Case of the disappearing fish-help!

[kerrywnm1]

Hi,

I have a Biocube 29 that I have set up for a little over a year now. I noticed today that my full grown firefish has vanished overnight - gone, no carcass, no ammonia spike-just gone. He was fine yesterday and ate with the other fish. I know firefish are jumpers, but the lid on the biocube is tight on and no chance of him leaping out. I looked in the filter overflow for signs of a fish and behind the rocks, but nothing.

This is the second time a fish has up and just vanished. A few month ago my prized scarlet red dragonet vanished overnight. No sign of him was left either.

Water chemistry is spot on and the fish are healthy. Could something be eating my fish and leaving no trace whatsoever?

Here are the current tank inhabitants:

2 - Ocellaris clowns
1 - Sailfin blenny
1 - medium size rose bubble tip anemone
1 - red-legged hermit crab (the size of your thumb)
1 - one blue legged hermit (the size of your pinkie finger)
1 - medium coral banded shrimp
1 - medium size serpent star
2 - mexican turbo snails
1 - cerith snail
1 - trochus snail
several polyp and button corals
several mushroom corals

Thanks

 

[JaihWill]

Something is eating them whole


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[Agostinone]

It happens, fish passes away in the night and CUC takes care of business. I took on a small starving clown one time. It was in someone else's tank and couldn't complete for good so I volunteered to try and rehabilitate it. After a couple of weeks I look in the tank in the morning and can't find him. I got out the flashlight and checked the sump and every place I could see in the display. No sign of him. Never saw a spike in any of my tests. Never came across any identifiable remains.

 

[Smoke Inator]

whats the soundtrack from Jaws just before they get eaten?

It happened to me last week, my Goby just vanished.
I'll find a shrimp in chamber one from time to time so i covered it up with some screening.

 

[ReefWreak]

I've had two fishes just vanish. Wrasses. Checked back of tank, checked around rocks, checked everywhere - and I have a full hood on. One definitely dove into the sand as a hiding mechanism and never came back up. The other I had heard hit the hood a few times, who knows why, and then one day after adding some corals, he just disappeared, never found a carcass or anything.

As long as you're making a good-faith effort to keep them fed and happy, that's all you can ask for.

One question, your serpent star, is it green or brown? Green ones are known to eat sleeping fishes.

 

[kerrywnm1]

I've had two fishes just vanish. Wrasses. Checked back of tank, checked around rocks, checked everywhere - and I have a full hood on. One definitely dove into the sand as a hiding mechanism and never came back up. The other I had heard hit the hood a few times, who knows why, and then one day after adding some corals, he just disappeared, never found a carcass or anything.

As long as you're making a good-faith effort to keep them fed and happy, that's all you can ask for.

One question, your serpent star, is it green or brown? Green ones are known to eat sleeping fishes.

He's sort of brownish.

 

[ReefWreak]

Then it probably didn't eat the fish. The green ones are known for hunting fishes while they sleep in caves and crevices and killing and eating them.

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[woodguy]

check in the filter area, had an arch eye hawk that disappeared, noticed him one day in the back of the tank, he was with the return pump

 

[FishWrangler]

check in the filter area, had an arch eye hawk that disappeared, noticed him one day in the back of the tank, he was with the return pump

When I had my 29g biocube several fish found their way into the back chambers..and just hung out there until I figured it out.

Also, some fish completely disappeared never to be seen again.....it's a tough world down there!