R.I.P my roseafascia :(

[LemonLemon]

thanks everyone for the experience. this vanishing act that fairy wrasses commit are so... perplexing.

husskerreef do you mind me asking what wrasse did you lose?

 

[denash24]

So sorry Lemon, that was a beautiful fish.


I hope you find another.

 

[Elysia]

I had this happen with a Lubbocks that was with me for over a year. He was perfectly fine for that year -- he even survived jumping from the tank once when it was open for me to work on it, because he jumped into a bucket of saltwater! But one day, when he hadn't appeared over an hour after the lights had come on, I knew something was the matter. I looked for him everywhere, and it was hours before I found him wedged between some rock and the tank wall. My best guess is that something spooked him and he wedged himself so tightly that he could not get free and died. Had he done this somewhere else in the tank (instead of against the tank wall), I never would have found him before a clean up crew took care of his remains. It was very upsetting, and I feel for anyone who has lost fish like this.

 

[LemonLemon]

denash - thanks! and i hope i find one again here.

elysia - i too feel sorry for your lubbock and other reefers who have lost fishes this way. it's saddening to lose a fish from a disease or aggression, but when a perfectly healthy fish dissapears for no rhyme or reason, it's even more upsetting.

thanks everyone for sharing their experience on this perplexing situation. many of us have experienced this before and it's one of the most terrible ways to lose a fish! (IMO)

 

[huskerreef]

thanks everyone for the experience. this vanishing act that fairy wrasses commit are so... perplexing.

husskerreef do you mind me asking what wrasse did you lose?

I set a fish trap in my 240 to try and remove the aggressive Marjorie and my Lawnmower Blenny and Female Earlei went into it, the Blenny panicked causing the door to shut, he went nuts and the female Earlei went belly up :furious: So now I only have the big male and small female. Needless to say the trap is out and I am living with the Marjorie. Other than chasing around theres not physical damage being done. The bad thing is she only swam into the trap that one time, while the Balteatus' were in and out of it dozens of time. Murphy's law I guess.

 

[huskerreef]

I posed the question of why wrasses just vanish to Dr. Tanaka and will share his answer when he responds. I am also curious if there a reason or theory.

 

[LemonLemon]

yes excellent. i've asked dr tanaka a few times but the response was inconclusive. it's still a mystery. i'm hoping this time he will have an answer.

i'm so sorry about your earlei. your marjorie is fierce you say?

i've kept marjorie a few times back when they were common. now they've become so rare i've not seen one in awhile.

the first one i kept was of a large male. max size, very gorgeous. but guess what... he vanished!

then i kept a harem. 1 male 3 females. but eventually all the females were killed my the roseafascia and then the male was picked on so badly that it reverted back into a female. but the transition was never quite complete and it ended up as a semi male with the black spot on the caudal peduncle.

i lost that semi-male eventually... DISSAPEARED!

the number of wrasses i've lost through dissapearance is unbelivable. i'm cursed.

i've lost 2 cirrhilabrus sp from the rubriventralis complex. the undescribed ones from africa that i believe is called "kwazulu" fairy wrasse. also 2 african mccoskers and some others..

over the months of course.... if they all vanished at the same time i think i would cry.

 

[Big E]

That's disheartening.............I thought most of these fairy/flashers were hardy & long lived once they settled in.

I've only kept a solar fairy that I had about 5 years, so i thought they were all like this at the very least.

 

[flyingace2005]

Lemon,
Have you ever thought about a mantis shrimp or something? That is a lot of fish to disappear. Lots of people have mantis shrimp and don't even know it.

 

[LemonLemon]

nope i have no mantis shrimps in my tank.

i make sure my rocks are pest free (or almost) before adding to the tank.

besides why would the mantis only prey on my wrasses? i have tons of delicious chromis and what not hiding in the rocks too