Hi

[Diane*]

Hi. I thought I'd introduce myself and at the same time ask for some advice. I'm Diane and I have a 200litre tank which has been running for 11 months. I have a fluval fx5 filter and water quality is fine. However, over the last few months I've had 5 platy/guppies vanish, no signs of illness and no bodies. The last one was this morning, I had a beautiful male guppy last night, today he's gone! The other fish include a shoal of neons, lemon tetra, rummy nose, corydora and a zebra plec. I have 2 female platy left. I've checked the filter and definitely no fish there. Is this usual? It's only started happening recently and the platy were the first fish in the tank last year.

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

If you filter very strong? Are there any snails/shrimp in the tank? What are your water parameters?

 

[Diane*]

Hi. The filter is strong, I think it can be used for tank up to 1000litres. I've quite a few little snails in the tank which I think came with the plants, but no shrimp. I didn't want to risk the fish eating them.

The ammonia is 0, nitrate and nitrite 0, general hardiness 7, carbonate hardiness 6 and ph7.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

The filter may be sucking them in, and killing them. They may died because they were stuck against the intake for so long. You probably couldn't find them, because the snails ate their bodies.

Will you please upload a photo of the intake?

 

[Diane*]

I hope that's not the case . The platy that have vanished were quite big and the neons far smaller, but none of them have gone. I've definitely lost 3 guppies and 2 platy in the last 8 weeks. I've attached a pic of the intake for you to see what you think. Thanks for the help

 

[seangee]

You have a general hardness of 7 which I assume is measured in German degrees (dGH). This is on the soft side for your livebearers and will cause them to have a reduced lifespan. It is, however, perfect for your tetras, corydoras and plec. So if your livebearers have been there the longest it may just be their time .

The vanishing fish is no mystery at all. As horrible as this sounds dead fish are fish food (and snails' too). If any die overnight there will usually be no evidence in the morning - at least not in my tanks.

 

[Diane*]

Thankyou. It's just strange as the male guppy was there last night happily eating away and now he's gone. I only have two platy left and I will avoid future live bearers. I've started doing a headcount each morning when I get up, I just hope nomore vanish!

 

[Anthony1976]

Hi. I thought I'd introduce myself and at the same time ask for some advice. I'm Diane and I have a 200litre tank which has been running for 11 months. I have a fluval fx5 filter and water quality is fine. However, over the last few months I've had 5 platy/guppies vanish, no signs of illness and no bodies. The last one was this morning, I had a beautiful male guppy last night, today he's gone! The other fish include a shoal of neons, lemon tetra, rummy nose, corydora and a zebra plec. I have 2 female platy left. I've checked the filter and definitely no fish there. Is this usual? It's only started happening recently and the platy were the first fish in the tank last year.

Any advice would be appreciated

Do you have a secure lid on your tank with no gaps ? Fish can jump through very small gaps and land on the floor and if you have other pets in the house like cats or dogs they come along and eat them

 

[Shiverz]

Hey there Diane, welcome to the forum!

I'm sorry to hear about your vanishing fish, it's never nice to lose a pet. I hope you're okay

 

[Retired Viking]

Hello and welcome to the forum, I also have had fish vanish, it is pretty common, sorry you lost some fish. Hang in there.

 

[vanalisa]

Welcome. I can relate to your missing fish scenario. I like how @seangee is every ready to explain, and somehow (?) reassure us that although one is missing, the others aren't starving.

 

[Diane*]

Thanks for the welcomes. The lid is secure on the tank, we have 7 dogs and I wouldn't trust them not to throw a ball or dog biscuit in by accident. No fish lost overnight do that's a positive