Amphipod Disappearance

[KenRexford]

Weird development. My fuge has for years been packed with amphipods. Now very few. I can barely find any. The one major change is that I have upped my game. Cleaning filters and socks religiously. Nitrates/phosphates near or at 0. Could I be starving them? Is a reduced fige population of amphipods a sign of a clean tank? Should I feed the fuge with reef roids? Is anything mysterious a possible cause?

FWIW, the occasional amphipod I spot on the filter sock seems bigger than usual. Might be a fluke.

 

[Crabs McJones]

You haven't added any new fish that may be consuming them have you?

 

[KenRexford]

Not in the fuge. I did lose a sand sifting goby too. Disappeared. I assumed that he jumped out somehow and was eaten by Cats or dogs or was eaten by the clean up crew. I also assume that he perished due to the lack of pods in the display. I cannot imagine that he could get into the overflow down into the sock and then jump into the fuge and then eat the amphipods. I don't see him down there either.

 

[BadFish619]

Doesn't the same water in fuge return to dt? I know don't just stay where put. I find some on fuge some in dt. They aren't exactly free swimming creatures. More of surface dwellers. So I'll see them all over rocks but typically I don't see them at all... probably still there just going unnoticed

 

[Wolf89]

The socks will kill a lot

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

The other day I was cleaning my filter media out of the cups and dump the material in some spare tank water and forgot about it. When I came back about an hour later the water was teaming with copapods and amphipods; so I dumped that water with pods back in the sump!! So just like @Wolf89 a large number are lost in the cleaning process...

 

[Crabs McJones]

Aditional question, you haven't noticed any ghost flatworms or mysis in your fuge have you? they'll consume pods

 

[KenRexford]

No it is almost like a desert except for the caulerpa