scarlet hermit mass suicide??

[robbietaf]

Help, i seem to have a problem that i cant put my finger on. I have about 20 or so red leg hermit crabs in the following tank.

58 show reef ready
80lb live rock
20 gallon sump with skimmer, carbon, and phos remover
1 175w mh and 2 95w 03

i have regal tang, 2 feather dusters, various polyp corals, cabbage soft coral, green star polyps snails, green crab, blue leg crab, coral banded, all are well and look great.

All tests are in range. Tank has been up for over 4 years now, maintained less during the summer months, (mountain biking!!), well maintained in the winter. I had about 7 existing scarlet, and 1 or 2 blue leg herimts in the tank doing well. approx 2 weeks ago i added a saltwater fish cleanup crew. 20 snails, 20 blue leg, 20 red leg etc. I dripped em all in, everyone was happy and i thought healthy. Last Tue 11/9/04, i noticed a dead scarlet, hanign out of his shell. i fugured hmmm poor guy, must have been sick or somthing. last night i saw 2 more dead scarlet, today 2 more. I have been pulling the bodies out, but i cant believe that these little things would generate that much ammonia or nitrite.


I last checked at lunch time, thats when i noticed the 2 new deaths, and i am about to go home and check now. Has anyone heard of anthing like this before?


any ideas would be helpful!!

Rob

[Samper]

Stupid question but are you making sure they are dead and not just molting?

I've read more than one time where people thought their crabs were dead but when the shell was picked up the crab was still in it.

[robbietaf]

No, i thought of that. this is the whole deal. They actually look a lot like crayfish out of their shells. i just got home from work, and no more dead guys. thanks for the thought tho!

Stupid question but are you making sure they are dead and not just molting?

I've read more than one time where people thought their crabs were dead but when the shell was picked up the crab was still in it.