clown gone, not sure what to do

[neil]

Overnight my clown is gone. He looked pretty bad last night, but wasn't sure if he was sleeping in his corner, or looking weak. The problem is, this morning I can't find him or his carcass. I have a cleaner shrimp, and three peppermints. Is it possible these shrimp ate him?
At any rate, I'm concerned about my new fish(pair of firefish, and a flame). I don't want to get the flame more stressed than he is, he hasn't come out of the rocks yet, but is looking healthy. If I go in moving all of the rocks(I have 140pds worth) trying to find the clown, I might put undue stress on my new fish. The thing is if I don't do this, will I get an ammonia spike? The clown was barely over an inch long.
My tank parameters as of this morning are still in line, like I said not sure what to do.
Parameters:
90gal AGA
Euro Skimmer, 30 gal sump
ph:8.2
amm: 0
nitrites: 0
nitrates: 20
dKH: 9.6
cal: 420
Sg: 1.024
temp: 80
Any advice?
Neil

 

[razoreqx]

If you dont have LR or other decorations that it could be trapped under.. Chances are your cleaning crew did its job.. (Depending on the size of shrimp) That appears to be a large enough crew to make nice work of a carcass that small..
You might check around the tank if he could jump out. Do you have cats? Thats my external cleaning crew.. 2 cats

 

[neil]

Razor,
no cats, actually have been thinking about getting one though. I looked real good around the tank, can't find anything, but the clowns body was not much bigger than a quarter, excluding fins. My main concern are the inhabitants left. I don't want to stress them out, they're new fish I just received from SWF.
Kind of strange, he seemed real lonely in there, and finally got him some tank mates. He scurried down to play with the firefish after they came out of hiding, and I could almost swear he looked upset when he was rejected from hanging out with them...he had been trying to mimmick them for an hour before they finally laid into him a little to let him know he was wanted around. After that, I think he just gave up. I'm wondering if this fish died of loneliness? Sounds strange, but that's what I witnessed yesterday...seemed sad.
Neil
EDIT: I have egg crate over the tank, I heard firefish can jump so I purchased some and cut it to size.

 

[razoreqx]

Most likely the shrimp cleaned him up.. which is what they are suppost to do..
Sorry about the loss btw.. clowns are such a great treat to watch..
I would monitor the water quality for a while and do a partial water change this weekend even if you dont have one scheduled..
You should be fine..
The only worry i would have is what was the cause of death to the clown. Although stress was probably his fate in this case...
Watch the other fish.. If it was a parasite and left the host of the clown.. rest assure it could attack one of the other fish.. Then you'll need to treat them all.

 

[neil]

Sounds good. I'll do a water change this weekend, will also watch the other fish.
He did seem stressed out, I can't figure out why. He sat on the top of the water since I got him, he never seemed to strong. He would go through bursts where he seemed to have strength, then none, and would just sit in his corner.
These little clowns are beautiful fish, I hate to see him go. Since this happened though, I'm going to wait a month or two before trying to find a replacement, think I'll shoot for a bigger one when I do.
appreciate the help, first time I've lost a fish. Actually, he was my first fish, I'm hoping for no sudden repeats.
Neil

 

[razoreqx]

Good idea on the waiting.. the worst thing you can do in this hobby is rush out to replace a lost fish.
Welcome to SWF.com btw

 

[neil]

Sounds good. I'll do a water change this weekend, will also watch the other fish.
He did seem stressed out, I can't figure out why. He sat on the top of the water since I got him, he never seemed to strong. He would go through bursts where he seemed to have strength, then none, and would just sit in his corner.
These little clowns are beautiful fish, I hate to see him go. Since this happened though, I'm going to wait a month or two before trying to find a replacement, think I'll shoot for a bigger one when I do.
appreciate the help, first time I've lost a fish. Actually, he was my first fish, I'm hoping for no sudden repeats.
Neil