My fish keep disappearing

[Deadlocked]

Hello all. Ive had my biocube 32 for about a year now. Ive bought several fish and im sad to say my track record for keeping them alive isn't great. My first fish, a royal gramma is still alive and healthy. I also have 2 healthy clowns. However, the last 2 fish ive bought (a tail spot blenny and a bicolor blenny) both just dissapeared from my tank. One night they're there and the next day they're not. Im assuming they died and my CU crew got to them. I just don't get why it keeps happening. It's really upsetting and demoralizing. I have a lot of coral in my tank and all of my coral is very happy and healthy. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks in advance.

My parameters are Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates ~20. I do water changes about once a month. No skimmer. I have chaeto and a sponge filter in my sump. No other filters.

Other fish ive had that have died..a starry blenny an hour after buying him, a rainbow wrasse killed by a dwarf angel that i got rid of, a cardinal that i found stuck to one of my powerheads and now these 2 blennies. Im not buying any more fish until i figure out the cause.

 

[Karen00]

It's possible they're still alive. I can't tell you how many posts I've read where people added fish only to have them disappear like yours then weeks/months later they suddenly appear. I have a 5g and only two rocks and I added a clown goby who also disappeared. I thought for sure he died, after all how do you hide in a 5g? He showed up four days later once he settled in and knew the lay of the land. Fingers crossed yours are still alive!

 

[jsker]

May I ask what type of clown you have?

Clown fish can be pretty aggressive, and will go after less dominate fish is the system. I have two Maroon Clowns, and these two are assassins. I am looking for my Niger trigger. I have a feeling the clown struck again.

Do you have a lid?

 

[ScottB]

Clowns can be super aggressive. Were either of the fish able to eat before disappearing?

 

[Deadlocked]

It's possible they're still alive. I can't tell you how many posts I've read where people added fish only to have them disappear like yours then weeks/months later they suddenly appear. I have a 5g and only two rocks and I added a clown goby who also disappeared. I thought for sure he died, after all how do you hide in a 5g? He showed up four days later once he settled in and knew the lay of the land. Fingers crossed yours are still alive!

I had my bicolor for a few weeks and he was always swimming around and super social. For it to just disappear like that.. idk. And the spot tail blenny was super small, but was still social. I wish that was the case, but my gut tells me they're gone.

 

[Deadlocked]

May I ask what type of clown you have?

Clown fish can be pretty aggressive, and will go after less dominate fish is the system. I have two Maroon Clowns, and these two are assassins. I am looking for my Niger trigger. I have a feeling the clown struck again.

Do you have a lid?

I have 2

Clowns can be super aggressive. Were either of the fish able to eat before disappearing?

Yeah i saw both of them eating. All of my fish ate together peacefully. Ive never seen the clowns go after other fish.

 

[Deadlocked]

May I ask what type of clown you have?

Clown fish can be pretty aggressive, and will go after less dominate fish is the system. I have two Maroon Clowns, and these two are assassins. I am looking for my Niger trigger. I have a feeling the clown struck again.

Do you have a lid?

I have ocellaris clowns. A mocha storm and a snow storm. And i do have a lid.

 

[DanTheReefer]

The one that died after an hour probably had a bad acclimation, most likely temp or extreme ammonia.the one that got stuck to the filter had an issue as well, it’s rare for healthy fish to get stuck, especially considering this is a 30 gallon tank with likely smaller pumps.

Where are you getting them? Lfs or online?
Do you QT? It’s possible that there’s disease in there that the other fish have immunity too.
I’ve had fish jump in the back chambers of my biocube, which is my QT tank, so worth a look in there with a flashlight as well. My sixline wrasse was taking daily dives when he was in QT.

In the old days with live rock it wasn’t unheard of to end up with a predator hitch hiker you didn’t know about, like a crab or mantis shrimp, guessing you would have seen it by now though if that were the issue.

 

[Deadlocked]

The one that died after an hour probably had a bad acclimation, most likely temp or extreme ammonia.
Where are you getting them? Lfs or online?
Do you QT? It’s possible that there’s disease in there that the other fish have immunity too.
I’ve had fish jump in the back chambers of my biocube, which is my QT tank, so worth a look in there with a flashlight as we.
In the old days with live rock it wasn’t unheard of to end up with a predator hitch hiker you didn’t know about, like a crab or mantis shrimp, guessing you would have seen it by now though if that were the issue.

I buy them from a lfs. They were good for a few weeks and then died off. And i don't have a qt tank. I don't really have room for one. I was told they need to be 20 gallons or more. And if you're right about the disease what do i do about that?

 

[DanTheReefer]

I buy them from a lfs. They were good for a few weeks and then died off. And i don't have a qt tank. I don't really have room for one. I was told they need to be 20 gallons or more. And if you're right about the disease what do i do about that?

If disease is in your tank (ich/ velvet) the only way to get it out is to go fallow for quite some time (rule of thumb is 11 weeks) and re-introduce the fish. Get the disease off the fish in that time as well.

I personally love tank transfer method, I haven’t lost a single fish with it or had a disease escape. Search for humblefish’s velvet tank transfer method protocol, which is moving the fish every 36 hours for a week or so and then every 72 hours the next week. Ich and velvet have a life cycle where they detach from the fish and essentially replicate on the substrate as if they are in an egg (tomont stage). The goal is to move the fish to another environment before the ick/velvet become free swimming and can attach to it again.

My set up is really simple, I use 2X 5 gallon buckets, and 2X 100 gallon per hour or so pump. You can get those really cheap on Amazon. Since I’m in FL I can get away without a heater and have the bucket the fish is about to go into somewhat nearby so it’s the same temp when I transfer it, so either do that or get two very small heaters. The requirement is that the fish is the only thing that was in the first bucket that is transferring to the second. After a transfer, sanitize the original bucket and let it dry so it’s ready to go.

I source the water from my display tank since I’m fairly certain it’s disease free and that’s where the fish is going anyway. Once again, do what you gotta do to keep the water at identical params when it’s time to transfer.
Also treat with prazi pro to cover the other diseases per the humblefish schedule. Between the tank transfer and prazi you’re covering all of the common diseases

A lot of people like using copper to treat ick/ velvet instead of tank transfer. It’s easier labor wise but Ive unfortunately killed fish with the copper itself. I would say to use copper power and avoid cupramine. You will need to monitor levels as well so get a Hanna or salifert copper test kit.

 

[emmo]

Hello all. Ive had my biocube 32 for about a year now. Ive bought several fish and im sad to say my track record for keeping them alive isn't great. My first fish, a royal gramma is still alive and healthy. I also have 2 healthy clowns. However, the last 2 fish ive bought (a tail spot blenny and a bicolor blenny) both just dissapeared from my tank. One night they're there and the next day they're not. Im assuming they died and my CU crew got to them. I just don't get why it keeps happening. It's really upsetting and demoralizing. I have a lot of coral in my tank and all of my coral is very happy and healthy. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks in advance.

My parameters are Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates ~20. I do water changes about once a month. No skimmer. I have chaeto and a sponge filter in my sump. No other filters.

Other fish ive had that have died..a starry blenny an hour after buying him, a rainbow wrasse killed by a dwarf angel that i got rid of, a cardinal that i found stuck to one of my powerheads and now these 2 blennies. Im not buying any more fish until i figure out the cause.

Blennies can be pretty sensitive to harrasment. If they get harrassed the stress can eventually do them in. When a tasnk is a year old with the same fish many times the existing fish don't take well to additions.

 

[MaxTremors]

Have you thoroughly checked the back chambers of your biocube? One of its design flaws (at least in the one I had) was that the back chambers aren’t blocked off from the display and fish can jump over into the back. I had a bunch of fish do this before a DiYed some netting along the back wall. Get a flashlight and remove all of your pumps/media and see if they are back there. I will say that I had fish live nearly 6 months back there, so even if they went missing a while ago, they could still be back there.

 

[TnFishwater98]

Hello all. Ive had my biocube 32 for about a year now. Ive bought several fish and im sad to say my track record for keeping them alive isn't great. My first fish, a royal gramma is still alive and healthy. I also have 2 healthy clowns. However, the last 2 fish ive bought (a tail spot blenny and a bicolor blenny) both just dissapeared from my tank. One night they're there and the next day they're not. Im assuming they died and my CU crew got to them. I just don't get why it keeps happening. It's really upsetting and demoralizing. I have a lot of coral in my tank and all of my coral is very happy and healthy. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks in advance.

My parameters are Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates ~20. I do water changes about once a month. No skimmer. I have chaeto and a sponge filter in my sump. No other filters.

Other fish ive had that have died..a starry blenny an hour after buying him, a rainbow wrasse killed by a dwarf angel that i got rid of, a cardinal that i found stuck to one of my powerheads and now these 2 blennies. Im not buying any more fish until i figure out the cause.

Possibly a predator hitchhiked into your tank?

 

[melonheadorion]

ive lost a tailspot before. to this day, which was months ago, i still dont know where he is. it is possible that he became a space cadet and decided to become an air breathing mammal, but i never found him outside of the tank. the only theory that remains is that he is in a rock somewhere alive/dead or from the last time i saw him until the next morning, which is only the matter of like 5 hours, he was eaten, but i never found any type of carcase. so i dont know. ive had the LFS tell me that they lost one for months and then one day, poof. there he is

 

[DanTheReefer]

Have you thoroughly checked the back chambers of your biocube? One of its design flaws (at least in the one I had) was that the back chambers aren’t blocked off from the display and fish can jump over into the back. I had a bunch of fish do this before a DiYed some netting along the back wall. Get a flashlight and remove all of your pumps/media and see if they are back there. I will say that I had fish live nearly 6 months back there, so even if they went missing a while ago, they could still be back there.

This.

 

[DiamondHands]

When this happened to me, it was a green carpet anemone with an insatiable appetite. It killed a large pair of gorgeous clowns even. I never knew that could happen.

 

[Deadlocked]

Have you thoroughly checked the back chambers of your biocube? One of its design flaws (at least in the one I had) was that the back chambers aren’t blocked off from the display and fish can jump over into the back. I had a bunch of fish do this before a DiYed some netting along the back wall. Get a flashlight and remove all of your pumps/media and see if they are back there. I will say that I had fish live nearly 6 months back there, so even if they went missing a while ago, they could still be back there.

I'll check again, thanks

 

[Deadlocked]

Possibly a predator hitchhiked into your tank?

I really hope not. My lfs said it's possible, but i looked at night and haven't found anything.

 

[OU812Reefing]

Hello all. Ive had my biocube 32 for about a year now. Ive bought several fish and im sad to say my track record for keeping them alive isn't great. My first fish, a royal gramma is still alive and healthy. I also have 2 healthy clowns. However, the last 2 fish ive bought (a tail spot blenny and a bicolor blenny) both just dissapeared from my tank. One night they're there and the next day they're not. Im assuming they died and my CU crew got to them. I just don't get why it keeps happening. It's really upsetting and demoralizing. I have a lot of coral in my tank and all of my coral is very happy and healthy. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks in advance.

My parameters are Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates ~20. I do water changes about once a month. No skimmer. I have chaeto and a sponge filter in my sump. No other filters.

Other fish ive had that have died..a starry blenny an hour after buying him, a rainbow wrasse killed by a dwarf angel that i got rid of, a cardinal that i found stuck to one of my powerheads and now these 2 blennies. Im not buying any more fish until i figure out the cause.

Clowns can be real A** holes they are not angels people think they are

 

[MnFish1]

Hello all. Ive had my biocube 32 for about a year now. Ive bought several fish and im sad to say my track record for keeping them alive isn't great. My first fish, a royal gramma is still alive and healthy. I also have 2 healthy clowns. However, the last 2 fish ive bought (a tail spot blenny and a bicolor blenny) both just dissapeared from my tank. One night they're there and the next day they're not. Im assuming they died and my CU crew got to them. I just don't get why it keeps happening. It's really upsetting and demoralizing. I have a lot of coral in my tank and all of my coral is very happy and healthy. Any thoughts would be great. Thanks in advance.

My parameters are Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates ~20. I do water changes about once a month. No skimmer. I have chaeto and a sponge filter in my sump. No other filters.

Other fish ive had that have died..a starry blenny an hour after buying him, a rainbow wrasse killed by a dwarf angel that i got rid of, a cardinal that i found stuck to one of my powerheads and now these 2 blennies. Im not buying any more fish until i figure out the cause.

They can be hiding - but the fact that you have documented several 'dead' fish - suggests that its either aggression, a disease, poor quality fish / acclimation (like the one that died in 1/2 hour), or a combination of multiple things. Can you give any more information about your tank - parameters, size, behavior of the fish before dying, the source of your fish, feeding, etc? Any lesions on the fish? Any possibility of a predator (like a mantis shrimp or something) in your tank? There are multiple possibilities here

Hope this helps - and good luck with your current fish! Finding out whats going on is important before adding more

EDIT - and PS - as others have said - jumping out - do you have a lid that is functional - I have had fish jump through the mesh, etc? etc.