# fish missing can t find it???



## fmkeylock (Oct 5, 2011)

hey everyone i have a 75 mbuna tank with heavy cave work with sump filter and a emperor 400 hanging on back. i have 11 fish about 4 to 4 1/2 inches. with one bristle nose pleco. chemistry was just checked everything ok 0 ammonia 0 nitrites nitrates are at 30 ph 8,0. i just arrived home and the person that was checking my house for me told me i had a fish missing for about a week?? I can't find it anywhere, i checked in sock not there can.t find it anywhere. water is cloudy so i did water change cleaned all filters and water is not as clear as it used to be. do you think they ate the fish in that time or should i tear the whole tank apart and try to find what ever is left of it or just leave it and keep doing water changes till it clears up.thanks for your help


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

I am going to be totally honest....I have OCD....I would tear out the rocks till I found it making sure to look in all the holes. I would then vacuum heavily with gravel vac making sure to get all the detritus under all the rocks and where the caves used to be. Depending on how long the tank was set up it might be best to remove the fish while doing this.

Again...this is not totally necessary. It is only what I would do personally. I am very obsessive about cleanliness and vacuuming up waste, poop and other detritus. I would do this more or less to satisfy my curiosity as to where the fish went ESPECIALLY if it is 4 1/2" plus in size. I would look at it this way.....tank probably needs a good thorough cleaning anyways and it certainly won't hurt anything.

Again...that is what I would do. Hope this helps.


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## lavarock (Feb 17, 2011)

This maybe an extreme case but a buddy of mine was gone for 3 days and returned to find that 5 of his 13 fish were dead. I went over to help out and it was a horrible mess. He thinks one got beat up and died as it had been under attack for a couple days. He lost at least 3 fish that he had for at least 3 yrs. There was **** all over his tank. We removed all rocks and did a quick vacuum, bleached all the rocks, and about 60% water change. He cleaned it more the next day. That was 2 weeks ago he has since put rocks back and fish seem ok but his water still has a funny hue to it.

I would definitely clean the tank.


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## Nina_b (Jan 3, 2011)

Don't go as extreme as lavarock - that will harm your bacteria and mess up your cycle.

If these are too extreme, fast them for a day, and then see if it doesn't come out when you feed them.


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## jd lover (Mar 11, 2011)

fasting for a day might not do any good but worth a try.

what i would do is just a through cleaning (dont touch the bacteria in the filter though you need those.) and check the filter. and like said basically tear your tank apart. a missing fish isnt bad but a decaying one is


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## Mike_G (Nov 8, 2011)

Did you look on the floor behind the tank?


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## fmkeylock (Oct 5, 2011)

yes i checked floor behind tank.............either this fish is under a rock somewhere or aliens from **** came in and got it when i was sleeping. i set up my caves so i can look through them and around them.........this fish is gone! either they ate the whole thing or some how it got under the caves and died??I will tear the whole thing down tomorrow morning. i just checked chemistry and the nitrates are starting to spike.... I'll have to find that fish. thanks everyone for your help.. i was just trying to avoid tearing out all those caves.it took me forever setting them up. thanks again


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## lilcountrygal (Dec 27, 2011)

I had to do that myself. loved the way my rocks looked. I lost a fish and had to tear everything apart to find it. I was convinced it was eaten entirely. Tore out all my rocks and found her. I actually like it better now with the new rcokwork (very interesting to see the fish redo the pecking order too).

Im with razor... Im OCD about my tank. Id tear it apart to find the fish... dead fish will wreak havoc on your parameters.


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## ranchialex (Dec 4, 2011)

I wish dead fish would, you know, float to the top.


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## Tony La Morte (Nov 30, 2011)

I concur with lilcountrygal, polluting your water of paramount concern not to mention possible Bloat issues if they are consuming the missing fish. A fish that size should leave a trace, skull, backbone. The fact your water suddenly clouded is a flag too.


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## moneygetter1 (Jan 8, 2006)

> I am going to be totally honest....I have OCD....I would tear out the rocks till I found it making sure to look in all the holes. I would then vacuum heavily with gravel vac making sure to get all the detritus under all the rocks and where the caves used to be. Depending on how long the tank was set up it might be best to remove the fish while doing this.


 opcorn: +++1 I would not be able to close my eyes till I found out & resolved the problem. If it was a sm fish that could have been totally consumed by a large fish, that would be different. Example : Had an Angel & CK together for 3yrs, then one morning he was gone. Then I saw the CK.......










Mystery solved!!! "T"


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

^^^^LOL!! Yep...that sucker may be able to eat the large mouth bass I have mounted on my wall!!


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## chapman76 (Jun 30, 2004)

^^^ Ouch...


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## E82M6 (Feb 20, 2012)

I just had the same scenario kinda. This morning when I left for work all my fish were in the tank and alive. I got home today after work and one of my electric yellows are gone. I just searched the entire tank and it is not in there. Completely vanished lol. The fish was only 1.25" but all of my others are same or smaller. 
Either it jumped out the back and one of my cats ate it or they scooped it out or the other fish ate the entire thing in 12 hours?????
I'm stumped.


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## S14Swap240sx (Jan 3, 2011)

I had the same thing happen to me.. new bicolor.. 4inch big, missing.. looked everywhere.. finally decided the dog ate the fish cause it possibly jumped out the tank and the dog was sick for afew days.

And then like 2 weeks later i saw a big cloud of sand, and my pleco pulled the skull and backbones out from deep under the sand.


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## matt121966 (Mar 6, 2012)

really interesting and sad.

newbie here but can you take a pump or power pump and flush under and around and in the rocks?

keep us posted.


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## Shahlvah (Dec 28, 2011)

So what happen? did you ever find it?


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## Jayse (Feb 15, 2012)

You mentioned you have a sump filter? Do you happen to have a corner overflow? When I was helping the previous owner of my new 112g break down the tank, I was working on the plumbing to the corner overflow. To my surprise there was a 3 inch Mbuna down at the bottom, barely alive. He had a sponge setup over the overflow box so fish wouldn't get in there...somehow this one did.


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## E82M6 (Feb 20, 2012)

I ended up finding mine a day and a half later. The other fish ate the eyes and fins. I finally found it bc one of the acei was picking at the corpse and pulled it out of the Texas holey rock.


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## bullzi (Mar 20, 2012)

Very sad incident indeed.


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## matt121966 (Mar 6, 2012)

indeed, indeed


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