Dead Fish in Reef Tank

[mrdrago]

I think two of my fish in the my reef tank died. They have disappeared. I have 75 lbs of live rock so I cannot find them. I also have 6 turbo snails, 6 hermit crabs. Will the crabs eat the dead fish? I am worried they will pollute the tanks, but read somewhere that the crabs will eat the remains.

 

[ak_reefer]

I am not sure if the crabs will eat the whole fish. But do some water test and if your ammonia and nitrates are way high. Those fish may be dead and decomposing in your tank. But I guess with 75 lbs of lr it would be hard to find them. HTH

 

[mrdrago]

JW,thanks for the advise. The first fish was a small fire fish, the second was a diamond back gobie. Both rather small and are missing. I presume the crabs & snails have eaten them since I have seen no spike in chemicals.

 

[krusk]

mrdrago
yes, the good cleaning crew will removed them.
what is your tank size?
and I don't think "6 turbo snails, 6 hermit crabs" is qualify as good cleaning crew.
They can not completely comsume those fishes in a short period of time.
You need to add more crew members such as
Emerald crabs, more hermit crabs, Serpent Star
, Brittle Star, pepermint shrimp, sally light foot etc.
or
find the dead fishes and remove it yourself.
what is your current setup?

 

[mrdrago]

Krusk, My set-up is 75 Gallon, approximately 50lbs of live rock, 20 lbs of live sand. Two clown fish, 6 hermit crabs, 6 turbo snails, three hearty soft corals. Tank has been up 1.5 months and water quality tests perfect.

 

[striker]

I've had trouble adding fish to my existing system because I believe there is a predator loose. Two small perculas and a sixline wrasse had disappeared shortly after adding them. I have over 60lbs of lr with 15-20 crabs, 3-4 starfish, 7-9 snails and other hitchikers. The only death I witnessed was of the first percula and the clean-up crew made a quick meal out of him. If I were you I'd invest in another clean-up crew to insure they get rid of any leftover food, deritus and dying animals that you can't reach. That way you can avoid the spike in your tank if anything is missing and they can keep your lr clean.

 

[mrdrago]

Stiker, I find your comments interesting. I was wondering if perhaps there was a pedator in my tank. I often hear a clicking sound, that comes and goes, but I cannot identify it. I certainly don't see anything that could be classified as a predator. Is there anything that lives in live rock that could be causing the problem? I think they both starved, but not sure.

 

[striker]

Sometimes a mantis shrimp can hitch on the lr. They are perhaps the worst predator you can find introduced to your system. They produce clicking sounds when burrowing into the lr to create a lair or when breaking crab or snail shells for a meal. They will usually kill most fish and inverts in a reef aquarium. The clicking sounds could also be coming from a pistol shrimp which are considered reef safe. I suspect the predators in my tank are the bristle and banded starfish I have lurking around in my system. Today when I introduced a small goby it was attempting to wrap its arms around the fish. I've thought about removing them but decided against it because I believe they are an asset to keeping my tank clean.
If you don't have a predator then it might be the acclimation procedure or your water conditions. Did you test it before adding the fish?

 

[mrdrago]

Striker, my water conditions were excellent. I hope the clicking sound I am hearing is not a predator. I have three soft corals, and two clown fish that are doing fine. <img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" />

 

[striker]

I wouldn't worry to much about it. Check up on your tank after hours with a flashlight(red light)to try to locate any unwanted predators in the tank. I've heard clicking sounds in the past but they ended up being loose equipment or snails bumping into my glass and heater. My guess is that the fish died of shock and stress. I added 2 fish yesterday. A goby which while acclimating him jumped out of the bag right into the tank. He swam straigt down into my (stinging) bubble coral and directly into the arms of my large bristle starfish. Talk about stress! Anyway, both fish disappeared since yesterday so I'm crossing my fingers.

 

[wrassecal]

IMO if your tank is only 1.5 months old I wouldn't rush out and add more snails and crabs. I only keep 8 snails and 6 crabs in my 55 (5 mos old)because when I first added my clean up crew I had snails and crabs die on me then even a bigger problem happens. If you add more snails/ crabs I would only do it 1 or 2 at a time. I had a firefish disappear about 3 weeks ago and unless it went carpet surfing and the schnauzer ate it, something took care of it cause water has remained stable. I'm hoping you don't have a mantis in there.