Missing creature - what happens next?

Okay, so I just did some major aquascaping in my reef tank, doubling the amount of rock. That was done yesterday. As of tonight, I am still missing a hermit. I'm pretty sure I didnt trap anything, but I am wondering what might happen if say it did get trapped somewhere, died, and gets left in there because I simply cant find the darned thing? Do you think it would have much of an effect on the params? Or is it small enough to just kinda naturally get broken down with no harm done?

 

Well, seems like it'd be a lot of work to try and find it. And, I'm sure you don't want to ruin the aquascaping you've already done. If it were up to me, I'd probably leave it. Maybe just check the nitrates and a couple of 20% water changes rather than the usual 10%. Shouldn't affect things too terribly much. Just keep an eye on your params.

 

Not only that, hermit crabs are mostly made up of exoskeleton (shell). The only thing that would contribute to any great degree to ammonia and eventually nitrates are their inside tissues. There's hardly any inside tissue....that is why I feed my mantis snails instead of crabs.....snails have a lot more tissue and therefore, a lot more protein.

 

I would be more concerned about adding all that live rock at one time! This will increase the nitrates and possibly cause a spike in ammonia and nitrites as well as nuisance microalgae. Keep an eye on it, test and perform a water change as well for best results!

 

Oh yeah, I have lost three of five and have not noticed anything.

 

It wasn't live rock, it was base rock
You can see the finished result here:http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/finally-52039.html
And yes, I did do the rinsing process correctly