This is very puzzling to me.
And I’m not new to reef keeping either.
First, my tank is 260 gallons. I have acropora, sps, 7 tridacna clams, a few LPS. A variety of trochus, astrea, and Mexican turbos.
I added 8 cleaner shrimp to my tank about 3-4 weeks ago.
They’ve been fine, but lately they’ve been dying one by one. I believe 4 died. 1 died yesterday and 2 died today. I lost another one a week ago.
Parameters are all in a good range and I sent out an ICP with no elevated metals.
I do weekly 15% water changes.
Here’s my working theory:
The mantis shrimp hides in the right side of the tank, and the skunks stay on the left. It doesn’t make sense for them to meet each other, especially since the mantis doesn’t travel, and the skunks don’t either. I have a hard time believing that the mantis is killing them.
Here is a picture of the dead shrimp that I found after work. They all look like this when they died, I see a small opening in their flesh, but I’m not sure if the powerhead caused that after the fact that they’ve been dead.
Meaning, I’m not sure if they got wounded prior to meeting the powerhead.
Let me know what you think.
And I’m not new to reef keeping either.
First, my tank is 260 gallons. I have acropora, sps, 7 tridacna clams, a few LPS. A variety of trochus, astrea, and Mexican turbos.
I added 8 cleaner shrimp to my tank about 3-4 weeks ago.
They’ve been fine, but lately they’ve been dying one by one. I believe 4 died. 1 died yesterday and 2 died today. I lost another one a week ago.
Parameters are all in a good range and I sent out an ICP with no elevated metals.
I do weekly 15% water changes.
Here’s my working theory:
- I have a red flame hawkfish. Maybe it’s killing them?
- I have a mantis shrimp which hitchhiked from my KP rocks. It stays hidden but I can hear it snapping. Pretty sure I also have pistol shrimp as well, but I definitely saw a mantis shrimp. It looks black in coloration. Maybe it’s killing them?
- All the pistol shrimps that die are attached to the powerheads. My flow is very strong. Maybe they are getting sucked in?
The mantis shrimp hides in the right side of the tank, and the skunks stay on the left. It doesn’t make sense for them to meet each other, especially since the mantis doesn’t travel, and the skunks don’t either. I have a hard time believing that the mantis is killing them.
Here is a picture of the dead shrimp that I found after work. They all look like this when they died, I see a small opening in their flesh, but I’m not sure if the powerhead caused that after the fact that they’ve been dead.
Meaning, I’m not sure if they got wounded prior to meeting the powerhead.
Let me know what you think.