Chicoreus ?

Daveb300 · Jan 19, 2023

Hitch hiking ID please. I occasionally I have a fish that will disappear. Could this be the culprit?

Jay Hemdal · Jan 19, 2023

Daveb300 said:
Hitch hiking ID please. I occasionally I have a fish that will disappear. Could this be the culprit?

That is one of the Murex snails. They feed on bivalves and other snails. I have not heard of them preying on fish. Some cone shell species WILL kill and eat fish though.

Jay

Daveb300 · Jan 20, 2023

Jay Hemdal said:
That is one of the Murex snails. They feed on bivalves and other snails. I have not heard of them preying on fish. Some cone shell species WILL kill and eat fish though.

Jay

Jay. How long would it take flukes to affect a 300g tank? It has been six months since I added anything to my tank. If you remember from some of my last post I always thought I had flukes in my tank. About a year ago my tank went through hypo. All fish have been through copper. I have used prazipro multiple times even to the extent of four times the dose. It has been six months since I have added anything to my tank and all has been going well until this month. This month I have lost four fish that I thought seemed healthy. The fish I have lost showed no signs of illness that I know of. I did notice the flame angel swimming up and down the back of the tank for a couple of days like it was stressed. The other fish seemed fine. One day the fish are here and the next they are gone. I am trying to decide if it is flukes again or maybe a predator in my tank that came in on live rock I got last year. Im not sure what is going on but apparently something is happening. Fish just don't disappear for no reason.

Jay Hemdal · Jan 20, 2023

Daveb300 said:
Jay. How long would it take flukes to affect a 300g tank? It has been six months since I added anything to my tank. If you remember from some of my last post I always thought I had flukes in my tank. About a year ago my tank went through hypo. All fish have been through copper. I have used prazipro multiple times even to the extent of four times the dose. It has been six months since I have added anything to my tank and all has been going well until this month. This month I have lost four fish that I thought seemed healthy. The fish I have lost showed no signs of illness that I know of. I did notice the flame angel swimming up and down the back of the tank for a couple of days like it was stressed. The other fish seemed fine. One day the fish are here and the next they are gone. I am trying to decide if it is flukes again or maybe a predator in my tank that came in on live rock I got last year. Im not sure what is going on but apparently something is happening. Fish just don't disappear for no reason.

That doesn't sound a lot like flukes. Usually, with flukes, you'll get secondary symptoms that worsen over a week to month's time: cloudy skin and/or eyes, rapid breathing, tattered fins and lots of scratching/flashing.

There is an isopod that can come in on fresh live rock called a cirolanid. These come out at night and bite the fish. They won't totally consume a fish though.

"Disappearing fish" is actually pretty common in reef tanks - the fish wedge themselves deep in the rocks where you cant see them and then they decompose. In other cases, they jump out, flop around into some hidden area and dry up into some tiny bit of material.

Jay