freshwater dip

[shellydp34]

After many months of losing snails, hermits, serpents and brittlestars I have decided I MUST eliminate my mantis shrimp. He is ever illusive. I had one that I found and trapped but I have never seen the other one or two or three...... I have been holding off of adding anything to the tank because of him and a few of those furry crabs with the mean pinchers.

I have tried traps and nets and removing the rock from the water hoping they will make a dive but nothing has worked and I am out of patience.

I'm wondering what would happen if I dipped each piece of rock into freshwater? What damage would that do to the rock, algea, little featherdusters etc... I did have pods but I think the high temp in the tank killed them off this summer. But if any where left, would that kill them.

I guess I want to know if everyone would jump ship prior to killing everything that was "attached" to the rock like the featherdusters...

[FishinInTheDark]

I'm not sure if that would work well or not. If you left them in for long enough, then I'm sure the bad guys would jump, but you would end up killing a lot of the other stuff on the live rock and seeing another cycle.

I have read (not sure where) that squirting seltzer water with a turkey baster into the holes will make the offending critters jump ship. Take the rock out of the water to do this.

Good luck!

[TranZ]

i read somewhere in order to get rid of unwanted pest in LR do a high salinity dip. do a salinity of 1.030 on a seperate container and dip your LR for 15-30 mins most of the critters that in th LR should abandon there home specially the mantis shrimp. then just pic anycritters you like and put them back in your tank. I have to look for the link on that but i think its in Liveaquaria.com on how to cure LR.

[shellydp34]

That would be the way to go if I could save what I wanted and get rid of the others. I have 120 lbs of rock that is riddled with holes. So squirting seltzer in them would be impossible.. thats why I want to dip the rock. I have caught 2 extra large mantis already, but the others are really hiding. I havent seen them, just heard them. I have seen some babies that are either mantis or pistol shrimp but couldnt get a close enough look to tell. I just really want to get rid of the bad guys because they're killing off the ones I like.

So, If you can find the link I would appreciate it. I will go to liveaquaria and look too...

Thanks

[TranZ]

I found it!
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=59

go to the helpful hints

[shellydp34]

great!! I will check it out

[Ryguy]

Have you tried taking the piece of LR that the mantis is living in and placing it into a pail of salt water? I did that when I had one. I just took the rock that it was in and placed it into a bucket of salt water, I threw some food in there and when it came out I took the rock out of the pail put it back in the tank and then sold the mantis shrimp. It worked great. The mantis came out within a couple of hours after throwing food on the bottom. Just an idea

[shellydp34]

I havent seen it or them. I'm pretty sure I have more than one remaning. I have already caught two. These guys that are left must have been watching the two I caught and vowed to never come out because I look for them in the middle of the night on bathroom breaks!! I can hear them but not see them...


Sooo.... thats why I need to dip each piece of rock.

[TranZ]

Let us know how it turnout for you. Good luck!!!!

[shellydp34]

ARRGGGGGGG--- After many many weeks of procrastination, I decided to do the dip. I have a lot of rock and it is stacked. So it was very difficult because I couldnt take out one piece at a time, dip it, and place it back in the tank. I eventually had several pieces of rock in the high salinity water and it was so merky that I couldnt tell if anything had dropped off. After a couple of hours I got my tank together again and strained the water that I had dipped the rock in and all I found was 2 bristle worms, a baby shrimp that may have been a pistol shrimp, and a little emerald crab. I did find stuck alive and hiding in one of the rocks a big furry crab with huge, sharp black pinchers. I had to dig him out and that was tough!! But, the main reason for the dip was to rid my tank of the mantis that I can hear. He must have been so deep in a rock that the dip didnt bother him.

Oh well, at least my tank is really really clean and I did a water change!

[Sefu]

" Oh well, at least my tank is really really clean and I did a water change! "

way to be optimistic !!! :lol:

Look on the bright side.. There ARE MANY PEOPLE who would LIKE to have a Mantis Shrimp to keep as a Pet, and it seems you have ALOT OF THEM !!! Maybe you should make that your mantis tank !!!! :)

[maxwellwhothunk]

Like me... I am really liking the idea of starting up a mantis tank, so let me know if you find one... or send pictures if you can.

I want to get one that is colorful... there are some really beautiful things about them. But I dont know specific species names...

Let me know.

[shellydp34]

I wouldnt mind a small mantis tank. I do think they are beautiful and interesting. I caught one several months ago and put him in a holding tank and he was amazing to watch but I have a hard enough time mantaining my 90 gal without keeping up a smaller tank for the mantis so I gave him away.

I did find a baby shrimp of some kind...... the entire shrimp was a little less than an inch and it had a small pincher and then a huge pincher. Does that sound like a pistol shrimp? Im curious because prior to the dip yesterday, I could look in my rock at night and see several small shrimps crawling through my rock. But, only one came out yesterday.

Ill let you guys know if I come up with something!

[FishinInTheDark]

That does sound like a pistol shrimp, Shelly.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Definitley a pistol Mantis don't have that. Good thing you got that crab out. Sounds like a Xanthid sp of crab and they are very destructive and not the least bit reef safe.

[shellydp34]

Sugar, I tried to find a pic of the Xanthid but couldnt find one that looked like mine. Do you have any links to a site of crabs? I am very curious about this crab. I have caught several of them but this one was the biggest by far. I would guess his body was the size of a nickle not including his legs. He was brownish pink and hairy with sharp pinchers. I have been watching him for weeks and am starting to wonder if he is the culprit for some of my deaths. He digs under my LR and makes huge messes of the floor of my aquarium. Can they kill shrimp and possibly break shells of snails?

As far as the mantis, I am beginning to wonder if that is what I have now. I was questioning it because of the deaths which may be contributed to the hairy crab but also because of the clicking I hear at night. But I read in an article today that mantis shrimp generally click in a series of several clicks and that a pistol clicks in a single or a double click. And that is what I hear. And also based on the baby that I found during the dip. Are they very harmful?

I have been waiting to eradicate my aquarium of the little pests prior to adding anything else because all my shrimp have "disappeared" and several of my snails. So I had a dream of getting all of the bad guys out and restocking to get the tank of my dreams but now Im not sure what to do.

Do you feel the deaths were hairy crabs fault or pistol shrimps?

[maxwellwhothunk]

I wouldnt mind a small mantis tank. I do think they are beautiful and interesting. I caught one several months ago and put him in a holding tank and he was amazing to watch but I have a hard enough time mantaining my 90 gal without keeping up a smaller tank for the mantis so I gave him away.

If I could make a suggestion, if you ever plan to have another mantis tank, or any external tank, just plumb it into your existing system. That is what I plan on doing with my mantis tank, if it ever takes off. But with that, you will have the water stability of a 90 gal, now plus the extra 10gal. Just a thought.