Finding a dead fish?

[Emmalemma]

Hi all! I'm very new; have a recently-cycled 75g tank with 40 lb LR, 4 Turbo snails, and just added 3 damsels this past weekend. Sometime this afternoon, one of the damsels went missing. It had been the least-shy of the trio, and I'm thinking it probably didn't make it. So my question is: how hard should I look for it? I checked under all the rocks where that one was hiding, but didn't find anything. I'm loathe to pull apart the other rock section because that's where the other two hide. But should I do it anyway? I guess I'm concerned about the water parameters being badly impacted by a decaying fish.

Many thanks for any thoughts or suggestions!
Em

 

[Jormungandr]

Your cleaning crew will most likely handle it fine, I would add some hermits if i were you they'll help out. I've had 2 fish disappear that I haven't been able to find and everything turned out okay. However, if you are concerned, I don't think it will matter to much if you disturb their hiding place, i'm sure they'll be able to establish new territory. Also, don't give up hope too soon. There's been lots of people whos fish went MIA (including me) which then turned up a couple days later. Hope all goes well

 

[Drix]

Dont forget to check your floor and overflow. I've had fish go carpet surfing, and even had one manage to jump the overflow, go down the drainpipe, down through the wall of my house into my sump in the basement...

 

[TellyFish]

If the damsels are no where to be found, you probably have enough CUC to dispose of them before they present a problem.

If you are in doubt, just monitor regularly for ammonia spikes.

 

[mike_cmu04]

I have many fish i never found i just chalk it up to a good clean up crew.

 

[Emmalemma]

Thanks for the very reassuring responses! He's still MIA, but I'll just keep an eye on the water quality and stop worrying about it. Incidentally, I added 3 peppermint shrimp last night to help with aiptasia; since they're meat eaters, perhaps they'd also enjoy a dead damsel?

 

[Flame_Angel]

They'll certainly sit down to a banquet of dead fish, yes.

 

[cloak]

If you have an extra powerhead lying around, you could flush it out with that. I would at least give that a try before you just chalk it up to the CUC.