Help!! Missing Mandarin

[kinetic180]

I've had my Mandarin for over a year now and she is very fat and happy. Most of the time she hunts among all of my live rock and it is easy to spot her. Also, she likes to eat mysis shrimp when I feed the rest of my tank. I saw her yesterday; she was acting normal and ate like usual. This morning when I woke up I couldn't find her and an hour later when I gave everybody their morning breakfast she still was no where to be found. So, I spent literally about a half of an hour trying to spot her. Finally, I decided I would move my live rock and try to find her (I wanted to change the landscape anyway). So, with the help of my fiance I would move a piece at a time and he would help me look under that rock and make sure I didn't set the rock on anybody else in the tank. Well, it took me a couple of tries to get the rock set up like I wanted it and I never saw her. It has now been six hours and still no sign!! I absolutely combed the tank and have no idea where she is hiding. I even checked outside of the tank in case for some crazy reason she was able to jump out. WHAT else should I do, I just don't know where she could have gone.
Jen

 

[swilbs83]

Do you have any possible predators in the tank(shrimp, crabs, carpet anenomes, etc)? Also, mandarins have a tendency to "disappear" for a while in the LR, for whatever reason, but then re-appear. Perhaps when you altered the LR structure you further spooked it into hiding. I would wait a few days before starting to worry.
Also, what size is the tank and how much live rock do you have? What are the other tank inhabitants?

 

[kinetic180]

Well, I've found out what happened to Mandy and sadly it is not good news. The netting I had covering the water intake to one of my powerheads had come undone and she was sucked into it. What is weird is that her whole body got sucked up (it was twisted) and she is much larger than the opening to the intake. I guess it must have happened last night otherwise I think I would have seen her body hanging out of it. Well, this is really upsetting because she was my second favorite fish in my tank and I was proud that I was able to keep a good pod population and acclimate her to eating mysis shrimp. I guess at this point I have two questions
1. What should I use to cover the intake to the powerhead: I had used hard plastic mesh, but I had attached it with thread (which in hindsight is not surprising that it broke)
2. I know Mandarin fish have a protective coat and can release a toxin or a slime in defense, should I be worried about it affecting my tank because obviously it could have been blown through the outake and into the rest of the aquarium.

Anyway, thanks Jen

 

[striker]

I've used hagan add on filters that prevented any fish or inverts from getting caught in my powerheads. There might be attachments that the company which produces your powerheads has made to prevent this from happening again. As far as it releasing toxins into the tank it won't happen. You don't have to worry about it affecting your tank. Sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[matti070]

ouch thats gotta hurt!!

 

[naclh2o]

Their slime coat is mostly "disgusting" to other fish....not lethal......sorry to hear about the loss.

 

[broncofish]

Yeah that coating just tastes really bad. I use aqua clear mini #1 filters. Cut a little hole in one side, then cram it on your powerhead. I was really pulling for you when I read this sorry your fish died

 

[kinetic180]

It was really upsetting and I knew something was very wrong because Mandy was my one fish I could count on seeing at any given moment(everyone else seems to get shy sometimes). I actually wouldn't have even noticed the mesh was hanging off of the intake but a hermit crab, that is shell and all, was sticking out of the intake (he got saved). I guess I shouldn't have positioned that powerhead so close to the bottom of the tank, very stupid.
Does anyone else position their powerheads at various levels in the tank? Should I not have done that?
Well, thanks for everyone's support and suggestions!
Jen