Fish has vanished.........?????????????

[jp0379]

Okay, I've read posts on here from people saying their fish just vanished, and now I have to join the club. I've never had this happen in my life! I had an eclipse hogfish, which was doing GREAT. Last night about 8 pm. I saw him swimming around like he always does. No prob.
About 10pm I went to turn the light off, and didn't see him. So i looked...........and looked.............and looked.............and still couldn't find him. The way my tank is set up theres very little room for a fish to "hide" from view, because we can see behind the tank, and due to his size, he couldn't hide in any of those places anyway.
I have a coral banded shrimp, a yellow damsel, a scooter blenny, a purple dottyback, a pajama cardinal, a snowflake eel (he's new, and still really small), a couple of snails and some scarlet legged hermits.
Any ideas???????????

 

[krishj39]

You have 4 possibilities.
1. The fish jumped the tank and is shriveled up on your carpet.
2. The fish is alive and hiding in your tank.
3. The fish is dead and the body is hiding somewhere in your tank.
4. The fish is dead and was eaten by your clean-up crew and shrimp.
Without more info, all are very possible.

 

[jp0379]

Krish, what more info do you need? I am as baffled as you are. I checked around the tank and he's not carpet surfing. Theres really no openings for him to jump out anyway. And I don't think he could died and then been eaten in less than 2 hours. He was FINE. Who knows...........maybe this is a situation for Art Bell to handle............LOL. MY TANK IS AREA 51!

 

[birdy]

Do you have a cat or a dog (or a toddler )? I am pretty sure my sixline jumped a couple days ago and either my cat or my dog ate it.

 

[jp0379]

I have a couple of dogs, but they are outside. I think aliens have abducted my fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[austingirl]

Do you have a power head with an exposed or accessable intake?
I was in the same situation a couple of weeks ago with a missing watchman goby and I found him in the power head.
Hope that it's not the same with yours.
Sarah

 

[krishj39]

Ok, how big was the fish? I had a 3" fish be completely consumed by my cleanup crew in just over an hour, the only thing left was the fish's skull, and that was gone after another hour as well. However, I will admit that I have an extremely efficient clean-up crew. Do you have a sump? If so, check the all of those plumb works. I've rescued all of my smaller fish from the back of my overflow box at one time or another, even though I have a guard to keep that from happening. I recommend doing a thorough search for him, pick up the rocks and such to make sure he isn't in there, dead or alive. As to the fish being healthy and then disappearing, this often means the fish jumped, and they can flop around a lot before dying, so you can't just look in the few feet around the tank. Chances are this will remain a mystery. Maybe you can take this opportunity to make the tank more jump proof, even if it isn't the cause for this fish disappearing, at least you will have that possibility removed in the future.

 

[jp0379]

thanks Krish........and everybody else, of course. I have a filter that protects the fish from getting sucked into the powerheads, and I've looked in the general area and can't find the bugger. Its jumpproof, but since I can't think of anything else, I figured maybe he had a crowbar or something.........LOL. Oh well, if I find out what happens, I'll be sure to let ya know.

 

[terrance]

Dont lose hope, i had a brittle star that went missing for 2 weeks. It completely disappeared, i lifted up all the rocks and moved them around and it wasnt there at all, so i assumed it was dead. To my surprise it appeared this morining, hiding behind a rock, so dont give up, if they magically disappear, they can magically reappear!

 

[daniel411]

I can also state that a good clean up crew can consume a fish in practically no time! A good sized coral beauty COMPLETELY gone within a day.

 

[jp0379]

Thanks again...........I have searched all over. I even checked to make sure my car was there in case maybe he went out for a night on the town,but its still there......LOL. And the search continues.......

 

[squidd]

Through the overflow and down in the sump?
That's where I found my Dragon Wrasse a time or two...