I think mantis is sick

[saveafish]

He will just lay there upside down fanning his flappy thing under his abb when you move him around with a stick he will move some but goes right back to his back Could he be molting??

[VacavilleFC3S]

hmmmm this is a good one for Roy.

mine hides for a week whenever it molts, infact today will be day 5, it did open the door for an hour yesterday and stick it's head out but then just closed it back up.

i'm gonna assume it laying upside down in the open is a probably not a good sign.

hows everything else in the tank??

[saveafish]

everything else is great. I have him in my sump and all the corals and water checks out good.

[TrappedMetal]

This is very bad news. Have you used any solvents or chemicals around the tank?

[VacavilleFC3S]

if he had used a chemical it would have affected his corals or clean up crew i assume. i'm thinking the mantis is not well

[cobaltplasma]

Well there are certain things that mantises are very, very sensitive to, so if he had in fact done so it might not show up as symptomatic amongst the rest of the tank. I can't really offer anything but wishes for the best for you little guy, we'll all be rootin' for him.

[J2FcM]

So whats the general advice then? Water changes and praying?

[VacavilleFC3S]

i dunno about that cobalt, if you can name a specific chemical or solvent i'd be more inclined lean your way, but IMO mantis are hardier than most the other inverts we have. seeing as we both have very little experience with them hopefully Roy will eventually chime in.

from my experience praying is just wishful thinking, but a water change might be a good idea. seeing as he says everything else is fine in the tank i'm gonna assume it's just a sick/dying mantis.



how long have you had the mantis and how large is it???

[cobaltplasma]

VacavillFC3S, agreed heh, but I was thinking primarily from stuff I read before, like if you use certain household solvents, not even in the room but say the next room over, there was something in it (ammonia...? hmmm) that would just kill off the mantis, but everything else would seem fine. Roy just posted something about copper being very, very lethal to mantises, lower than detectable levels by test kits. That was the basis of my thoughts, but I agree that without knowing specifics, or even naming specifics, it really is a crapshoot hypothesis heh.

But yeah J2FcM, try a water change and hope for the best. Hopefully Roy can chime in with his insight and, also, that your mantis comes out of this a-okay.

[VacavilleFC3S]

ammonia will kill your fish at almost undetectable amounts and copper will kill just about all inverts at undetectable amounts for sure if ANY is present. if it was either he would definately know.

[cobaltplasma]

VacavilleFC3S, yeah that's true, it was just from my own readings that it seemed mantises were even more so susceptible to ammonia anywhere near their environment, where tank inhabitants aside from the mantis (at least at first) seemed okay while the mantis passed on.

Again, without further information and insight from Roy, who's to really say? You and I are merely speculating at this point :)

[saveafish]

BooooHooooo!! He passed on today. But I need to find out why. Here is some of the things I came up with..
1. With him being in the sump the kalk drips in there with him.
2. All other additives are added in the sump, Mag, Iodine, Stron., Buffer.
3. My light was cut back to 14hrs from 24hrs when I added him.
4. He did eat a yellow cuccumber.
5. The water top off changes the sg. from 1.022-1.026 but not often are that fast.
6. Skimmer is running ozone in the next chamber but has about 4lbs of carbon the water runs over.
7. greatest temp change was 4 deg over 2hrs. Main tank it was only 1.5deg over 4hrs
8. greatest sg change was .004 over 4hrs. Main tank was undectable

This is what I have thought of and by looking over the records.

bangs head on desk.

[VacavilleFC3S]

hmmm none of those sound like a killer.

what else is in the tank??? both the display and sump

1. don't think that would do it

2. i'm doubting this also

3. definately wouldn't affect it

4. i'm really not sure about. how long ago did he eat it??

5. if nothing else died i don't think salinity changes did it

6. what is ozone????

7 & 8. don't think it was this either

why is there differences in your tank/sump in temperature and salinity????


maybe it had a bad molt?? Roy says this is there most vulnerable point

[saveafish]

Bad molts will kill them???

The tank and sump temp difference is due to lights and fresh water cooling it. fresh water added to it also drops the sg

[VacavilleFC3S]

yes read roy's thread.