Missing Panda

[JayJay]

I have a very small 12 litre tank with three pandas, (and other fish).

Tonight I fed my fish and could only see two pandas and I've only seen two pandas for the past few days. I watched for about an hour but couldn't find the third panda. I looked really hard, behind all the plants, in all the rocks and caves and no sign.

Where could it be? If its dead, wouldn't it be floating upside down or something? I though it may have been sucked into the filter but it has a cover on it so I don't think so.

Should I be worried?

I'm going to do a pwc tommorrow, maybe it'll turn up then.

 

[theotheragentm]

Fish don't always float, especially if he is caught under a decoration or something. If it's been a couple of days, you might not find much of a fish left too, because his body may have been eaten. Definitely do the water change as a dead fish will raise your waste levels in the tank.

 

[JayJay]

Okay I did a pwc and checked the water. Everythings okay. I also checked in every plant and under every decoration.

No sign at all of the third panda or a dead body. If there is a dead body I want to get rid of it but I can't see one.

It seems to have just vanished.

The thought has occured to me I may have siphoned it while pwc and thrown it down the drain by accident but my hose has a "grill" on the inside to stop that happening.

 

[Stephen]

Another missing fish mystery. You'll get used to that. I've lost lost of fish that way.

 

[JayJay]

Okay is it a big issue? Maybe I'll buy a replacement but Im going to wait. Water is testing okay now but Im concerned with there being no body. If it is dead, and I can't find it, how long until the water is safe?

It all checks out now. Ammonia 0, NO2 close to 0, NO3 10 or so, pH 7.5, all pretty safe as far as I can tell.

ps, for those who don't know I'm a noob. I've been at this hobby for almost 2 months now.

 

[Purrbox]

It's not uncommon for fish to mysteriously disappear. Sometimes they reappear weeks or months later as if nothing has happened and sometimes they never reappear. In the first situation the fish has usually found a really good hiding place and doesn't come out when you're around, and in the second the fish has usually died and been consumed by the other inhabitants. Do a good search in the tank to make sure that you haven't missed the body, and check around the tank to make sure it didn't decide to go for an extra long leap. Beyond that there isn't much you can do.

 

[JayJay]

I just lost another one, but this time I saw it. One of the Pandas started doing "barrel rolls" before ending up upside down and sinking. I got the body out this time.

One Panda left and this one is pretty active and playful, the one that died has been sulking recently.

The dead Panda had nothing wrong with it. It's fin was fully black and I couldn't notice any spots. Two dead now, so Im worried about my tank. However the other fish are doing fine and the water seems okay.

Could it be a disease? Is it a food thing? (I mainly feed my fish flake food which the tetras get to first. This doesnt bother the otos at all.)

Here's my current stats

Ammonia: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 25
pH: 7.5
temp: 26-27 C

I had a little algae problem but a timer and the otos are on top of that now.

:edit: I realize Pandas a senstive to stress after just reading up on them. Also like to be in a group. If I want to save the last Panda, should I get new Panda to be it's mate or should I wait. How many Pandas is best (keep in mind I have a small tank).

 

[Purrbox]

Since cories spend most of their time foraging in the substrate they can become ill if the substrate isn't taken care of properly. These problems could be indicating that you need to do an extra good job of gravel vaccing the gravel.

For I believe that the minimum is 3 with 5 or more being preferable.

 

[cabezon]

I bought 5 pandas, and I have no idea where any of them went. I am assuming that the pleco got a snack.

 

[Regen311]

I didn't think plecos ate other fish...

 

[cabezon]

oh yeah. as a scavenger they do. unless only the superstarved ones at petco do.