Giant Danios Still Swimming Without Eyes ?

[PlumbersMerchant]

SERIOUS FISHY DILEMA
My giant danios, allthough still at 4, I have 2 missing both eyes, 1 missing 1 eye and 1 completely fine. Thinking back, I only ever 'recovered' 2 bodies through out my dissearance madness. I origionally got 8, lost 3 in 2 days and put it down to bad stock/ acclimatisation issues. I wen back and bought another 5 to bring my stock back up to 10. The only 2 bodies I ever recovered, both of them had their eyes missing. I put it down to them being dead in the tank and a scavenger taking advantage.

I'm now wondering if something Has been killing them off 1 by 1 eyes first ? If I can solve this problem I would love to restock the giant danios as I think thy are great but don't want to risk putting anymore fish at harm. Anyone got any ideas ?

They are stocked with
Neon tetra
Harlequin rasboras
Kissing gourami
Golden gourami
Indian gourami
Black ghost knife fish (5 inch ish)
Loaches (suspect Pakistani)
Cherry barbs

No problems with any other fish disappearing. I also understand that the neons need to go as do te harlequins but wanna find out about my danios in this topic please. Any help would be great.

Cheers

 

[Munroco]

please don't buy any more

 

[PlumbersMerchant]

Thank you for that sterling bit of advice. I have allready said im not buying anymore until I have found the cause of the deaths. If I cant I won't buy any

 

[Baccus]

The main culprit i would suspect of eating other fishes eyes would be the black ghost knife fish, they are mainly nocternal and under cover of darkness would be the perfect time to sneak up on resting fish.
It is possible for the loaches to be the culprits but i have found them to be rather well behaved even with BN fry taking over the tank.
Gouramis have also been known to be eye nippers, and since gouramis are territorial and generally hang near the surface the same general area giant danios are going to want to hang around in. It could be the gouramis that are the aggressors. You dont mention how many of each gourami you have.
 
You dont mention the size or water volume of the tank, so your issues could be stemming from too many fish all wanting the same territory.

 

[star4]

Yes you do need to re-locate your neons & Harliquins else they will be snacked on by the Black Ghost Knife. I agree with Baccus on the most likely culprit for the eyeball eating being one of the gourami. I had a rescued kissing gourami for a couple of years (poor thing was stunted and skinny), I couldnt keep her with smaller fish or top dwellers, she was a bother for sucking the odd eyeball out if she felt threatened by another fish.
 
If you move the fish without eyes to another tank and do daily waterchanges until the socket has healed over, they will manage quite well. Just when you feed them rattle the lid and always feed in the same spot in the tank, they have other senses which will enable them to find food. I had a totally blind rescue goldfish that I fed this way.