HELP.........what is this that is possibly eating my fish!!

twilliard · May 28, 2016

What ever it is I want it!

Rabi51 · May 28, 2016

FL_Reefer said:
Ya those eyes are a dead giveaway, can you Luehr it out with food to get a better look at it? Also did you buy live rock or did you start with dry?

No, I always buy live rock. But this rock has been in my set up now since last November.

Rabi51 · May 28, 2016

twilliard said:
What ever it is I want it!

Terrific.......once I tear it out of there I will mail it to you! Probably in pieces!

AllSignsPointToFish · May 28, 2016

Maybe a Stephenson's mantis shrimp?
http://australianmuseum.net.au/uploads/images/7551/stromatopod adult_big.jpg

FL_Reefer · May 28, 2016

Rabi51 said:
Terrific.......once I tear it out of there I will mail it to you! Probably in pieces!

Lol

Bdog4u2 · May 28, 2016

Its a bobbit worm i had one many years ago and this looks familiar. My trigger fish took care of my problem

Duke4Life · May 28, 2016

@Wiz this may be up your alley as well.

cowboy · May 28, 2016

When it clamps shut it looks like a few muscle I have in my tank buy if it is a Bobbitt really if you can get it out intact hit up @twilliard I think he would love to mess with it even a mantis I'm sure he would enjoy either one

Lionfish Lair · May 28, 2016

It's all of the area in red. The white is a part of it in some form... It closes like a bivalve.

This is without the red line so you can see the actual area.

Lionfish Lair · May 28, 2016

Then when startled, it pulls in and the white shell looking thing closes over it.....

Lionfish Lair · May 28, 2016

That motion looks rather bivalve-like, but then it extends and the white actually looks soft, and not hard-shell like...

twilliard · May 28, 2016

Rabi51 said:
Terrific.......once I tear it out of there I will mail it to you! Probably in pieces!

Well I am sure we could come up with a cool deal on this?
Did I ever mention I love pests

Please don't kill it! We should talk

cowboy · May 28, 2016

If you watch the second video in slow motion I'm really going to go with a bivalve of some sort I cannot tell what kind but the motion and the sand the it blows out while closing really dose point to a bivalve.

The new fish on the block · May 28, 2016

At the last second of the video it looks like a pair of fangs

Rabi51 · May 28, 2016

twilliard said:
Well I am sure we could come up with a cool deal on this?
Did I ever mention I love pests
Please don't kill it! We should talk

If I lose one more fish it is going to get nasty! At first when it appeared I thought it was rather cool looking. Under the blue lighting those filament/feeler type things are a really neat green color (so those appendages must flouresce in some way) and then the body appears to be purple. The weird part of it is, it never moves from that place. The fish I have lost, I think it was because they just got to close.
I really don't want to destroy it, but if it is killing my fish, it needs to go! Lionfish Lair is right when she says it acts like a bi-valve in that it snaps that cover closed when ever it is disturbed and everything that is on the inside is hidden away by that cover with just one small section showing a possibly a gaping black hole for lack of a better description.
I would actually swear I have seen one in a book somewhere but for the life of me I can't find that book to tell what it is.

The new fish on the block · May 28, 2016

it also looks like it recedes back into a hole

Lionfish Lair · May 28, 2016

cowboy said:
If you watch the second video in slow motion I'm really going to go with a bivalve of some sort I cannot tell what kind but the motion and the sand the it blows out while closing really dose point to a bivalve.

I'm agreeing, the only part that doesn't fit is out it comes further out when it closes and the "shell" seems to loose shape.

Your rock is a little filter feeder haven.

Lionfish Lair · May 28, 2016

I don't think this is killing your fish, BTW. It's only my gut telling me, but I really feel it isn't.

Rabi51 · May 28, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
I don't think this is killing your fish, BTW. It's only my gut telling me, but I really feel it isn't.

I really hope you are right.....but then, I am wondering where those two smaller fish have gone? The firefish as I said, I had to do away with because it was damaged somehow? But the other two, I have looked every where, even in the sump area thinking they somehow jumped ship. There is also a lid on my tank so it is not a question of them getting out and one of the cats getting them. They have disappeared with absolutely NO trace.
I just really do wish I knew what this thing was, so I could quit worrying about what is going on in the tank.
The rock that is currently in there is at least 3 years old. It was living in the sump of my tank downstairs for the better part of two years before I decided to set up the cube upstairs.
AND if I do decide to let it go, twilliard, I will be looking you up!