Something Nasty In My Tank.

[PortValefanjosh]

Right last week i had to pull apart two hermit crabs off my lawnmower blenny as they were eating him alive.But before that for two days he stood dazzed and confused .Anyway came home last night and everthing was fine came back hour later to find the six line looked dazzed and stunned and lay down on a rock. Just tried to move him and he move away fine, but he had a little like scratch down one side of him anyway he then went and hid behind the uv.So i watched him most of the night he was panting a lot and when i turned the lights off he went and hid under the fillter still panting.Anyway got up this morning and ive looked for an hour for him and i still can not find him.Whats in my tank stunning and killing my fish? Any ideas Ive got a malu in there which i thought could of stung the blenny but not then sixline as he's much quicker.?Any ideas all the other fish are fine.

 

[ox5477]

well wrasses have a tendency to bury themselves at night, so I would say the sixline was still buried and not ready to get up yet. I would check all your water stats. A sudden change in any of the parameters such as pH, alkalinty or temp can shock the fish as they do not adjust well to sudden change

 

[PortValefanjosh]

I know they bury themseleves i wonder if he has buried himself for the night and passed away, that would explain why i can not find him.Had all my readings double checked at the lfs and they are all fine so havent a clue.

 

[ox5477]

well if you believe that he may have died while buried, sift the sand.... you could find a corpse or you could all of a sudden get a shock when it comes darting out to only re-bury itself in another location. either way, you should sift the sand to see whats up cause if you leave it to decay, then you could seriously nuke your tank

 

[PortValefanjosh]

Checked the sand well what i can get too not found a thing .What ive just noticed is that the animone thing which was already in the tank when i bought it, and ive yet to find out what it is has moved on to a snails back.Now this animone thing is about 2inc round and 2inc thick with what looks like very faint holes in it, and it moves around all the time it has a oral disk on the bacl also.If you touch it though it squerts white stuff all over you.I wonder if six line has been squierted and thats why he looked stunned?I would love to find out what that thing actually is some day.

 

[ox5477]

I would love if you could get a pic of this "anenome" or whatever it is. I don't think I've heard of a coral or anenome activly defending itself like this, only passivly stinging a predtor if it gets too close... cool well not really if it did have something to do with the death of your wrasse...

 

[PortValefanjosh]

Best i can do its the white thing near to the floor looks all scrunched up.

 

[PortValefanjosh]

Better close up

Looks like it being attacked as well i dont think the snail is happy either with it on its back.

 

[ox5477]

I really have no idea what that could be. but if it is squirting a fluid for defense, there might be some toxic effect from the liquid which could be hurting your fish. Best thing to do would be remove it. Try capturing the snail in a cup or glass and then move the snail over to a bucket or bowl where you can operate. The just try scraping whatever it is off of the snails back. as soon as its off, inspect the shell to make sure whatever it was didnt puncture the snails shell or do any harm and/or lay eggs inside the snail. Then I would say its safe to return your snail to the tank again.

Then you can take whatever it is and inspect it and maybe get some better pictures. I would prob give it a freshwater bath as hopefully this will kill it and then no worries about getting sprayed with whatever it squirts

This is all just assuming the worst case for this little guy as I have no idea what it is.

 

[PortValefanjosh]

Just to say the item in question has now found a new home in a black bin bag.

 

[ox5477]

Just to say the item in question has now found a new home in a black bin bag.

awesome. Hopefully you will see your fish beginning to act normal again


any sign of the six line yet?

 

[PortValefanjosh]

No nothing i think it could of being the malu will wait to see if he spits anything out, other than that if a crab had dragged him off the nitrates would be through the roof which they arn't so still haven't a clue.

 

[ox5477]

well I would still be suspicious so I would give the tank another good sifting....

do you have a lid/cover over the tank? or is it open? If it's open, look around the base of the tank on the floor, especially along the back wall. In my early days, i found plenty of fish dried up little rocks on floor behind tanks.... kinda gruesome but if ya find it, atleast you know what happened.