The case of the missing inverts....

messiah023

Reefing newb
A few weeks ago, we had 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 cleaner shrimp and half a dozen or so hermits and snails.
Today, we have only 1 cleaner shrimp on only a handful of crabs & snails.

Over the course of the investigation, we have found no traces of any remains or carcasses of the shrimp, however, the sand bed is littered with empty shells ranging from larger hermit shells to smaller snail shells.

The investigation has found several surviving nassarius snails, as well as nerites and a few hermits, possibly dismissing water quality issues.

The suspects are still at large and are comprised of the following inhabitants:

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BULLET GOBY (AKA Sleeper Banded Goby)

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OCELLARIS CLOWNFISH (AKA Nemo)

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STARRY BLENNY (AKA Snowflake Blenny)

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BRITTLE STARFISH (AKA Starsky)

Anyone with any information on the sudden disappearances of our invert friends may contact us immediately. All leads will be treated with the utmost confidence.

Thank you for your support.
 
hmm, I dont know if one bristle star would find the remains that quick if the invert is on the other side of the tank, mine doesn't move to far to often. any chance it's a Mantis shrimp, have you investigated what goes on at night? use to 2 different hydrometers or make sure your refractometer is calibrated right just to make sure your salinity isn't off.
 
How much rock do you have? Did you check every single one and lastly, what exactly did you do to make sure none are still alive?
 
Thanks everyone,

Cthegame, I have about 30-40 lbs of rock (only a 30 gallon tank).
I checked all the rocks and found nothing, even in the goby burrows.

It's still a mystery.......
 
My first guess would be a predator of some sort, like a mantis shrimp. They can be sneaky, small and hard to find.

It's not likely water quality since you have other inverts that are doing well.

Could it be acclimation? How long and how did you acclimate them? Inverts are much more sensitive to acclimation than other animals, especially shrimp and snails.
 
Thanks again for your input.
To answer some questions:

Biff & Ct, these shrimp & inverts were in the tank over 1 month before the abductions started. I saw the shrimp one day, the next day one was missing. This cycle went on over a two week period (4 total shrimp missing). The crabs & snails disappeared over the past month or so....slowly. I have been looking for Mantis, but haven't seen any yet. My rockwork is small (30 gallon tank) and I will continue to search. I would have thought I would see at least a carcass though.

I'll keep you all posted.
 
I also think the star would have taken care of any carcasses, that's what a cleaner crew is for. If you have a sufficient cleaner crew, you should never find a body!

Since it doesn't sound like acclimation, I'd lean towards a predator.

Have you tested your tank for copper? Copper will kill inverts, although I don't know why only some would be dead if it was copper.
 
when lookin at night for predators use a lights with a red lens to keep from scaring anything away. Other than a predator i would think the biggest likely thing would be water quality. are there diseases that can pass between inverts?
 
OK i though this was more of an immediate issue...if its been thru the course of 1 month, then i agree with biff. I think some got killed and some probably just died and since they didnt all die at the same time, its very easy for the remaining cleaner crew to get rid of the dead bodies quickly.
 
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