Now 4 Fish gone AWOL!!

[raptor72]

I've had my 125 FOWLR running for a little over almost 2 months now. I have 6 green chromis, a black sailfin blenny, a cleaner wrasse, 3 turbo snails, several small hermit crabs and 2 peppermint shrimp.
A couple of weeks ago 1 chromis went missing and I checked EVERYWHERE and could not find it. Today my cleaner wrasse went missing after seeing it in the morning. Once again I checked behind, under, on top, in the fuge, filter socks, canopy crevices, etc. The only other creatures in there (that I know of) are some small bristle and peanut worms in the live rock.
Any ideas?

 

[aquaman]

they died and have been eaten. BTW a cleaner wrasse should never have been introduced to your tank. All it did was starve to death. Then need very large tanks with many more inhabitants than your, mine or most home aquariums can/do have or can handle. They only eat parasites and the slime coating of other fish. The chromis on the other hand every time I have gotten a few to add one seems to die. It could be to stress and being the low fish on the totem pole, so to speak, being picked on. Either way they have been eaten by your bristol worms, hermits, and any other know or unknown hitch hikers you have on your live rock.

 

[raptor72]

I'm not convinced about the dying theory. They were both there one hour and gone the next during daylight hours.
As far as the wrasse, yes I know, I kicked myself as soon as I came home with it, especially since earlier that day I had read an article talking about boycotting their sale. The bad part was I couldn't remember what kind of fish they were talking about at the time.
I have learned not to buy from my lfs on the weekends which is when all the seasoned experts take the day off. Instead, you end up talking to the inexperienced high school kid who is there just for the weekend.

 

[btldreef]

Chromis usually do kill the weaker one of the group. I've seen people start out with 5 and end up with one in a matter of weeks. This is not uncommon to these fish. If you have a good clean up crew, you'd never find the remnants.
As for the cleaner wrasse, it may have starved, it may not have. But just like Mandarins and orange spotted filefish that were once considered "off limits" in this hobby, more and more people are having success with the common cleaner wrasse. Meowzer and I both have one and each of us has had them for awhile with no issues. The key is getting them to eat frozen as well as parasites, etc. Did you ever see yours eat?

 

[1guydude]

I've had my 125 FOWLR running for a little over almost 2 months now. I have 6 green chromis, a black sailfin blenny, a cleaner wrasse, 3 turbo snails, several small hermit crabs and 2 peppermint shrimp.
+1 BTL
I also read that chromis should be kept in odd numbers so they can get their "pecking order" in order so to speak. 6 no good, u should have 5 now correct? How r they doing?

 

[raptor72]

2 More! Another Chromis and my Pygmy Angel that was showing the first symptoms of Ich are now gone also. I have eggcrate on the top so I know they didn't fly out. When my Royal Gamma hit the eggcrate and died last week he stayed in the aquarium all night until I came home the next morning and took him out. The bristle worms hardly did any work on him so I know that they won't get rid of a fish that fast.
I looked in the tank tonight with a light to see if MAYBE there was a slight chance that a Mantis Shrimp might have hitched a ride. The tank's only been set up for 2 months. Any ideas?

 

[btldreef]

Possible that there's a mantis shrimp. What did your water parameters read after the royal gramma died? Did you do a water change after you got it out?
If you've only had this tank up for 2 months and are having this many issues, it may be time to take everything apart and search for hitchhikers if you believe that is what it is. But before going to that extreme, I'd re-evaluate everything in your tank. You have a lot of fish in a young tank, and this in itself could be your issue.

 

[raptor72]

Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///forum/thread/384757/now-4-fish-gone-awol#post_3374265
Possible that there's a mantis shrimp. What did your water parameters read after the royal gramma died? Did you do a water change after you got it out?
If you've only had this tank up for 2 months and are having this many issues, it may be time to take everything apart and search for hitchhikers if you believe that is what it is. But before going to that extreme, I'd re-evaluate everything in your tank. You have a lot of fish in a young tank, and this in itself could be your issue.
I'm thinking a young mantis shrimp. I didn't do any tests immediately after it died. I had done a water change a few days before.
As far as a lot of fish, maybe, but that still doesn't explain why there are no bodies anywhere to be found. The Gramma that stayed there overnight dead was hardly touched in the morning, and I've seen atleast 10-15 different worms on several rocks.
I"ll be moving the rocks later this afternoon.

 

[btldreef]

I agree that it's odd that you're not finding bodies. If it's a young mantis I can't see it doing this much damage, but anything is possible

 

[monsinour]

Time to put food in a glass, like a beer glass, and watch overnight. If there is anything in there, it will find the food and hopefully get stuck in the glass or you will see it.

 

[raptor72]

I moved some rocks around and couldn't see anything.
I'll try the glass technique tonight. What kind of food are we talking about?

 

[btldreef]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raptor72 http:///forum/thread/384757/now-4-fish-gone-awol#post_3374344
I moved some rocks around and couldn't see anything.
I'll try the glass technique tonight. What kind of food are we talking about?
Throw some fish food in the bottom of it, like a chunk of krill or mysis.

 

[raptor72]

Last night I made a trap out of a water bottle (tip inverted). I placed two cubes of frozen mysis and put it in the tank. Within 3 minutes I had trapped both of my Peppermint Shrimp (Note to self for later). I I I released them and put the trap back, checking it throughout the night. In the morning, the food was still in there.
If there is a mantis shrimp, I think I'd atleast caught a glimpse of it in the past two months, especially as much time as I spend sitting in front of my tank. All I have now is time, since I can't get anymore fish until this mystery is solved. I'll keep setting the trap out every night.

 

[btldreef]

It can take a few tries to catch it, if there is one.
Is there any way you can take apart the rock work? There is a useful method you can try for catching tricky hitchhikers if you can:
Put the rocks (1-3 pieces at a time depending on size) in a tub with eggcrate on the bottom. Raise the salinity of the water in the container to 1.03 or higher. The higher salinity will usually cause critters to leave the rocks in search of a safer location. When they crawl out of the rock, they'll fall under the eggcrate which will keep them from being able to re-enter the rocks. Usually need to do 1.035 to get it to work. Some food under the eggcrate also helps.

 

[raptor72]

Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///forum/thread/384757/now-4-fish-gone-awol#post_3374573
It can take a few tries to catch it, if there is one.
Is there any way you can take apart the rock work? There is a useful method you can try for catching tricky hitchhikers if you can:
Put the rocks (1-3 pieces at a time depending on size) in a tub with eggcrate on the bottom. Raise the salinity of the water in the container to 1.03 or higher. The higher salinity will usually cause critters to leave the rocks in search of a safer location. When they crawl out of the rock, they'll fall under the eggcrate which will keep them from being able to re-enter the rocks. Usually need to do 1.035 to get it to work. Some food under the eggcrate also helps.
I'll give the trap a few nights, then I'll try taking out the rock. Thanks again.