Unexplained Fish Loss

[ellebelle]

About two weeks ago, my golden midas blenny disappeared. One day, he was happily eating and swimming around, next day I woke up and he was gone. My canopy is completely closed, but I still checked around to see if he managed to get out somehow, or get into my sump or something. I was nowhere - gone, I assume to the great ocean in the sky. I was sad, but fish sometimes die, right? Nothing we can do about it. I had him for about six months without any problems.

Now, this morning I woke up and my wrasse is gone - missing, also presumed dead. I've fed the tank cyclopeez and the four fish I can see are going crazy. No sign of the wrasse anywhere. Again, nothing on the floor, nothing in my sump, he's just ... gone.

All of my parameters are WELL within acceptable ranges - all of my coral looks beautiful. I haven't added any new fish since the last frag swap. I don't know what's going on - any advice at all? Or just ... do nothing?

PS: this hobby sucks.

 

[NYreefNoob]

fish loss

you have anything that might eat them ? and if it dies any remains will be gone the next day from clean up crew, ive had fish do great for months then dissapear

 

[ellebelle]

Nope, nothing that would eat them. I know the clean up crew will take care of the remains - I mean, should I try and QT my remaining fish in some way?

 

[OctaviousMonk]

Did you check the overflow carefully? I had a fish jump into mine and checked twice but didn't see him in there until I check a third time. Hopefully they will show up. I try to not right any fish off as dead until I find remains; be it half eaten or just bones

 

[ellebelle]

my tank is only 29g - it doesn't have an overflow.

 

[duke62]

did you get any ransom notes.

 

[BroRage]

I have seen some mushrooms swallow fishes..poke around some mushrooms if you have any.. or stung by frogspawn..

 

[ellebelle]

I don't have any mushrooms large enough to swallow a fish. I have a torch coral, but it's way in the back of my tank down pretty low.

The current working hypothesis is that it might be the xanthid crab that I found in my tank a long time ago killing them and eating them when they are sleeping. He was pretty big when last I saw him.... I haven't seen him since I got back from my trip, so I thought he died. But maybe he's alive and is now eating my poor fishies.

I'm going to try to bait him out and see what happens. Sigh.

 

[Pseudo]

Any serpent stars ? Look under rocks as fish lodge themselves under them when sick or dead.

Kasei

 

[daisy]

Fish lodge themselves under rocks when they're DEAD? Kasei - funny way to put it! (of course, I'm poking fun - no harm intended!)

L - good luck testing the crab theory....

 

[ellebelle]

If it is a xanthid crab or some other predator, how do I stop it from killing the other four fish? I'm going to try the jar w/ shrimp in the bottom of it trick to see if I can coax it into the jar (if such a crab still exists). This is all so frustrating and sad to me.

 

[Pseudo]

ok ok I meant dying .. you know what I meant.. I think I meant that or something..

Kasei

 

[KathyC]

Lissa..did any fish vanish while you were away? Could the possible xanthid crab have been responsible for all the things knocked over while you were away? Hope it's a crab and you find him tonight! Good luck!
Sorry for your loss

 

[ellebelle]

The only things that vanished while I was away were my two peppermint shrimp and two emerald crabs. I thought I lost them in a salinity swing, though predatory crab might also explain it.

 

[fritz]

Didn't you loose two medium sized fish? This would be some predatory crab to snatch up fish that size.

 

[ellebelle]

I agree - that's the hole in this hypothesis. My smallest fish (the yellow assessor at maybe 2") is fine. So is my purple firefish, royal gramma and BG Chromis. I lost the two largest fish in my tank. Would a crab be able to do that do them while they were sleeping though? Or some other predator I haven't seen? (A mantis shrimp has been suggested, though I find it hard to believe that I would NEVER have seen him in a 29g tank).

I would welcome other hypotheses. One person suggested night time oxygen depletion, but all of the other fish and corals are fine, and the deaths happened over two weeks apart. Fish disease was my first idea, but both fish were eating and swimming around actively before they disappeared never to be seen again. Also, there were no outward signs of disease and no new fish introduced since last April. I suppose both of the fish could have just died of natural causes, but it seems pretty weird that it would happen so close together in two completely different species bought from two different vendors (NWA and HOF). Couldn't be the collection process because both lived in my tank a long time (6 mo. for the blenny and 10 mo. for the wrasse). I've tested all of my levels (w/ salifert test kits), and they are good. I have almost no pest algae in my tank, and my coral all looks excellent.

I don't want to get any new fish until I can figure this out. :sad2:

 

[KathyC]

I agree..doesn't make sense not to have lost fish while you were gone and now have this suddenly start happening...
Claudius? Cleo's too small and wasn't there for the first one (I think). Possibly jumped & then had help leaving the scene? ..just a thought...

 

[bad coffee]

Sorry to hear about your wrasse. that was a nice fish.

I'd say go with the crab-trap and see what you come up with. when was the last time you saw the crab?

B

 

[ellebelle]

He was a nice fish. Poor George.

I have not seen the xanthid crab since before I left for Africa. When I saw him originally, he was so small I thought he was an acro crab. But later, I saw him again and he was probably between 3/4" and 1" across. Haven't seen him in ages, nor have I seen any molts. But then again, I've got so much coral on my sand that I might not see any of the molts.

 

[fritz]

I would tend to think that hole sleeping in fish like the firefish and gramma would be the first to go if it were indeed a predator. You sure they didn't jump out? I've lost a few fish to the Bermuda Triangle that we all have hidden behind our rocks. What always strikes me as odd is that I've NEVER found a carcass. In brakish or freshwater you'll always find bones but never in any of my reefs have I ever found so much as a jaw bone.