Mysterious disappearances...

[Snotgrob]

Hi all,

I got my tank set up a few weeks ago and introduced 6 leopard danios and a siamese fighter. I few days later I added 3 red claw crabs and 2 prawns/shrimps, which are about 3 inches each. Shortly after this I added 8 neon tetras and 3 clown loach.
The problems started the day after I added the neons when 7 of them had disappeared. No bodies or anything were left. Then I quickly lost the siamese fighter, just found part of his body stuck to the filter. In between this, the danios' numbers have been falling too.
Today, I have 1 danio and 2 clowns left, one of them was found dead earlier.

Any ideas what could be killing the fish? I have a Trigon 190 setup and I've yet to check the filter for any of the smaller fish. Is it possible the prawns are doing the damage at night?

Any help would be great.

 

[MissD]

I know I got 7 shrimp for one of my tanks a while back and noticed that they were slowly disappearing...it wasn't until I actually watched the biggest shrimp I had catch and eat one of the smaller ones that I cottoned on to what was happening.

I don't know for sure, but I would say it's quite likely that it's your shrimp that are eating your fish.

 

[Alkalineroger]

Hi there Snotgrob,

Sorry to hear about your loss, its always sad when a fish dies

Do you know what kind of prawns they are??
The fact that you aren't finding bodies points towards something eating them.

Also whereabouts in donny are you??
I live in Donny too.

Spooky

Roger

 

[Dubby]

Snotgrab:

Is your tank cycled? How long have you had the tank? What are your water parameters?

 

[Snotgrob]

I've only had the tank about 2 weeks and not tested the water yet. Everything seemed to be thriving and doing well. No traces of whitespot etc. And none of the missing (presumed dead) fish have turned up, except 2 of the larger ones. These (betta and clown) were discovered almost completely eaten.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Sorry but how many gallons does your tank hold? It definatly sounds like your tank is no where near cycled yet, and you added an awful lot of fish over a very short period of time which has probably contributed to some bad water quality problems. Sorry about all the bad news.

Firstly, do a 40% water change(remember to use dechlorinator/water conditioner) and buy a water test kit that tests for ammonia/nitrates/nitrites ASAP.
The neons dying was certain since they aern't very hardy fish at all and cannot cope in tanks that are still cycling, was the betta male? If it was male, they realy don't like strong water flow/current in tanks and don't like very active/fast fish like danios which may have contributed to its death.

Personally, depending on the water stats, i would rehome the clown loachs. Most fish are cannibals to a certain extent and will eat other dead fish although probably didn't kill them although i don't know about the shrimps.

 

[_fish_a_holic_]

My guess is the crabs. They're slow, but sneeaaaky....!

 

[Dubby]

Snotgrab:

Please get your tank cycled before you consider adding any more fish. Otherwise you are likely to lose more fish. Wish you the best.

 

[Rox-e]

Hi,

I had the same problem after i introduced my siamese fighter,my neons went missing and a couple of my guppys.
I am not saying that it is the siamese fighter but just thought i would let you know my story, thought it might help.