Missing fish

[sniper]

were is my fish i have a 55 galln tank and the past three days i havent seen one of my bala sharks hes about 3 to 4 inch long wat coulda happend to him???
i have 4 tiger barb 1 chery barb and 3 balla shark arent agrresive dont fite much and hes bigger then the other fish so they couldnt of ate him been missing for almost 3 days i tried lookin every were for him but kant find him wat could have happend to him and i have a hood so he couldnt of jumped out were could he bee????

 

[Walmart]

i would lift everything up if you have rocks or drift wood and see if he died and got stuck under that. also i had a tin foil barb about 7in and he got out and i have hoods and found him 14ft away from my tank.

 

[TCool]

Look around the outside of the tank. Bala's can jump pretty good, and it is possible it jumped out of the tank.

 

[sniper]

ii still havent found him!

 

[Twoapennything]

Do you have any kind of decor in the tank (like castles or whatever)? My goldfish got wedged into a resin castle and we couldn't find him for quite a while - he needed a lot of help getting out where he was stuck. We took apart the entire tank before discovering where he was. I hadn't thought to look there because I though No way would he ever try and get into a hold that small. So much for that theory. The other day I found him wedged upside down between a rock and another piece of decor. Fish are very curious. I hope you find your shark soon - how frustrating. I think it is possible, actually, that if the shark died, the rest of the fish might have eaten him. I've had several guppies, neons, and mollies get eaten completely (bones and all) by their tankmates after they have died. It was like *poof * and they were gone.

 

[i3k]

The fish might have died 4-5 days ago since you haven't seen it for 4-5 days now. Some fish can completely waste away within 36-48 hours after death. ...especially if the water is warmer.

 

[cabezon]

I have found several of my fish behind the tank. Back when I had a little decoration a fish ended up tucked in pretty well, even though I took the decoration out, I still did nto see the fish until the second search.

It really is the worst part of the hobby.

I can always tell when a fish has died in my tank because all the other fish act strange. I can't tell you what it is, but is just strange, like they are on the worng side or swimming wierd.

Check your parameters, if ammonia is OK, it is outside the tank

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I would start watching your water parameters very closely as you will start to see spikes if he's dead and rotting somewhere. I had a d.gouarmi get under some decor and die...needless to say it was nasty

 

[BigBear]

Check decor carefully, as has been mentioned before.
My clown loaches love hiding in the top crevices of some deco houses I have.
Smaller fish also get stuck on the back of the filter pickup after dying, makes for bad water if you don't see them right away.

 

[Andrewz00]

ive had fish completely disappear on me too.... most of the time i find some type of remains several weeks or even months later.... they mostly get eaten by the other fish.....

 

[Jason7894561230]

You know what all you guys are saying is true but why give up?!? Thats what it all sounds like you know but yes do watch yyr water and yes look for his remains but if this fish is special to you then you may find him!!!! So never give up on fish, and im sorry if i offended anyone i just think its important to never give up!

 

[Squareheads]

i'd do a water change, and if u see fins in your siphon while cleaning, condolences bro.

 

[brimac41]

I have now lost a red eyed tetra myself . He was in my box of water Sat. morning but when I was doing a headcount yesterday he was no where to be found .I took out decorations and I searched every inch of the aquarium and nothing . I moved my search to out side of the tank and nothing . This has me stumped .