Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => The Emergency Room => Topic started by: Silksheen on December 23, 2015, 12:55:37 PM
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I don't know if anyone here has had similar have in the past had the occasional fish die and removed the carcase but recently I noticed the numbers some what reduced. 5 have disappeared without any trace with no evidence of remains found during tank cleans. These are 2 green tetra's. 2 transparent looking ones, and a white one. The neon tetra's and golden barbles have been in residence for two years now.
Oh and one barbell did jump out of the tank one day and landed on the carpet, fortunately rescue was on hand and it was returned to the tank a bit be wildered but soon recovered from the ordeal.
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There are a couple of possibilities.
You have already discovered one - fish jumping out of the tank. Sometimes they end up down the back of the tank where you've got to look for them rather than just come across them, or possibly ending up inside a dog or cat if you have any of those.
Fish are very good at hiding - have you looked everywhere in the tank, including inside decor and the filter?
And living fish are very good at removing bodies. I have had fish disappear without trace including some biggish ones. Smaller fish are eaten faster, often within hours. I have on occasions found spines when I have been cleaning a tank, everything else has gone.
You don't say what other fish are in the tank, but I think this last one is the most likely scenario.
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How sad. I've only lost two fish in my time in the hobbie and I always get upset. Bit of a soppy mare.
I had a danio that I couldn't find for the life of me and it suddenly appeared after id removed everything from the tank.
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Thank you for your replies. I have no other pets so not that. Its only a small tank with fold down lid it would be easy to see any escapers. Also I noticed this before starting a water change making sure none were sucked up the pipe and into the bucket the ornament's are washed in the used water and checked with no trace of the fish or remains. There are 3 other fish with 3 black strips down and 3 with black pattern towards the tail. Could be an Alien encounter. :yikes:
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Do you know the names of the fish you have, and had? Common or Latin names. If you don't know, then pics would help to ID them. And also could you tell us the pH of the tank and the hardness of your water - you should be able to find the last one somewhere on your water supplier's website. That would help us to see whether or not the fish are compatible with each other, and if the water is suitable for all of them as those could be reasons for the 5 dying. You've mentioned neon tetras and gold barbs which shouldn't have compatibility problems. Neon tetras prefer soft acid water while the barbs can cope with a wide range of both hardness and pH.
In my experience of keeping fish for 19 years, fish will eat a dead fish in quite a short time.
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Like Sue I've lost quite a few fish and never found the carcasses. Bodies degrade fast in tropical water and you might not even get an ammonia spike if the filter bacteria is hale and healthy and a dead fish becomes food to a lot of different species.
I lost an oto 4 days ago, couldn't see him anywhere...until today. :)