Complete aquascape teardown

[bioteacher]

So, I have an issue of dying fish with a mystery clicking sound that has to be a pistol or mantis or something. I also have a reef lobster that is a suspect in the fish deaths and I want to get out. He is burrowed in the very bottom back corner of my 125g reef. I am considering removing all of the rock and treating it to find that shrimp, catch the lobster, and treat all rock with aiptasia while I am at it.

Anyone have any ideas how I should go about this? I am guessing that I have about 150 lbs of lr.

 

[Jake337]

You could maybe set up a trap and see if he goes in? I took some lr out of my tank and redid the scape. By doing that I stirred up my sandbed and grew a lot of diatoms/algae.

 

[bioteacher]

I am trying trapping now without any luck so far. I have a lot of concerns about pulling everything apart. That is why I am looking for people's experiences.

What do I do with the fish when all the rock is out? Just leave them in the tank?

What about all my corals an rock with Zoas? Should I dip those in a coral dip?

How do I vanguish any small shrimp that might be burrowed in a rock? I have heard about freshwater dips, but don't know the specific of that or of any harmful effects on the lr.

 

[PurplePolyp]

I had to do the same thing to remove a demon damsel from my tank. He killed 7 shrimp and 3 fish. I siphoned water out an into a styrofoam container that the rock came in and put all my rock in there. Caught the fish and re-scaped it. It didn't harm any of my corals during the process. It stirred up a bunch of stuff but it didn't take long for the tank to settle back down. It's a hassle but might be the option your left with. I spent 2 months with a minnow trap in the tank with no luck.

 

[bioteacher]

I had to do the same thing to remove a demon damsel from my tank. He killed 7 shrimp and 3 fish. I siphoned water out an into a styrofoam container that the rock came in and put all my rock in there. Caught the fish and re-scaped it. It didn't harm any of my corals during the process. It stirred up a bunch of stuff but it didn't take long for the tank to settle back down. It's a hassle but might be the option your left with. I spent 2 months with a minnow trap in the tank with no luck.

Did you just leave the rest of your fish in the tank?

 

[PurplePolyp]

He was the only fish we had left. He killed the other damsel that we had, then killed the goby and cardinal fish that I added later. And every time a shrimp would get close to him he would kill it. At the time when I pulled everything out, it was just him, my sand sifting star, and the hermit crabs and snails of my CUC. I just left all them in there and made sure not to smash anything when I put the rock back in. I'm sure the other fish will be fine. Just make sure they don't come out inside a piece of rock!!

 

[Irishmike7979]

You can just remove your fish and put them into 5 gallon buckets with airstones and a heater. I recently moved my tank and my fish/coral were in buckets for over 8 hours perfectly fine while I aquascaped.