Hi Jake,
I had the same thing happen to me a little over 2 years ago. Fish were missing, snails missing, anything alive seem to be disappearing. Not doing any research, thinking I could handle this, I spent a lot of money on test kits (which I needed anyway) carrying water to the LFS to have tested, you name it! I had no idea what a Mantis shrimp was:smck: I had heard many tales from people about how hard it was to keep saltwater fish (not true) and I had come to the conclusion that I just could not do it. After the death of all of my fish, and $$$$$, I neglected the tank. Every now and then I would walk by it and wonder "how could I have let this happen ?" I did everything the right way, according to my dear friends at a local LFS(whom are in the business to sell things) and just cannot understand it! One night I was curious as to what was happening in the tank. I took a flashlight and started peeking around and there it was
some kind of foreign object sticking its head out of a nice little hole in one of the rocks. At first I thought, Hey this is cool! Something had survived my slacking maintenance:winner: I was proud and once again got excited about this hobby. I finally got him out of his environment one day to get a good look. I began searching the "INTERNET" (brilliant idea!!!) to find out what hitchhiker has found him a new home. My heart sank when I discovered what it was. It hit me like a ton of bricks. That's where my fish went:cry1: I know I'm rambling..but the moral of the story is: Had I read and understood what to look for when disaster hits, I could have saved myself a lot of grief.
See this monster at,
http://www.picturetrails.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=3180227&uid=705851
I hope you solve your riddle, the key here is do not give up, listen to the people here and let them help.
Just wanted to share my story. Sorry about the length.
Rick