HELP, fish missing and coral dying...

[Whatigot]

I have noticed my mated true perculas have been acting agressively towards my royal gramma and I am assuming that they killed my clown goby as he is suddenly gone without a trace.
I noticed last week a little black crab in the tank that must have come in on some new live rock from ocean aquatics I bought 2 or 3 weeks ago.
Over the last 3 days, my leather finger coral has been torn apart pretty good, not dead yet, but I am sure another attack will prove fatal.
I hope some of you more experienced reefers can help me, I want to know if the crab I saw could have not only eaten the coral, but also if it might have killed and eaten my clown goby...he loved chilling on that finger coral.
I also want to know how I can catch the little bastard if at all, I have only seen him once at 4 in the morning and I was way to inebriated to start messing around my tank at the time, so I stupidly left it.

If not on the little black crab with skinny claws, I am blaming the death of my clown goby on the mated percula that came together with it in the aquapod I started reefing with.
please help, I don't want to lose anymore coral or fish.
K.

[Skimmerking]

Well I know that my clowns are very aggressive towards me putting my hands in the tank. And Doug's clowns are aggressive too since they have started to lay eggs. with the crab may be you should get a picture up so someone can ID the crab. May be that who is killing the corals and Crabs do eat other things if they are dying.

A small coke bottle with the top cut out and turned inward always worked for me. make sure that is all that you catch I have used this method and ended up catching my shrimp.

[Van-rookie]

One of my clown always bite me everytime my hand gets too close to the anemone he hosts :)

Well I know that my clowns are very aggressive towards me putting my hands in the tank. And Doug's clowns are aggressive too since they have started to lay eggs. with the crab may be you should get a picture up so someone can ID the crab. May be that who is killing the corals and Crabs do eat other things if they are dying.

A small coke bottle with the top cut out and turned inward always worked for me. make sure that is all that you catch I have used this method and ended up catching my shrimp.

[BigT]

I have a hitchhiker crab as well in my tank, and from what I have learned that they can prey of fish. None of my residents seem to be hurt or missing, but I am still trying to get the crab out with little success he only comes out far enough so I can see him but not get him. Does anyone know a technique to catch the crab, apart from tearing down my tank.

[Whatigot]

guys, I only saw him once and I reiterate I was inebriated.
He was black, the size of a quarter and had longer claws he was tucking under him....
please help, I already lost my leather coral...

[michika]

Crab sounds evil, probably worth getting him out.

[maron6977]

Are you sure it's not from the new live rock (maybe not cured) ? Just a thought.
Mark

[honkey sauce]

intercepter kills crabs.last resort

[marie]

intercepter kills crabs.last resort

Only the ones you don't want killed...ask christy :mrgreen:

[Whatigot]

As stated earlier, this crab definitely came in on some new cured rock from oa I got 2 or 3 weeks before this event.
I have since seperated my clowns and they now live in my 12 gallon qauapod with my richardsons moray.
Tonight I am going to buy the stinkiest shrimp I can find and try and smoke this guy out.
What is intercepter?
sounds like fun..
I have several zebra, blue legged and electric blue hermits in the reef community as well along with a coral banded (useless) shrimp that I would not want to harm.

[mr_alberta]

Interceptor will kill all your hermits, shrimps, pods. Best would be to figure out the rock the crab is in, take it out and soak that rock in interceptor (dog heartworm medication).

[Whatigot]

whoah, wow....
much appreciated but i think I'll see if I can trap him as Terry suggested before i drop the i bomb or anything...
I would rather just feed my tank extra so the renegade crab doesn't feel the need to eat coral for lack of detrius...

[Whatigot]

Okay.
Today I got home and found my blackray shrimp goby had a huge gash up it's side, this is about 3 weeks after I introduced him and his pistol weilding partner (the pistol shrimp has not been seen since his introduction to my reef, though I think this explains why) and while a hider he was eating voraciously and getting along very well waiting for his shrimp to show up and build him a house.
I knew right away that whoever was responsible for this injury was also resposible for killing the aforementioned leather coral and maybe even the clown goby, though I'm still pinning that on my clownfish.
I looked to the trap I had set up, the much debated pop bottle funnel kind and saw my electric blue hermit as dead as could be with the remnants of one last satisfying meal of squid strewn around him.

Needless to say, my frustration over this ongoing matter had reached a tipping point.

Sitting down on my couch and peering into the tank in dismay and feeling somewhat desolate, I saw movement.
I jumped and looked closer and saw a pincer with stripes like a coral banded shrimp dissapear into a piece of live rock. I plunged in after it as fast as I could get my gloves on and pulled the rock out, going over it again and again not finding my intruder I gave up and looked once more to the tank. It was only a minute before I saw another body under an adjoining piece of live rock, I acted without delay this time and procured a small grey crab with beady red eyes.
I celebrated and put the pieces of live rock back into their places and marvelled at how easy that had been, if stressfull on my fish. It was then that I saw a familiar banded pincer stretching out from a crevice on the recently returned rock.....needless to say I got him the second time around and what a mean looking little crab he is.
Looking at them it's hard to believe that these two little critters caused so much carnage and cost.

Thanks for the help and suggestions, I really hope this is the end of this matter.
K.