Banditos....

[ElGuappo]

I have started to notice a small decline in my mushie and zoa nubers any ideas what may be going on ? all look healthy and in the last 2 weeks i have noticed the odd one going missing.

[ElGuappo]

Bump

[kwirky]

carbon? too much or it's running out? I've found palys and zoos are pretty sensitive to large ammounts of carbon.

[ElGuappo]

really carbon can be an issue? well this is probably it then as i just changeed the stuff.

[Drock169]

I may suspect the foul play of possibly a predator.

[Chowder]

I had the same problem with zoas going missing. It turned out that there was a crab eating them. Noticesd it one day passing the tank. And the mushrooms could just be not happy where you have them in the flow and letting go.
Chris

[ElGuappo]

i have added nothing in the past to have any hitchers. i thought at first it was my PomPom crab since he lost an anem, butr its not as he is not carrying them. as for the mushies i found it and it did let loose due to flow. still no idea where the 3-6 zoas have gone. i have not seen any hitchers aside from a couple of left handed crabs. i have been wondedring if something has been in there since the get go as i have also come to realize in the last couple weeks is that one of my porcelin crabs is missing his left claw. (maybe the car theif got it?????). \

i spend wayyyyy to much time staring into the blue abyss that is my tank and have never seen anything that i could even imagine doing this. would it be worht my time to set up a trap juswt to see if there is something in there that shouldnt be.

Thanks in advance.

[Chowder]

I didn't know about or see the crab untill I noticed the zoas missing. It was also huge about 2 inches across. Not sure how I missed it but did realize that it hid while the lights were on and active durring the night with the lights out. It was a fluke I noticed it at all.

[ElGuappo]

Do you have any pics of this crab so i can get an idea of what im looking for? i have found no moulting from anything that doesnt resemble what i have in the tank that sheds.

[Puff]

i have added nothing in the past to have any hitchers. i thought at first it was my PomPom crab since he lost an anem, butr its not as he is not carrying them. as for the mushies i found it and it did let loose due to flow. still no idea where the 3-6 zoas have gone. i have not seen any hitchers aside from a couple of left handed crabs. i have been wondedring if something has been in there since the get go as i have also come to realize in the last couple weeks is that one of my porcelin crabs is missing his left claw. (maybe the car theif got it?????). \

i spend wayyyyy to much time staring into the blue abyss that is my tank and have never seen anything that i could even imagine doing this. would it be worht my time to set up a trap juswt to see if there is something in there that shouldnt be.

Thanks in advance.

at one point i noticed things declining and hadnt added anything that would have introduced a hitchhiker.

turned out it was a gorilla crab that had been hiding in my tank from when i first added liverock. once i caught it the problems went away.

[Chowder]

Here are a few pictures I got of the internet. Mine had a tan shell with large black spots that made it blend into it's surroundings. These are pictures of gorilla crabs.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t4/jkhchris/gorillacrab.gif
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t4/jkhchris/100_9133.jpg
I find new crabs all the time. Most of them have come in real small .You will usually notice them after they have grown bigger and easier to see.
Chris