Houdini fish

RedNeil · Jul 30, 2020

hi all
Well I haven't found the fish :( and when I woke up this morning, guess what, no the fish haven't turned up. My cleaner shrimp has died now but the wrasse is still alive?. Going to do another water test now and will post the results.
If anyone could give me some advice on what to look out for when do the water test or if there is something in my tank that could be killing my babies any advice would be grateful.
May thanks

Tahoe61 · Jul 30, 2020

How old is the tank? If newer I would test for ammonia and nitrates.
You can not really test for diseases, it's based on visual observation.
Shrimp can die during a molt. Are you sure you are not seeing the exoskeleton of the shrimp.

RedNeil · Jul 30, 2020

Tanks been running 9 months now, did a 2 month cycle before starting to add fish and coral. Its a 52ltr tank but with rock, sand and media etc, its around 47 litres in the tank. I do a water test and 5ltr change every Sunday. All parameters are excellent. I've never noticed anything different with the fish and shrimp when watching them. The shrimp sheded 2 days ago.
I've been doing a daily water test since Monday when my clowns disappeared.

El_Guapo13 · Jul 30, 2020

Did you use live rock when you set it up? If so, then it is always possible there was a hitchiker that went unnoticed, like a mantis shrimp or bobbit worm.

Also is there a lid on the tank? If not, then your fish could have gotten spooked and jumped and you juat never noticed their corpses (or pet dog or cat ate them).

RedNeil · Jul 30, 2020

Yep used live rock, someone did say about mantis shrimp and bobbits which I've never seen any of these in my tank. They also said that mantis shrimp make a clicking sound at night?.
My tank is a fluval flex 52l, It dose have a lid with a 3cm x 5cm hole for feeding. We have a dog but he wouldn't eat them, too picky with his food

El_Guapo13 · Jul 30, 2020

RedNeil said:
Yep used live rock, someone did say about mantis shrimp and bobbits which I've never seen any of these in my tank. They also said that mantis shrimp make a clicking sound at night?.
My tank is a fluval flex 52l, It dose have a lid with a 3cm x 5cm hole for feeding. We have a dog but he wouldn't eat them, too picky with his food

Bobbit worms also would be more likely to come out at night than during the day.