Missing in action?!

[Phyl]

My True Perc just disappeared. He was there on Tuesday night and on Wednesday he was gone. I've looked through the fuge, in the baffles, in my wet/dry. No sign of him anywhere. Not a scrap of his body to be found. My hubby suspects my maroon but the two didn't even ever quibble. The perc's fins were perfectly in tact and I've never seen any other tank mate bother him in the slightest. This fish hosted the side of my baffle and hardly ever left its side so I don't suspect anything in the rock could have gotten him. (This was maybe a week after adding my tunze which has a very safe looking intake but the prop looks deadly)

A few weeks ago my 2 skunks disappeared. I never saw a single antena. Not a one. No shell, no nothing. No remains. (This was right after a nitrite spike of 25 and 2 back to back water changes 1 day apart). One of my new ones molted and I saw that molt the next day how was it still there but an entire shrimp MIA?

I have a decent clean up crew... but to see *nothing* of these fish & inverts?! It just seems crazy. It is starting to feel like the tank of death. I do a head count on the entire tank at every opportunity these days.

Ammo/Trite 0; Trate 5; Ca 400; Alk 9 (had dropped to about 7 brought it back up after the missing clownfish); pH 8.25; SG 1.024 w/Refractometer.

What happened to them!?

 

[fishfirst]

Did you by chance get some live rock and have a mantis hitchhiker on there? Or maybe one of your inverts was a green brittle star? My first guess would be a mantis shrimp.

 

[Phyl]

I got some LR.com rock and I've seen some pistol shrimp but have never seen a mantis in my tank. Well, I guess that's not entirely true. I had a tiny one that came on a mushroom rock that I got, but I took him out.

 

[EJS4]

Its amazing how they can hide from you. I have a peppermint that disappeared for 2 weeks I searched every where or so I thought. it then made an appearance and disappeared again for a week. Last night its antenna pocked out from behind a rock and now its gone again.

Your's may have found a hidden cave or ledge and you just have not found it.

 

[Fluff]

I have fish disappearing all the time. I keep buying chromis to feed something. I blamed it on my brittle star and moved him to a different tank. But, the fish still keep disappearing. I have an angel I've had for two years and two percs I've had probably close to a year but dang if I can keep chromis in the tank. So, I guess I really can't help you on what happened to yours. But, I can sympathise. :?

 

[Phyl]

Well Cindy, if nothing else I'm in some really good company, lol. I hate to say it, but I'm glad I'm not alone! The darn clown was very healthy looking and never went anywhere near the rock. I have the hardest time believing that he'd ever get close enough to the rock for something to jump out and get him.

When our system starts up I flick the water over the baffle so that it quiets down. I have this eerie feeling that he got flicked over the baffle. Of course if that's the case he's a gonner for sure.

Thanks for sharing your story though!

 

[djmpj2]

Phyl
How long ago did you get your liverock from LR.com? I got some too and caught a decent size mantis 2 weeks ago after my sleeper head goby went missing without a trace. I kept hoping she had found a real good hiding spot, but that was not the case. We never found a trace of her.
We saw the mantis and caught it all in 24 hours. It also killed off some small crabs and snails (although I read it is usually EITHER a fish killer or an invert killer).
You could set the trap and just see if you catch anything. It's not hard.
I actual saw something else in my tank tonight dart in and out of a rock but this time I am hoping pistol because the color seemed to be a lot lighter.
I gave my mantis to tropaquarium.

D

 

[JohnS]

The trap is worth a try. I got my LR in November. My chromis routinely sleep in/behind the rock work v. this clown that never left the surface of the water. That's why his disappearance is such a mystery. If he slept at rock level I'd be leaning more toward a predator.

The overflows that fall into my wet/dry are capped at the bottom. I'm afraid he's in the bottom of that. I don't know how it comes apart, but I wonder if he'd still be alive if he was in that overflow drop in the whole time.

 

[JohnS]

Ooops. That's what I get for using Hubby's computer

 

[lando]

My fish also seem to go MIA at times. If I do not find them in the overflow, they will ussually show up in a few days. Hope it turns up.

 

[Phyl]

I took the overflows apart last night to see into the bottom of those tubes. No fishie. Poooh. I keep watching and hoping!