What happened to my fish?

[sparsons]

So my tank is about 4 - 5 months old. 120 gal. mixed reef. 2 weeks ago I put in a yellow watchman goby and a pearly jawfish. They swam around and looked good that night. I've never seen them since!! What happened? Water parameters have been normal (I am at work -don't have exact numbers). I floated them for 30-40 minutes before putting them in just like with my other fish. Didn't drip acclimate.

Other fish include small to med. yellow tang, small to med. blue tang, and 2 clowns. There is a 2 inch crab in my tank that came in on the live rock that I haven't caught yet. Did something kill them? Is it unusual to never see the bodies when a fish dies? Does the clean up crew get rid of them that fast?

[thegrun]

There are many possible explanations. #1, you need to drip acclimate your fish before you add them to a new tank (you should also be quarantining the new fish or sooner or later you will end up killing the entire tank off with a disease you introduce). The lack of acclamation will kill some fish, weaken most others. #2, the crab should be a big concern for you. Both missing fish are mostly bottom dwellers and are very susceptible to crab attacks. Even open water fish will eventually become prey if your crab is not a fish safe variety. When a fish does die, a good cleanup crew will dispatch of the body in a day or two. #3, both fish could still be alive and in hiding, you would be amazed at how long a fish can stay hidden from view.

[sparsons]

Thanks.
I'll work on catching that crab. I already caught one, and then I saw this second one.

I know I should quarantine - just haven't done it yet.

[thebkramer]

[QUOTE=sparsons;17604823]I floated them for 30-40 minutes before putting them in just like with my other fish. Didn't drip acclimate.
[QUOTE]

This is what concerns me..
Did you only float them? You should be floating for about 15mins to adjust to temp.. then taking out 1 cup of water from bag and adding 1 cup of water from tank to bag every 5 minutes for about 20 mins then releasing fish. That way the adjust to your tank slowly. Yes.. drip is better, but not everyone does it that way..

Your fish are probably just hiding really good and may take awhile to say hello to you :) Another reefer just recently came across their watchman after 3months of thinking he was dead :( It ended up being in his sump without him knowing.. but he was alive :)
I hope that all is well and you come across your new tenants soon.. alive!!
I also agree you should attempt to get that crab outta there and ban him to your fuge!! lol

[TripleT]

I would also slow down now... no more livestock until you set up a QT.

Your watchman goby might make himself visible if you feed some frozen cyclops. Makes my gobies go crazy.

What kind of substrate do you have? If you concentrate rubble in a couple of places, your jawfish might take up residence.

[Jstdv8]

Plus 1 on triple T's post.
Allthough I think its probbaly the loch ness monster.
I lost my mandarin after about 6 months, just dissapeared. Fat and happy and then just gone.

[sparsons]

Thanks for the replies!