Saltwaterfish.com › Forums › Saltwater Fish Forum › Fish Only Tanks › How can a Blue Hippo Tang just disappear?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

How can a Blue Hippo Tang just disappear?

post #1 of 11
1/12/12 at 8:55am
Thread Starter 

Tank.jpg

 

 

Hi, I was finally done with adding all my fish in my tank when my Hippo Tang just disappeared after 5 days.  I can not even find a carcass.

In the past if the fish or a snail died, I saw my little crabs working at it for a day.

But this is a fairly decent size fish to completely vanish.

 

Not only looking at threads, but I check with 3 different LFS and even have them check my water parameters before adding As well as checking compatibility.  And all three said what I have is good.  

 

In my 54 gallon fish only tank I have

Royal Gramma

Yellow Tang

Clown

Yellow goby

Red eye cardinal

Walmart puffy :-)

5 little crabs

dozen snails

 

All are very small - I figure once Tang gets bigger I 'd give him to my friend with a huge tank.

 

Btw, my rock is not positioned against back wall so I can see the reflection in the back AND i moved some of them last night to see a dead fish - NOTHING!?

 

Any ideas?

 

 

Reply
post #2 of 11
1/12/12 at 9:05am

Could it have jumped out, do you have any other pets (dogs or cats) what kind of filtration do you have (overflow boxes) inspect your rock work carefully, they like to wedge into rocks 

Reply
post #3 of 11
1/12/12 at 9:17am
Thread Starter 

Nope, it is completely sealed on top.

I have the Fluval but first thing I did is check the filter and powerheads in case it got stuck

Reply
post #4 of 11
1/12/12 at 9:27am

Hippo tangs can go completely flat and it may have died up in the rocks...if you have a good enough CUC they will have disposed of the remains after 5 days....I would keep an eye on ammonia for another week, if it spikes at all... start taking the rocks out one at a time until you find it's body.

Reply
post #5 of 11
1/12/12 at 1:18pm

i had a 7 inch hippo i had to get a flashlight out sometimes to find in the rock.when a fish knows its going to die it will usually wedge itself somewhere.

Reply
post #6 of 11
1/12/12 at 1:25pm
Thread Starter 

Sooo weird.

Going to move my rocks out and look through sand I guess?  Right?

Reply
post #7 of 11
1/12/12 at 1:28pm

i was missing a trigger for over a week.i finally moved a few rocks to look for him.well he must have disturbed a big rock.he was wedged under one.i moved the rock and he swam off.

Reply
post #8 of 11
1/12/12 at 6:16pm
Thread Starter 

Thank you guys.  Found whatever was left.  Watching all others and they seem fine.

Not sure why he died......

Reply
post #9 of 11
1/13/12 at 6:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by deejeff442 View Post

i was missing a trigger for over a week.i finally moved a few rocks to look for him.well he must have disturbed a big rock.he was wedged under one.i moved the rock and he swam off.


This happens when you put the sand in first, and then push the rocks into the sand.  I had a linky starfish and it got crushed because of shifting rocks. Rock goes in first.
 

 

Reply
post #10 of 11
1/13/12 at 6:45am

no it was a smaller rock on top.i have always only kept one inch or less of sand in my tanks

Reply
post #11 of 11
3/29/12 at 8:13am

I just broke down my 110 gal FO tank after 17 years of continuous operation.  When I removed the bioballs from the sump I found enough fish skeletal parts embedded in them to build a good sized school of fish.  These were the remains of many of the fish that had disappeared over the years, so it happens, and you may not know until you take the tank down exactly where the fish was.

Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Fish Only Tanks
Saltwaterfish.com › Forums › Saltwater Fish Forum › Fish Only Tanks › How can a Blue Hippo Tang just disappear?