HELP! The culprit found! (Help)

[lbiminiblue]

So I finally found the clicking. While doing a tank cleanup today, I pulled out the rock I always suspected of harboring a mantis.

I dunked it in a black bin with freshwater, and waited. 4-5 minutes. I took out the rock and started pouring cold water into it, hoping to flush it out.


Only then did I think to look back in the bin. I found a pistol shrimp. It has a blue tail and pink body. Unfortunately it seemed close to death, or already dead.


I scooped it up and put it in a net in the tank, but its been still for the past 4 minutes. Did I kill it? How long can these guys survive?


And to make things worse: the shrimp is pregnant. It's tail is absolutely stuffed with green that I imagine can only be eggs. .

And while typing this up, I just heard another click emanating from the tank.

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[lbiminiblue]

Well, nothing yet. I think she's dead.


Here's a photo anyways. Maybe you guys can ID her. Just glad to know it wasn't a psycho mantis which could kill my clowns.


This pistol had coexisted with the clowns for a year or more. The cleaner shrimp and countless cleanup crewmates didn't have the same fortune.

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[Oxylebius]

Put it back in the tank, I seemed to remember something about them 'playing' dead until they fill safe to move about again.

 

[lbiminiblue]

She's dead JIm!

She stayed still. A hermit crab found her in the refugium, and so the cycle continues. But now I know there's a male somewhere else in the tank.

Can anyone ID that pistol shrimp? I want to know if I could pair it with a goby.

 

[Stephane Cote]

First off, nice hitchhiker. I too hear clicking but never really spotted the culprit. i was moving a rock one day and saw a set of eyes look at me, but it went hiding so fast i didnt get a proper look. Since then (over 6 months) i still hear the clicking. I dont think it's a mantis as it would probably big enough for me to spot it now, and nothing is dead (IE broken shells ect).

ill need to set a trap i think as i really dont know where it's at now lol

for the future however,

my trick to pull these out is simple actually. (simply because you don't know if you have a good or bad hitchhiker...)

get a bucket with about 4-5 inches of aquarium water. suspend the rock over the water (just over the surface of the water). cover up the bucket with a towel and wait about 30 minutes to an hour.

what will happen in 99% of the case is that you will have your hitchhiker see the water below the rock, and bail. but since the rock is suspended, they wont be able to return. covering it up with a towel gives them the sense of privacy/security for them to jump into the water. if it's a good hitchhiker, then transfer to your DT using the regular techniques (because your water probably will be a bit cooler then the DT).

using this technique i was able to flush out a bobbit worm which were said to be near impossible to safely catch.

just be careful after of the rock, you may have some die off, but i solved that by putting the rock in a QT for 2 months and then pop it back in my DT

 

[NickF]

First off, nice hitchhiker. I too hear clicking but never really spotted the culprit. i was moving a rock one day and saw a set of eyes look at me, but it went hiding so fast i didnt get a proper look. Since then (over 6 months) i still hear the clicking. I dont think it's a mantis as it would probably big enough for me to spot it now, and nothing is dead (IE broken shells ect).

ill need to set a trap i think as i really dont know where it's at now lol

for the future however,

my trick to pull these out is simple actually. (simply because you don't know if you have a good or bad hitchhiker...)

get a bucket with about 4-5 inches of aquarium water. suspend the rock over the water (just over the surface of the water). cover up the bucket with a towel and wait about 30 minutes to an hour.

what will happen in 99% of the case is that you will have your hitchhiker see the water below the rock, and bail. but since the rock is suspended, they wont be able to return. covering it up with a towel gives them the sense of privacy/security for them to jump into the water. if it's a good hitchhiker, then transfer to your DT using the regular techniques (because your water probably will be a bit cooler then the DT).

using this technique i was able to flush out a bobbit worm which were said to be near impossible to safely catch.

just be careful after of the rock, you may have some die off, but i solved that by putting the rock in a QT for 2 months and then pop it back in my DT

How big was your bobbit worm? Those things look nasty.

Warning, you might not want to put your hand in your tank ever again if you watch this video

 

[lbiminiblue]

Stephane, that sounds like a mantis. Pistol shrimp have pretty bad vision. Mantis shrimp eyes are much more noticeable as well.

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[Stephane Cote]

Well i wanted to add a pic from my post but i wiped it out.

so.. here is the pic, and it was about 15inch long. i only noticed it after a year and some after i spot checked the tank at night with a red light.

vid: http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v324/cookierawks/IMG_1393_zpsk54kvjes.mp4

 

[Stephane Cote]

Stephane, that sounds like a mantis. Pistol shrimp have pretty bad vision. Mantis shrimp eyes are much more noticeable as well.

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yeah i though so too, but the facts dont really add up (yet)

- Not seeing dead/cracked shells
- It has been more than a year (almost 2), it would be big enough for me to spot it, which i have not
- My fish / hermits are just going around like nothing is going on.
- Even with the clicking, checking with a red light, i have yet to see it. ill try and set a trap soon

oh and PS. i could have moved not from the vision of seeing me, but rather because i was moving the it was in

 

[lbiminiblue]

Perplexing. Maybe it's keeping the shells in the rock? How big is your tank?

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[Stephane Cote]

Perplexing. Maybe it's keeping the shells in the rock? How big is your tank?

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75 gal

i do see some shells here and there.. lost maybe 1-2 snails. but the shells arnt cracked open. just laying there among the rocks. *shrugs*

the only thing i've notice is my yellow tang. seems to have rips on his dorsal fin. but thats the only fish of all of them that has dmg. so im thinking he just got spooked or nipped from the bobbit.

whatever it is.. i didnt notice any die off in my tank other than the occaisional snail.