Missing Royal Gramma and Blood Red Shrimp ????

[Padawanreefaddict]

So a couple of weeks ago I noticed my Royal Gramma went into hiding and only came out for feeding. Then he just stopped coming out all together. No leftovers either just disappeared. Now just the other day, my blood red shrimp went missing. Same deal, no leftovers, shell or anything. Salinity has been steady at 1.025. No ammonia, no nitrites, and about 4ppm of nitrates. I have a misbar Darwin and an orange ocellaris, 2 fire fish and a goby/pistol shrimp combo. Few torches, and some zoas. Everything else is thriving in my tank. Any ideas what could be going on? I'm baffled.

 

[Naiad]

How long have you had these guys? What makes up your cuc? Do you watch you tank at night?

 

[Padawanreefaddict]

How long have you had these guys? What makes up your cuc? Do you watch you tank at night?

Got both at the end of March. Blood red molted a few times and was always well fed. Standard CUC of snails and hermit crabs. I definitely watch at night. A lot. Lol

 

[Naiad]

Darn that rules out easy things. Do you qt fish? The shrimp may just be molting if it just disappeared.

 

[Padawanreefaddict]

Sorry. I guess I should mention it's a 29 gallon biocube and he's a decent size shrimp. I doubt he's hiding. Lol. Did not QT. but he never showed signs of stress or anything. I fact I had a big orange Ocellaris that came with the tank and was terrorizing everyone except the small Ocellaris I picked up. I decided to get rid of her and all of a sudden all my fish came out of hiding. Royal Gramma was pretty hardy and stood his ground with everyone else.

 

[Naiad]

Anyway they could be in a back compartment? I would think if they died the water parameters would show it.

 

[Tahoe61]

Did you look in the back sump for the fish?
Do you have a serpent star?

 

[Padawanreefaddict]

Yup. Definitely not in the back. I have a few hermit crabs back there and they keep my compartments pretty clean back there. That's what baffles me. No significant spikes in ammonia or nitrates to indicate dead fish. No serpent stars either.