disappearing fish

Question
hi jennifer
i have had a marine tank for 2 months now.
i have 2 clown fish 1 regal tang 2 shrimps a star fish 2 cardinals and a wrasse.
two weeks ago the 2 cardinals disappeared overnite.
then yesterday i discovered one of the cleaner shrimps bitten in half with only the top half remaining.
could you shead any light on this problem.

Answer
HI JILL. what kind of starfish do you have? A lot of different kinds of starfish are predators and he may be the cause of your fish loss. Some wrasses will eat shrimps and are not safe with them. Without knowing exactly what kinds of these two creatures you have it is hard for me to say. Have you checked all your levels in your tank to make sure none of the fish or shrimps are dying first then being eaten? Do you have live rock in your tank? Could there be an unwanted hitchhiker from that such as a mantis shrimp in your tank? To check for this try shining a flashlight into the tank after the lights have been off for a while to catch whatever it may be in the act. Mantis shrimps are not that uncommon to accidentally enter your tank and are a real pain in the you know what to get rid of.