What Happens when Fish Die?

[plum70rt]

I had posted 2 days ago, that I was so happy to have added 2 new fish a foxface Lo, and a Neon Dottyback, Now the Dottyback is totally missing I saw him in the Am , Now in the afternoon no where to be found? What happens when a fish dies? Does it go into the rock and Die? will it float around and be a snack for the other fish? I have a 210 gallon with 250 Lbs of rock so lots of places to hide but I know I would see a glimse of him if it was in there alive swimming around, all water is good shape the foxface is fine, Any Thoughts? Im confused?

 

[beth]

He may just be hiding, so don't count him out yet. If it dies, it could become food for others, particularly if you have reef or a FOWLR, you could find a carcuss in the tank.
Keep an eye out for him. Did you notice any sickness or harrassment?

 

[buzz]

You make it sound like the infamous Elephant Graveyard....they go to that hidden cave in the live rock...LOL
If it is small enough, sure, it could have died in a cave...of course, he may just be in the live rock, NOT dead...
Keep an eye out for it, and watch your levels...ammonia/nitrite spikes, etc...

 

[plum70rt]

The Neon Dotty back was what to appeared to be in perfect shape, I saw no fish harrass him, the yellow tang I have went at the foxface ,but not really bad, he stuck up, and now things are settled down, I saw them all eat well yesterday when I fed them,
I guess all I can do is keep a look out,

 

[ruaround]

I dont know if i have ever seen a salt water fish float after it has died...the few fish that i have lost and all the deceased ive seen in pet stores have been on the bottom. they do decay rapidly and if you have a cleanup crew they make pretty short work of em. perhaps the fish is still a little shy (hopefully).

 

[mcgruff]

You may find this a little unusual but my brother lost a 3 inch powder blue tang ( that was definitely under the weather) in a 60 gallon tank. After digging through his rocks he found it was in a carpet anemone (about 6 inches). Good luck with your fish.

 

[bhav_88]

Don't know if this helps, but I had a bicolor dottyback that I didn't see for two weeks after I put him in there... Now he's the nastiest fish in the tank.

 

[iechy]

Well sport...they go to heaven with Sparky and Grandma and Gramps. Sorry couldn't resist that one

 

[pstanley]

The only fish I had which died sat on the bottom behind the live rock (couldn't get to it) for about a day then floated to the top the following morning.

 

[heavenly damsel]

They go to fishy heaven.
Seriously, some fish do hide in the LR until they establish their place in the cast system of the tank. This is probably the case with yours. And yes, there are plenty of places for them to hide. When I have had a fish death in the tank, my cleanup crew took care of the carcass within two hours. Efficient little guys.
Check your water parameters, if you get an ammonia spike start looking for a carcass.

 

[slothy]

ya my firefish hid for 3 days, i thought he jumped out, but he just found a hard to see spot in the back of the tank in the live rocks

 

[broomer5]

what happens ?
it sets off an internal mechanism within my head, that tells me it's now okay to go to the lfs and look at other cool fish, which triggers the instinctual hand to wallet response.
It doesn't happen very often.

 

[twoods71]

Broomer5 very funny !!!!! I can relate.
As mentioned above sometimes fish hide for awhile and as also mentioned if there is a good supply of clean up critters in your tank dont worry about finding him if he did die because it will be totally gone within a day.