Something is killing my fish!

[Ashley13]

I have 2 clowns, lawnmower blenny, skunk cleaner shrimp, emerald crab, pistol shrimp and several blue leg hermits in a 75g. I added a coral beauty, 5 days later the emerald crab has him cornered and stressed and he died. Got a green mandarin (yes i have lots of pods) 2 weeks later his top fin is completely gone and dies. Get a yasha ray goby, he pairs with the pistol shrimp and 3 weeks later i find the cleaner shrimp eating him. Any idea whats killing my fish? Is there any way the cleaner shrimp or emerald crab doing this? Btw all parameters are fine.

 

[attiland]

I have 2 clowns, lawnmower blenny, skunk cleaner shrimp, emerald crab, pistol shrimp and several blue leg hermits in a 75g. I added a coral beauty, 5 days later the emerald crab has him cornered and stressed and he died. Got a green mandarin (yes i have lots of pods) 2 weeks later his top fin is completely gone and dies. Get a yasha ray goby, he pairs with the pistol shrimp and 3 weeks later i find the cleaner shrimp eating him. Any idea whats killing my fish? Is there any way the cleaner shrimp or emerald crab doing this? Btw all parameters are fine.

It is not the shrimp or the hermits. You either have an unknown resident like mantis shrimp or something else going on.

 

[Ashley13]

It is not the shrimp or the hermits. You either have an unknown resident like mantis shrimp or something else going on.

Im pretty sure there isn't a mantis, maybe a few hitch hickers but I'm very cautious when adding anything new. I have read a few forms saying a pistol shrimp can stun fish from the clicking, and mine clicks often but i feed him and he eats well. I've also seen a few people saying emerald crabs can be vicious after they get big and mine is definitely full grown. I just cant imagine either one of them doing this. All 3 of the fish that died had missing fins like something attacked them. I had to move this tank 3 months ago and went though everything in the tank, if it was some unknown creature i feel like i would see it by now or when i moved the tank. What do you think is going on?

 

[RJinPV]

I don't know if emerald crabs will attack a healthy fish but descriptions say they can, and I have always been suspicious of them after I bought a few and then my snails started to turn up dead, one by one. I finally banished them to the sump. I would think he is the prime suspect.

However, maybe the culprit is not a critter, but water quality or stress from moving them all to a new tank? You said your parameters are good but maybe some additive or something disrupted the nitrogen cycle? Is the salinity far off from your fish store? Was there a good acclimatization?

My recommendation would be to double check parameters, and anything you might have changed in the tank in the last few weeks. If nothing there, then get the emerald crab out

 

[brandon429]

You have disease from skipping disease preps, see the fish disease forum


this isn’t being mean it’s being a relay of patterns that stand out from any 30 minute read there in the disease forum. I’m certain, based on the lead up posts on your tank between summertime and today, the folks who advocate no quarantine needed are the cause here. If peers universally relayed disease prep rules like they do for nitrite compliance in a cycle, we’d have folks caring about disease preps as part of the initial planning, just like cycling is handled so clearly.


but peers constantly advise the majority to skip all disease preps and then wasting begins in an average eight months. Their heels are dug in, don’t expect anyone to agree unless you post this thread and a caption of your five previous threads in the disease forum for context

 

[brandon429]

To facilitate a positive change directly from the disease forum while incorporating prior symptom posts on your system:

catch all fish do the ninety day fallow option not the 45 day one.

treat fish in quarantine based on advice gained from prior symptoms from Jay in the forum

don’t add any more fish that skip quarantine. There isn’t an easy way to pinpoint the exact malady in play, but fallow handles the majority players and your quarantine treatment protocols are pretty well reviewed already for clownfish vs tangs etc, folks there know what’s likely for those fish based on symptoms and you can handle that in quarantine. At the end your losses are likely to get back under control.

not quarantining isn’t really an option you can see, it’s exactly a requirement like a parvo prep for a new puppy would be.

folks in the 90s didn’t need all these crazy fish preps, but something has indeed changed across the board and 25 mins read in the fish disease forum shows it starkly


a living cleaner shrimp, the weakest motile organism we could own, is proof you don’t have stray voltage issues or bad params, this is a disease issue I’ll bet.

 

[MnFish1]

I think you have as @brandon429 said - a disease - which made your fish sick a crab (depending on the size of the fish and the crab) - cannot corner a fish. IMHO - the crabs are dying from whatever parasite/disease is in your tank

 

[Ashley13]

I don't know if emerald crabs will attack a healthy fish but descriptions say they can, and I have always been suspicious of them after I bought a few and then my snails started to turn up dead, one by one. I finally banished them to the sump. I would think he is the prime suspect.

However, maybe the culprit is not a critter, but water quality or stress from moving them all to a new tank? You said your parameters are good but maybe some additive or something disrupted the nitrogen cycle? Is the salinity far off from your fish store? Was there a good acclimatization?

My recommendation would be to double check parameters, and anything you might have changed in the tank in the last few weeks. If nothing there, then get the emerald crab out

I had the same thing happen with snails too and i think he may be my prime suspect so i put him in my quarantine tank by himself. I moved the tank back in july, same tank, rock, and some same water and never had any issues with fish turning up dead until a month ago. I check parameters at least once a week, i just did them Sunday and it was nitrite 0, nitrate 5, ammonia 0, ph 8.1, alk 9.3, calcium 460. And it's been constant for months. Im hoping it's the emerald and it's been solved cause he is a big dude.. stretches out to be about 2in wide. Thanks for your info!

 

[Tamberav]

How can a CRAB corner a fish? A fish can just swim up and away... only a unhealthy sick fish would sit in a corner and let a crab kill it. A cleaner shrimp is no danger to a healthy fish. They will eat a dead/dying one though.

Also it sounds like you still have the lawnmower and clowns? A predator wouldn't only target new fish.

Disease however can kill new fish that are stressed. Are you also positive it is not your resident fish that are attacking? This usually happens in the early morning or evening or any time you are not watching. Fish behave differently when being watched.

That being said, I only put female emerald crabs in my tank. Males can be bit of bulldozers.

 

[Duncan62]

I think you have as @brandon429 said - a disease - which made your fish sick a crab (depending on the size of the fish and the crab) - cannot corner a fish. IMHO - the crabs are dying from whatever parasite/disease is in your tank

I must agree with Brandon and mnfish. Crabs are scavenging imo.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

I have 2 clowns, lawnmower blenny, skunk cleaner shrimp, emerald crab, pistol shrimp and several blue leg hermits in a 75g. I added a coral beauty, 5 days later the emerald crab has him cornered and stressed and he died. Got a green mandarin (yes i have lots of pods) 2 weeks later his top fin is completely gone and dies. Get a yasha ray goby, he pairs with the pistol shrimp and 3 weeks later i find the cleaner shrimp eating him. Any idea whats killing my fish? Is there any way the cleaner shrimp or emerald crab doing this? Btw all parameters are fine.

I think if this happens is in somewhere in the region of food, if your shrimp and crabs are eating flesh of others then you need provide more efficient food, nothing else is killing your fish except lack of food

 

[Ashley13]

I think you have as @brandon429 said - a disease - which made your fish sick a crab (depending on the size of the fish and the crab) - cannot corner a fish. IMHO - the crabs are dying from whatever parasite/disease is in your tank

I dont think thats the problem, if that was the case all my fish would be dead, not only kill a few every few weeks and the weeks and day before dying they've been fine no sign of sickness. Idk what @brandon429 is talking about, i quarantine all my fish.

 

[MnFish1]

I dont think thats the problem, if that was the case all my fish would be dead, not only kill a few every few weeks and the weeks and day before dying they've been fine no sign of sickness. Idk what @brandon429 is talking about, i quarantine all my fish.

Consider the fact that some of your fish might be immune. ? And consider the fact that most people who think their crabs are eating their fish - are in fact eating them after they are dead? Have you seen wounds on your fish before death that suggest different?

 

[Cell]

That being said, I only put female emerald crabs in my tank. Males can be bit of bulldozers.

How do you sex an emerald crab?

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Did you quarantine these fish and/or treat for disease? I agree with everyone above that it's not your emerald crab, they're not hunters

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

How do you sex an emerald crab?

not an emerald crab, but the same idea
Edit: it's all in the "butt-flap"

 

[Lyss]

I think you need to provide more info, or you're going to get the disease spiel. It may very well be a disease but to get to a diagnosis folks need more to go on. How old is the tank? When were the fish in question added -- just recently? How did you break the tank down to move it? Did the deaths occur after the move, or before as well? Etc. Photos and videos of the fish to help diagnose any signs of disease that might have been missed...

 

[brandon429]

Ashley nice job having a quarantine tank as well. It’s getting harder nowadays to source frags and cuc members that aren’t vectors and we are approaching the rate of disease loss where bio security (an article by Jay) controls how we add new items (that are wet) into a running reef tank. They need to pass through fallow systems to keep up the protocol if you want the tip top control options. It will help to consider this for round two planning


Lyss, read the thread/post history for the self discovery option, all that’s answered.

speil implies there’s another potential agent in play, and that you’ve found it here related to other fish loss troubleshoots you’ve completed on file. can’t wait to see what is discovered.

 

[Tamberav]

QT your fish with what and how long?

 

[Lyss]

Ashley nice job having a quarantine tank as well. It’s getting harder nowadays to source frags and cuc members that aren’t vectors and we are approaching the rate of disease loss where bio security (an article by Jay) controls how we add new items (that are wet) into a running reef tank. They need to pass through fallow systems to keep up the protocol if you want the tip top control options. It will help to consider this for round two planning


Lyss, read the thread/post history for the self discovery option, all that’s answered.

speil implies there’s another potential agent in play, can’t wait to see what is discovered.

Hasn't been answered -- you've drawn conclusions from a small amount of provided info. Need to do due diligence before telling everyone their fish are diseased.