popping from tank

[jaydm93teg]

set up a bio cube at my g/fs house....the tank was set up at my house with 10 pounds of live rock and a live sand bed. It was set up as a little QT tank at my house for about 7 months i moved it over to her house added about 10 more pounds of live rock and some zoas and frogspawn everything is doing great. I put 2 clowns in there they are doing fine. Now her and her room mate say about 1 time an hour they hear a popping noise coming from the tank.

what is it?

 

[sshindell]

Mantis shrimp.

 

[thewarbrd]

Probably the clowns? I'd read that they can make popping noises sometimes audible from outside of the tank in the Conscientious Aquarist.. This article has a sound clip..

 

[linda lee]

thewarbrd;210949 wrote: Probably the clowns? I'd read that they can make popping noises sometimes audible from outside of the tank in the Conscientious Aquarist.. This article has a sound clip..

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11873-clownfish-chatter-with-clacking-jaws-.html">http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11873-clownfish-chatter-with-clacking-jaws-.html</a>[/QUOTE]

Wow ~ I had no idea! Thanks for sharing that article.

Where did you get the extra 10# of LR? Just to be on the safe side, I'd consider isolating the clowns until the mantis possibility is completely eliminated, otherwise you risk the clowns becoming a meal.

 

[gwhiz]

It could also be a pistol shrimp. I tore my tank apart once looking for a mantis that wasn't there---found some small (3/4") pistol shrimp that were making the noise. If it's a single pop, it's probably a pistol shrimp, if it's multiple taps, more likely to be a mantis as he chisels a hole in the rock.

 

[budsreef]

Do you have a heater in the tank? They will make an audible noise as well and if you are hearing it consistantly then I would look for something mechanical/electrical.

 

[jaydm93teg]

I do not have anywhere to isolate the clowns to, the extra rock came from the 2.99 tubs from cap bay. What should I do to get to the bottom of this? Any trap to get a mantis shrimp they way they describe the noise is a single popping...

 

[jaydm93teg]

no heater in the tank

 

[linda lee]

jaydm93teg;210965 wrote: I do not have anywhere to isolate the clowns to, the extra rock came from the 2.99 tubs from cap bay. What should I do to get to the bottom of this? Any trap to get a mantis shrimp they way they describe the noise is a single popping...

You could try a trap and see what happens. Also, you could float a colander in the tank for the clowns.

 

[jaydm93teg]

I NEED HELP

so tonight i get home adn one of my new clowns tail is chopped off....it is laying on the sand bed and cant swim....is there anything i can do for it?? would this be from the mantis shrimp?? what can i do to save my other clown from becoming a meal?? how can i catch this thing??

 

[darren24]

I would think that if a Mantis wounded the fish he would have taken it back to it's den and eaten it. Sorry no help here.

 

[jaydm93teg]

the fish is now dead....the back tail was chopped off and the top find looked like a chunk was taken out of it...i foudn it under the rock with 3 or 4 hermits on top of it....the popping is still coming from the tank. I am staying here at her house tonight waiting to hear it......is there anything i can do to try and draw this thing out?

 

[george]

jaydm93teg;211189 wrote: is there anything i can do to try and draw this thing out?

Tearing down the tank is the only way to grab it before it munches another fish.

 

[jaydm93teg]

I took EVERYTHING out of the tank including the fish earlier today when i noticed he was badly injured.. I left the live rock out of the tank for almost an hour and i did not see a shrimp anywhere.. I am guessing its hinding in the rocks.. do i let everything die off the rocks to kill it if hes hiding???

 

[linda lee]

Linda Lee;210953 wrote: Just to be on the safe side, I'd consider isolating the clowns until the mantis possibility is completely eliminated, otherwise you risk the clowns becoming a meal.

This is heartbreaking.

I want to say something else, but I won't.

 

[jaydm93teg]

Linda Lee;211194 wrote: This is heartbreaking.

I want to say something else, but I won't.

yeah yeah i know i told you so. (thats what im guessing your talking about)

i made the original post this morning from work...didnt get back here from school until about 9 o'clock.

She got back from school around 5 and that is when she noticed he was hurt (she made the last post about pulling the stuff out of the tank). Trust me linda i didnt ignore your original advice i was just not home in time to put it into effect.

 

[jaydm93teg]

so here we are tonight with a dead clown and one that looks fine. Nobody has heard popping from the tank since all of the LR was taken out earlier tonight about 5 o'clock. Would the shrimp die if he was sitting out of water for an hour?

 

[mapleredta]

Yeah it really sounds too me like a pistol shrimp. I had one in my 46 gallon bow front. I knew around about where it was because I would see sand in a mound in front of the rock work in certain areas. I would watch it at night with a red flash light and I could see his antennas. I tore it down and transfered everything too my 55 at the time. Found him he was about an inch. I had a cleaner shrimp and a potters angel disapear before I found out what it was. Im not sure if thats what killed them or not but after I got him out of the tank, i never had a disapearing fish or shrimp.

 

[mapleredta]

jaydm93teg;211196 wrote: so here we are tonight with a dead clown and one that looks fine. Nobody has heard popping from the tank since all of the LR was taken out earlier tonight about 5 o'clock. Would the shrimp die if he was sitting out of water for an hour?

More then likely, but so is all the good bacteria in the rock now.:sad:

 

[jaydm93teg]

thats ok if the bacteria is gone i can change out a few pieces of rock from my 80 gallon from my house i just want to make sure we have the problem taken care of in this tank before we continue to add to it.