Coral Banded dead

[John.unlimited]

I had my tank set up for almost a year and have only killed one fish and a carnation coral. I have 10-15 deferent corals, a royal gramma, some neon gobies and the usual cleanup crew.

I have been through four coral banded shrimp with no luck. 2 died the night of being brought home and a pair that I bought died two days later. These are of course not all brought home at the same time but 3 different instances, no two bandeds at the same time except the mated pair.

The pair brought home last made it one night but died the second night. The first night i left the LEDS on but the second night was dark. The bodies are not eaten or mutilated in any way.

There is one small manta shrimp and some strange looking alien thing that is attached/inside a rock that extends its translucent tentacles all over the tank at night. The tentacles are up to 12" long and the 3x the thickness of thread. It comes out of an area of the rock the size on a pinhead.

Water is as follows but seems good. I even had my water tested at the Key West Aquarium for trace medals ie copper and everything else.

24 gal nano reef
PH 7.8-8.1 depending on Nano A&B last dose
Specific gravity 1.024-1.026
Temp 79-83
calcium 400+
Dose with Kent Nano A&B every week or two

Please help as I really would like to keep these shrimp as all my fish & inverts are Caribbean except for the coral of coarse.

[Loverotties]

Did you ever test for copper?

[Jadinop]

one small manta shrimp

Do you mean mantis shrimp? They will kill other shrimp.

[John.unlimited]

The Key West Aquarium did a copper test. Some very small amount like in the .01 range. Both the Aquarium and my collector freind said that it is nothing. My collector friend has been at this full time for 30 years and works with copper and maintains a seperate system for inverts. May be some sort of predtor. The mantis shrimp is in a 1/8 hole, don't think he is big enough to cause any damage yet.

[aquawolf]

A mantis shrimp of any size can cause damage. Other shrimp are like a delicacy. When you pull the bodies out are they fully intact without any crushed or pierced sections. I am wondering if your mantis is a clubber or a spearer?

[John.unlimited]

On last pair one may have been punctured, the other appeared intact and now that I think of it that one intact was still flinching when touch but had one foot out the door. Do mantis shrimp just kill or do they eat what they kill.

I still find it difficult to believe that something so little can kill so many larger animals.

[aquawolf]

I would expect them to kill and eat. However, since the mantis is so small it may only be able to eat tiny bits of the victims at a time, while the killing part would come very easy. If you have a spearer in the tank, then you will want to be aware of its location any time you are working in the tank as well.