BristleWorm eating Cleaner shrimp??

[Pafster]

HI All,
This i s an AMAZING forum, I have been reading alot since I started out 5months ago.
I have a 40g tank that's been going for 5 months, Everythings as gone well till 2 weeks ago

I have few soft coral that are d\oing well, a purple firefish, a standard firefish and 2 ocelaris clowns. all doing very good. Also 4 blue leged crabs, 3 snails, one of which is 2 inches diametre, one peppermint shrimp who does a good job on the few aptasias .
I had 2 cleaner shrimps for the last 2-4 months but one we found dead last week and a bristleworm was eating it We concluded that it was just cleaning up the carcass. It is about 4 inches long. Now this morning the second cleaner shrimp has gone missing, can't find him anywhere and haven't seen him either. Can bristleworms kill shrimp?
It's noy a fireworm just a normal brown/green color.

Thanks

 

[Brian5000]

I really doubt it. I think you were right in your first assumption that the brissleworm was just scavenging an already dead shrimp. That doesn't mean that there isn't another predator in there somewhere (crab or something).

Did the shrimp appear healthy up to the day of their disappearence (active feeding and regular molting)? How long had you had them?
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gremlin marijuana

 

[ChrisRD]

I agree - the bristleworm was just scavenging.