Help! Zoa Frags going MIA!

[dagreatbadfinger]

So i just noticed this morning yet another frags of zoas is gone! the rock is intact....but the polys are just missing! this is case #2!



Anyone have an idea who the hell would steal polys all of a sudden?! :irked:

My tank mates include the following:
2 Clown fish
1 clown goby
1 orange spotted goby with pistol shrimp
1 cleaner shrimp
1 fire shrimp
1 mandarin goby
hand full of hermits and snails

 

[Deanos]

Gorilla crab

 

[dagreatbadfinger]

?!?!? a wha? to my knowledge i dont have one in there. the rock that i've had in this tank came from a previous tank where i know we're no hitchhikers so im pretty sure i wouldnt have one of those in there - hopefully

 

[junglebase]

Gorilla crab

Hey Dean.. i am surprised there is no link :tongueani ... and i wanted to see what they looked like...

 

[dagreatbadfinger]

http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/thepackage/id_images/db_37_gorillacrab-patsan.jpg

but im pretty sure i dont have one of those. anything else that would do that?

 

[Avi]

It could be a gorilla crab, like Deanos says, but it could be some other kind of crab also...Here's a photo of the one that did tons of damage to my zoanthids and other coral....

It's a Xanthid Crab I believe, and like the gorilla crab, they hide very well in the live rock and aren't easy to see. But, your list doesn't include anything that would do that kind of damage, so an errant crab is the most likely probability. Set a trap for it and see if you get one. If it is a crab that's gone "bad" it will only get worse and worse.

 

[dagreatbadfinger]

what kinda trap. Its just weird cause i never experienced any problems since just outta the blue and i havent added anything to the tank

 

[Avi]

You could do a DIY-type and see if that works.....just cut the top of a 1 liter soda bottle and puncture a hole in the bottom so you can put some string through and hold some bait, like a piece of shrimp from the supermarket. You can easily secure the bait with a piece of string. Just be sure you add some weight or the bottle will float away. These photos might help:

http://undermountain.dk/div_pic/akvarium/fang_krebs.jpg

http://undermountain.dk/div_pic/akvarium/fang_krebs2.jpg


What I did to catch the crab in my tank was this...I started to just put a shrimp in the tank. Every few days, it would "disappear" so I figured the crab was taking it into the rockwork. Then after about a week or a bit more, I used a trap like this kind:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=14699http://www.aqua-medic.de/seawater/shared/18/imgs/trap pest.jpg

I put a shrimp in at night when the lights were off. The following morning, it was always gone. This happened like three or four times and even though it was supposed to be a "trap" the crab went in and out with the bait every time. After about another week of doing that, I did it in the daytime and the crab had gotten so used to taking the bait that it went into the trap and before it had a chance to get out I blocked the entrance and pulled the trap out of the tank with the crab in it. I thought I'd be so angry that I'd kill the crab, but two years later, it's still in my sump...and I'm still feeding it shrimp.

 

[Chraddam]

Just an outside possibility...I too had this happen when I first started my tank. I had given up on them, and then when I re-did my tank, there they were, under the rocks...they had just come unglued, and floated off. Like I said, an outside possibility, but you never know...

 

[dagreatbadfinger]

see i thought that too, about the unglued thing, cause ive never had a problem. in fact my zoas where growing great. One day i was like wtf....im missing a frag....then today i noticed that another frag is missing. it looks just gone....like not eatten or anything...just gone. and they are on opposite sides of the tank. its just weird.

 

[Chraddam]

I only mentioned it because I made the mistake of putting sally Lightfoot in my tank, and actually saw her eating polyps- when she did, she never ate them down to the glue. And in ur pix, I noticed that the frags were gone down to the glue, so it may be something worth looking into. (btw-she was eating my gorgeous "creamsicle"zoas, I believe they are called...)

 

[Avi]

see i thought that too, about the unglued thing, cause ive never had a problem. in fact my zoas where growing great. One day i was like wtf....im missing a frag....then today i noticed that another frag is missing. it looks just gone....like not eatten or anything...just gone. and they are on opposite sides of the tank. its just weird.

Hehe...that's exactly the thought process I went through, before I figured out...and then had to catch...a very nasty crab.

 

[QUESTIONMARC]

gorilla crab

 

[Chraddam]

wow

Hehe...that's exactly the thought process I went through, before I figured out...and then had to catch...a very nasty crab.

...and I always thought catching crabs was a bad thing!!!
:type: <<<<(I deserve that for that joke...)

 

[Avi]

...and I always thought catching crabs was a bad thing!!!
:type: <<<<(I deserve that for that joke...)

I guess catching crabs is bad...catching ONE crab is good.

 

[dagreatbadfinger]

whats the odds of me actually seeing it if i did have one? ive been staring at my tank for a few hours now with the lights off lol.

and as for the trap idea. being the tank is small what other suggestions could i use?

 

[dagreatbadfinger]

soo ive got great news. turns out the pink ones did come unglued and i just found them floating around this morning. Now im just missing one more lol

 

[Avi]

Excellent. So, you haven't got the crabs, afterall.

 

[dagreatbadfinger]

lol Thank god!

 

[Chraddam]

Heh heh heh

I *hate* when that happens!!!:givebeer: