Disappearing Fish

[dmaccafish]

I bought 3 blue neons the other day, and along with the one blue neon we already had, make 4 blue neons. A day later, only 2 were left. I scooped out some fish remains but can't conclude they were neons because of the lack of anything left of them. My wife thinks the clown loach ate them, we bought him to eat the snail overpopulation and there's no snails left. I think it was the two angel fish. All the other small fish don't get bothered. Do loaches eat fish?

 

[snazy]

They will all eat fish if the fish has died or nearly dying. But a clown loach attacking another fish...hope not as I have 5 of them, no problems. I'd say the angels are most likely offender...

 

[Gilli]

Is your tank fully cycled and mature? Neons do not do well in uncycled tanks or tanks less mature than 6 months old as they are very sensitive to water quality. What are your water stats?

Incidentially they should be kept in groups of no less than x 6.

 

[dmaccafish]

It's a mature tank with weekly changed water and frequently replaced filters, the other neons are fine. I think it's the angel fish eating new people.

 

[snazy]

It's a mature tank with weekly changed water and frequently replaced filters, the other neons are fine. I think it's the angel fish eating new people.

Are you replacing the filters/filter sponges? You are making your tank uncycled everytime you do this which can/will kill the fish. You just need to wash the sponges in tank water(never tap water) and never replace them unless they start falling apart, and even then replace 1/3 of them at a time over a long period of time.

 

[dmaccafish]

oh I didn't know that. I miss the old corner charcoal and cotton pump-generated filters we had in the '70s. I had NO problems in those days.

 

[snazy]

oh I didn't know that. I miss the old corner charcoal and cotton pump-generated filters we had in the '70s. I had NO problems in those days.

If you have changed the filter/filter sponges recently chances are your tank has ammonia/nitrites at the moment. Some fish can survive a lot of poisonous ammonia/nitrites, some don't.
Best thing is to get ammonia/nitrite liquid test. Test the water, if any of these 2 is above 0, then you are still cycling your tank. Don't change the filter media, don't even wash it for the first few months until the bacteria has strongly settled there. In the mean time, do big water changes to keep the rising ammonia and nitrites to 0, which means daily water changes if not twice a day. Your fish will be a lot more happier once the cycling stage is over. Your current fish may not live up to full age as they may have internal damage from constant ammonia spikes. Although, many years ago I kept a fish for about 5 years in a tank with no filter, no air bubbler(i didn't know any better). I used to do 100% water changes once in a blue moon, scrubbing the tank all over, sometimes with soap(my mother told me so) and the poor thing survived for so long(caught him in the river)