Missing fish -- when should I worry?

[Duchess]

One of my scissortail dartfish is missing. I haven't seen him in three or four days.

We took the LR partially apart in an attempt to locate him. That was unsuccessful.

The fish is not in the overflow and the aquarium is covered.

I don't think either black Labrador retriever can be suspect in the missing fish case; this is one of the few things that cannot be blamed on them.

I've tested twice for ammonia because I think that a decaying fish would overwhelm the LR filtration. Ammonia is 0. There is no huge increase in nuisance algae or that nasty cyano that I keep fighting.

I'm filling the trash can -- oops, RO/DI water collection container -- to be prepared to do a large WC if necessary.

I plan to wait and keep testing the water. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Lynn

 

[boxfishpooalot]

Got any large fish in there with full bellies?

 

[Salamander]

....Or any fat hermits?

I've had some fish disapear for a while and then show themselves later. I even had two Firefish that were MIA for almost two months only to magically reappear.

Hope it turns up.

 

[WingnutSr]

Do you have a sump or 'fuge? Check in there if you do. Good luck.

 

[Apostle]

Could just be well hidden. My Firefish hides in the LR in the most impossibly small hole. I’ve only seen him once in the last 2 weeks. He’s been a bit shy since he went carpet surfing and the dog licked him!

 

[ducati1212]

I have a small tank and my grren chromas was missing for over a day. I took some stuff out and looked over every inch of the tank. He was nowhere. Next morning he was swimming around happy as can be

 

[empireinc00]

The worst case is you might have mantis shrimp hiding in your live rock. That happens when your fish mysteriously disappears. Please read this.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/msubpestmshrimp/a/aa110498_2.htm

 

[Duchess]

Thanks so much to everyone who replied!

No suspiciously fat fish!

Salamander, I'll keep your firefish in mind as I wait for my fish to show up! No fat crabs, in fact no crabs at all unless I have another murderous teddy bear crab in my LR. No sign of one.

I checked the sump, Wingnut Sr. No fish.

Apostle, I sure hope my fish shows up. The other scissortail shows up regularly -- they used to emerge from the rock one after the other.

empireinc00, yours is an interesting theory. I looked at the article (thanks for the link) and the only sign of a mantis I have is the pile of substrate outside of the LR entrance. I assumed the scissortails did that because they liked to practice "touch and go" landings on the substrate. It was fun to watch. I don't have any noises of any kind from the tank -- no clicks or pops, only the sound of water.

I'll just keep watching for my fish and testing the water!