When fish "disappear"

[mwe_ch]

So my new second-hand 230/65g tank has been up and running since the end of May. I've lost one fish to stress (but she was a very large Platy so likely at the end of her lifespan anyway), which is pretty good considering I moved two aquariums and started with 5 swordtails (3 adults, 2 fry) in one tank and the Platy, a Pleco, a Clown Loach, a Black Ruby barb and a bunch of different tetras.

In any event, I've been adding new plants/decorations over the last months and added some extra Tetras (5 Rummy nosed to make 6 of them and some cardinals too) after about a month (a week apart) to allow them to school/shoal. The Rummy nosed schooled right away. The Cardinals & Neons never did.

Lately though, it seems like 2 are missing (1 neon & 1 cardinal). I think there should be 10 cardinals/neons, but now I can only ever see 8.

There are no carcasses anywhere, unless I accidentally burried them in the gravel substrate while I was redecorating, and I'm not prepared to dig it all up looking. Could a pleco or clown loach have eaten a small cardinal? What about a mature neon?

I only noticed they were missing after rehoming both the loach and the pleco. If there are carcasses in there, I'm worried about ammonia, though there's none in there at present.

Ideas?

 

[krap101]

A fully grown clown loach (I think they get up to a foot) might be able to, but I'm guessing they're caught on something. After fish die, it takes awhile (maybe a day or so) for them to start floating, so if you "swoosh" around the base of the plants, you might find them. Plecos aren't predatory, and I think at most they might eat fish eggs.

 

[taylorodw]

I had a tank with a missing Tiger Barb that I found in the substrate when I tore it down

 

[BigJim]

Small fish can disappear very quickly. My snails will make a guppy disappear completely in less than twelve hours.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I have had some fish just disappear only later to find them in between the rocks, but if you have a snail as bigjim said they very quickly make them disappear.

 

[zach_1_6]

ive had a few tetras dissaapear, but i think my raph is getting them lol

 

[mwe_ch]

I only have the snails that came in with a new plant (despite rinsing!). No snails that I actually "bought". Could these attack a fish carcass?

Another search today and still nothing to be found, but my weak male Swordtail is suffering again from the rapid temperature drop in the tank (we had a heat wave and the temp was steady at a high 29'C and after a cooler period it's now at its regular 26'C, but that drop was in one day), so now I'm dealing with that. This poor swordtail does NOT like it when the temperature fluctuates a lot! Gotta freeze some pop bottles to put in the tank next time the water gets warmer.... sigh.

 

[BigJim]

Just about any snail will eat a dead fish.

 

[krap101]

Ants of the ocean err in our case.. lakes

 

[Mark Hewitt]

I had 4 pygmy catfish and 3 of them disappeared over the course of 2 weeks after I got them! Still got the fourth one 2 months later!

 

[Mudfrog]

I had a 16" Fire eel disappear on me.. I could not find him anywhere in the tank or surrounding room. I had to follow the smell a few days later before I could find him.

 

[zach_1_6]

where did the eel go to?

 

[krap101]

It sounds like it jumped out ><

 

[zach_1_6]

if he needed to follow the smell it must have jumped across the house lol

 

[jenatron]

i had a lyretail guppy swim it's way into the big biorb media pieces, i luckily found him before he died, i had to shift the "rocks" to free him.

 

[Andrewz00]

i have no snails.... but i have had fish disappear also.... they get eaten.... i have mostly barbs with a few cory cats and dianos.... every now and then a lil bit of a piece of carcass will turn up.... but other then that.. they are GONE!

 

[Mark Hewitt]

i had a lyretail guppy swim it's way into the big biorb media pieces, i luckily found him before he died, i had to shift the "rocks" to free him.

I had a guppy get caught on the intake grate of the filter and in the process his tail got shredded off. He didn't survive

 

[mwe_ch]

I guess they are gone then and once the weather stabilises (still hot, cool, hot out this summer), it'll be time to think about fixing the numbers so they school better. That or I take the neons out and put them in my small 40l (12g?) tank...

hmmm...

-M

 

[mwe_ch]

I guess they are gone then and once the weather stabilises (still hot, cool, hot out this summer), it'll be time to think about fixing the numbers so they school better. That or I take the neons out and put them in my small 40l (12g?) tank...

hmmm...

-M

ACK! Another Neon tetra "disappeared". He was there for the evening feed and not there in the morning. Weird.

So, I moved the two remaining Neon Tetras into the 40l tank as it was planted and cycled. One (who has had a huge belly the whole time I've had it) died overnight, the other (who has an s-shaped spine if you look from above), is ok, but isn't eating yet. Not good. I guess the fish I took over with the tank weren't so healthy when I got them and it was only a matter of time. Sad.

So I have left:

5 Cardinal Tetras
6 Rummy-nosed tetras
1 Male Swordtail
2 Female Swordtails
2 juvenile Swordtails (female I think)
1 Black ruby barb
Unwanted Snails

My son goes back to preschool in a month so I can pay more attention to water parameters (have been doing infrequent testing as I don't want him around the test kit, but frequent PWCs to make up for that). It'll feel good to be more in control of them again, especially as the pH and dh is quite high right out of the tap.

 

[logansmomma1228]

Tropical Fish Disease Identification with pictures and cures.

That is fish TB. Sounds like that is what the s- shaped spine one has. Sorry for your losses