10g N. wennerae Mantis Tank

[Firefish15]

So you know how with cats, you can buy them a nice cat tree, and when you’ve finished building it and rearranging your living room to fit it, you turn around and the cat is just chilling in the cardboard box the tree came in?

 

Yeah yeah, the mantis is doing that. Here he is just chilling behind the filter box. 

 

He’s not injured, I watched him swim up there. He’s not stuck, he’s holding himself aloft with his tail fins extended. His eyes are alert and wave to watch me when I poke my head over there. Just seems like a nice spot I guess? 🤨

[Firefish15]

Well, after the last post the mantis started acting pretty strange. I don’t know what this behavior means. From the little reading I’ve done, perhaps it is starting a rough molting process? It doesn’t have any external parasites from what I can see. Here’s a YouTube video of what I’m talking about.

https://youtube.com/shorts/M4MqZPNQk7k?feature=share

 

If anyone has any guesses, feel free to chime in. 

 

For now, I’ve unplugged the lights to help reduce stress. I’ll start testing the water shortly, but visually nothing else seems off at least.

[debbeach13]

I hope the little guy is OK. 

[Looselyhuman]

Damn. Not looking good.

 

Do you have any iodine handy? 

 

You might've just gotten unlucky; if he(?) was getting ready to molt when they shipped him to you it could definitely have messed up a molt.

[Firefish15]

1 hour ago, Looselyhuman said:

Do you have any iodine handy?

I don’t have any. From what I’ve read though, the need for supplemental iodine is still fairly conjectural. Not much proof either way. 

I did do a water change less than a week ago, so there should be enough just from the salt mix. I don’t want to change water parameters and stress him out more too. 

[Looselyhuman]

I've had some decent luck with freshwater shrimp, using iodine to kick-start a molt. That's basically the only crustacean therapy that comes to mind..

[Looselyhuman]

What's new? Mantis still alive?

[Firefish15]

6 hours ago, Looselyhuman said:

What's new? Mantis still alive?

Still alive, still acting strange though. Generally curled up, though he moves from place to place, either the burrow or out in the open.

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, Firefish15 said:

Still alive, still acting strange though. Generally curled up, though he moves from place to place, either the burrow or out in the open.

The curled up position isn't a good sign, unfortunately. I had 2 mantises in the past that did that and eventually died within days. 😔

 

Did you do a WC, by any chance? It could be trying to molt, but having difficulty in doing so. 🤔

[Firefish15]

9 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Did you do a WC, by any chance? It could be trying to molt, but having difficulty in doing so. 🤔

I did one 8 days ago on September 25. Should I change out some more?

[Snow_Phoenix]

11 minutes ago, Firefish15 said:

I did one 8 days ago on September 25. Should I change out some more?

A small one - maybe 10% or so. Any chance you have an iodine kit to check the iodine levels? 

Because they do struggle to molt as they get older and larger, and sometimes die during a molt. 😞 

[Firefish15]

1 hour ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

Any chance you have an iodine kit to check the iodine levels? 

Would this one work? Or is there another brand that’s recommended?

[Snow_Phoenix]

31 minutes ago, Firefish15 said:

Would this one work? Or is there another brand that’s recommended?

Should be okay. If you can't get a hold of it, just do a small WC and observe if there are any changes in your mantis's behaviour. I usually put 1 drop of iodine in my nano (which has 2 shrimps and 1 hermit) if I slack back on WCs. So far no issues with molting for all 3 of them. 

[Looselyhuman]

I really do think you should do the drop of iodine thing asap. It's a long-shot, but it's about the only thing you can really do that could change the situation quickly enough to make a difference.

[SF Reef]

Cool tank, curious... where did you get the mantis from? I haven't seen many for sale.

[Firefish15]

I’ve done a smallish water change, a little under 10%. Water added was same mix, salinity, and temperature as the tank. 
 I will buy an Iodide supplement tomorrow, as well as a test kit. 
I did crane my neck and peer under the rock, and there was still a pair of eyes watching me. Still hanging on.

 

1 hour ago, SF Reef said:

curious... where did you get the mantis from?

I bought him online from Tampa Bay Saltwater. They mariculture live rock, but they also sell some local organisms and hitchhikers they find. The N. wennerae is the only species they offer.

Not sure how they’ve fared during Hurricane Ian though, hopefully they’re all good down there.

[Looselyhuman]

4 hours ago, Firefish15 said:

Not sure how they’ve fared during Hurricane Ian though, hopefully they’re all good down there.

I was thinking of them today as well. I imagine they are pretty hardened and have generators etc. At least I hope so...

[Firefish15]

@Snow_Phoenix and @Looselyhuman, I bought the Fluval Iodine supplement today, and have added half of a recommended dose. I didn’t find a test at the store, and Amazon will take a couple weeks to get me one. There’s another LFS or two I can check for a test, so I’ll get on that tomorrow or the day after. 
I didn’t want to do a full dose without knowing my levels.

[Firefish15]

Parameters look good. Didn’t check nitrate or phosphate after water change, but salinity, kH, and pH are all spot on. 1.025, 8.5, and 8.2, respectively. 
 

 

I did still see a pair of eyeballs looking at me today, this time under the rock between the rhodactis and disco mushrooms. Good to know the mantis is still alive at least. I may try offering food tomorrow, see if he’s interested at all. 
 

I did find some bryopsis algae that was growing on the clove polyp frag plug. Before my water change yesterday, I turned off the filter and let the water sit still. Then I squirted 2ml or so of 3% hydrogen peroxide over the bryopsis to see if that would kill it. It hasn’t turned pale yet. 
 

I also found a little chunk of some sort of orange sps coral on the sand bed. May have come from either the live sand or some rubble I took from another hobbyist’s established tank. I set it on the rock between the GSP and the palys. We’ll see if it turns into anything. 
 

I continue to see good amounts of critters. Stomatellas continue to cruise the tank, micro brittle stars wave their arms from the rockwork, pods are abundant on the glass. One of the two hermit crabs did kill and move into a dwarf cerith shell, but I still have three more ceriths as far as I can tell. 
 

Aside from the worries with the health of the mantis, I’m enjoying this tank quite a lot. This being my second tank, I had a much clearer vision going into it than I did with my first tank. I’m loving all the cheap, easy softies, and the damsel is a very entertaining little fish. Very curious and interactive. 

[Firefish15]

Here’s a neat little event! I captured a mass spawning event from all the stomatella snails! There were at least 4 mature snails participating, all clambered up onto high points on the rockwork. Some were releasing clouds of sperm, and others were sending out little puffs of eggs! 
The damsel was a fan of that, and was picking off eggs as he could. I didn’t observe any corals feeding off eggs. 
 

 

I hope some survive to hatch!

[banasophia]

Wow, great capture!!! And way less gross than when the bristleworms do their mass spawning in my tanks!! Your damsel looked like he was loving the snail caviar!!

[Looselyhuman]

I love the way the eggs move with your (looking good) flow. I can almost hear David Attenborough narrating the scene.

[Firefish15]

I haven’t seen the shrimp in two days. It seemed that he may have been digging deeper under the rock, but I’m not sure. I’ll do an ammonia test soon to see if there’s been any spike.

 

On Thursday, I added another half-dose of Iodine solution. I may establish a routine where I do a water change on Sundays, then add a half dose of Iodine on Thursdays. That way, they’ll be offset from each other. 
 

Fish and corals look good otherwise. 

[Looselyhuman]

Fingers crossed!

[Firefish15]

Well, it was unnecessary to do an ammonia test. I saw the shrimp again today, out and about for a few minutes. He still looks…iffy.
 

He darted out from under the rock and swam erratically for a bit, and then touched down. Thereafter, he scooted around on his back a bit.
I took the opportunity to offer him some frozen LRS Reef Frenzy from a pipette, which he actually accepted. This makes me think that he’s not actually in the process of molting. From what I’ve read, they don’t eat in preparation for that. 

 

This is the first good and close look I’ve gotten at him, and I’m glad to have gotten it on video. He’s got some very nice colors, some blues, purples, and oranges.