wasting my time. Should I try this theory again?
 
Reefmack

Reefmack

NaClH2O Addicted
PREMIUM
I forgot you already tried that. If you could identify if he has a particular rock he lives in that would help. There are different kinds, and I'm not sure if all of them tunnel into rock or not. But I think you've already tried to do that too. I've never had to deal with one, so I'm out of ideas for now. :(
 
Chimo192

Chimo192

Member
No problem,

I have no idea what rock he has a particular preference to. You are lucky to have never had to deal with one, they for sure are not idiots

But Thank you Terry
 
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