Peppermint shrimp disappeared

[DevilSauce]

Hey guys

Recently one of my two peppermint shrimps disappeared.

I have come to the conclusion it is either hiding VERY well inside my live rock (for some reason)

 

Or a hitchhiker brittle star ate him in his sleep.

 

Can anyone suggest which is the likelier scenario? I have done reading, and I had thought MAYBE it was preggers and tending its eggs, but shrimp dont lay eggs (that was my only plausible reason for it hiding).

 

Thanks guys

 

Oh, and any way to keep my other two shrimp safe besides nuking my tank (there is a peppermint and a cleaner - but I think the cleaner is too large for the stars I've seen in the LR)

[sublunary]

How long has he been gone? Maybe it's hiding after a molt? My peppermint is really good at hiding (even in my relatively open tank) but he always comes out when there's food.

 

and how big is the brittle star? Is it one of the evil green ones everyone warns against?

[BobbyL1212]

Do you see fairly large brittle stars in your tank?

 

Even the non-predatory brown species love shrimp.

[DevilSauce]

How long has he been gone? Maybe it's hiding after a molt? My peppermint is really good at hiding (even in my relatively open tank) but he always comes out when there's food.

 

and how big is the brittle star? Is it one of the evil green ones everyone warns against?

 

 

Even when I feed he doesn't come out, and the brittles are all in the LR. They aren't the evil green ones (that I'm aware of) - whenever I see legs poking out they are grey with blue stripes. I have see one or two, and none have a body larger than my pinky fingernail, and my fingers are not extraordinarily large (lol). The other one is out constantly, but I havent seen little Franz in quite a while (they are named Hanz and Franz).

I haven't seen him in about a week... with everything in the tank, I try to be not so panicky. Its a 14 gallon tank, he has plenty of room to hide, if he is.

[Dooderino]

If it doesn't come out during feeding then it is probably dead. Since your other one is still alive it's probably not your water that killed it. I would also find it highly doubtful a brittle star killed it.

 

Sometimes things die. I call it MDS. Mysterious Death Syndrome.

[kamikaze_fish]

Welcome to the disappearing peppermint shrimp club. I joined about a week ago. There seem to be numerous accounts of pep shrimp that magically disappear. Always check everywhere, sump, overflows, etc. After looking for a couple hours I finally found a spot behind my tank where it looked clean, like the dust had been wiped off and it was about the length of my shrimp. I'm assuming he jumped and was found by a cat or dog.

[kevivoe]

Welcome to the disappearing peppermint shrimp club. I joined about a week ago. There seem to be numerous accounts of pep shrimp that magically disappear. Always check everywhere, sump, overflows, etc. After looking for a couple hours I finally found a spot behind my tank where it looked clean, like the dust had been wiped off and it was about the length of my shrimp. I'm assuming he jumped and was found by a cat or dog.

 

Humm sounds like you need a crime scene investigation.