Where'd my nassarius/nassarii go?

[Curtis]

About a year ago, I purchased something like 30 of these guys for my 90G reef tank. I had also no bio load...one lawnmower blenny and four pieces of sps.

They used to swarm out of the sandbed when I dropped in an algae tablet for the blenny.

At night, they'd be all of the walls.

Since then, I've added just three fish, some more sps, zoas, mushrooms, etc. But still relatively light load (all small frags purchased from fellow board mates)

Now, I seldom see them.

Do they die off? I don't see empty shells that might indicate murder at the hands of my hermit crabs.

Or do I just have fat happy nassrii that don't feel like coming the surface anymore?

Curtis

 

[Ashlar]

Were these the dark brown / black nasarrius with smooth shells? If so, they are colder water species, and don't do well in our tanks. If they did die, they might do it under the sand, not leaving much evidence.

 

[DaveJ]

@Curtis wrote:

Sounds like some die off.. I always end up tossing a silverside to the bottom, this serves the snails and shrimps. I do this every other week. Aside from starvation, predation by hermits or salinity/temp swings will be your most likely cause assuming you acclimated them correctly originally.