Aaaargh!!!!!

[reef_obsessed]

Alright, I am getting a little tired of feeding this tank live fish. I lost another one. Not sure who the culprit is.......Is it the Coral Banded Shrimp in the kitchen with a butter knife?? Is it the Hatian Anemone by the stairwell with a candle stick?? Whoever it is.....it's ticking me off In the last 5 months, I've lost a Coral Beauty, Clown, 3 Green Chromis, one large feather duster and now a Coral Cat! But the Shrooms are boomin, and the Polyps are growing and, and......this doesn't seem to be enough for Wifey. She likes the fishys, swimmin back and forth-you get the pic??

I'm triing to be patient. On the rocks, I have some amazing critters and the water is spot on with all the stats(ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite yada yada) !?!? Wifey wants me to go fresh, cause, 'They're prettier'. HELP!!!! I can't go FRESH, I just CAN'T!!!!!

Seriously, don't I have enough to have a pretty mini reef with fishys??
55 Gallon Tank
Wet Dry Filter
SeaClone Skimmer
2 power heads
330 hang on Penguin Filter
265 watts of light
Lots of Live Rock 80LBS or so.

Scooter Blenny
Coral Banded Shrimp
Coral Cat (I had two)
Hatian Anemone
Lots of Snails

I need some help on this one-I need suggestions in order to keep this a float - no pun intended (but it was a clever pun non the less!) Really would like this to succeed!!!!

To be clear-what I am asking is....I am looking for a winning combonation of fish and coral for what I am running. If I need to set up other tanks to house some of these possible culprits, I will. Thank you Reefland, my fate is in your hands :eek3:

[smidoid]

Quickly, just so you know we're paying attention:

1. Do you quarantine new fish? How long? They need time to recover and acclimate from the stess of transport. Inherent illness will kill a weak fish in the first few days or weeks if it can't find a peaceful spot. If you don't quarantine, you might even bring in disease that could kill the other fish like Brookynella.

2. when the fish "expire" are there any outward signs of damage? If they've been attacked, there will (usually) be visible signs - bloating, missing bits, cuts etc.

3. Is the seaclown working efficiently? Mine's worse than useless.

4. Which freshwater fish does your wife consider prettier? Neons? Marine fish are known for their stunning array of colours and shapes. Look at the Mandarin goby, for instance (not suitable for you though) or the Royal Gramma or the Voltanis lionfish (potentially very dangerous <grins>) to name three popular ones.

5. Your coral band can be a bit of a swine, mine is when it gets hungry. Make sure it gets well fed with meaty food like bloodworm.

[reef_obsessed]

Thanks Marc for the speedy reply.
To answer your questions in order-
1. Kindof embarrassed to admit..I have never quarintined fish.....which I am guessing is.....bad? This maybe the demise of the Coral Cat, because he was a week old, but to disappear?? Somebody's hungry. The rest of the fish were at least six months old before Disappearing.
2. No visible signs of stress before fish expire.
3. Seaclone working, collecting anyway. Empty every other day.
4. She's nuts. Fresh water..not gonna happen
5. I feed the shrimp silversides, maybe not enough???

[DW62]

Do the fish appear health/happy for a day or so? How long are they living? If you are acclimating properly, then IMHO, not QTing them is not your problem. Did you get some new LR prior to the fish dying? You could have a Mantis Shrimp hiding out somewhere. These guys can live in tanks for months before being detected. If this could be a possibility, might want to try to put a fish trap in there to see if you can catch him!

[reef_obsessed]

Fish lifespans vary from 0ne week (Coral Cat) to 2 years (Clownfish). The appear fine prior to disappearing. What kind of fish trap?

[DW62]

If the fish are disappearing, that is a pretty good sign of a mantis shrimp. Here's a link to a typical fish trap sold in stores /www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=UL1511 I have heard of people making one using a plastic bottle, but I have never done it so can't tell you how. You might be able to google and find it.

[reef_obsessed]

New and exciting stuff in tank. It looks like a Jellyfish of some sort, it may be the answer to the loss of fish!? I hope!
Yahoo! Photos
Let me know if you can see these-please. If you look closely you can see a fish skeleton in the middle of the fuzzy blob.

Please help with a diagnosis of what this is.

Thanks,
Dave

[Reefland]

Can't see the pic.