Fish died....I guess

[rtaylors3]

So I have a 75 g that has been up for about 5 mo. I put a carpenter wrasse in a couple of months ago and it was doing great until it disapeared 2 days ago. I have other fish that are doing well and the water tests fine in all areas. See what happened is I feed every other day and the wrasse is always out eating so on the off day I remember him swimming around but hte next day he never showed up.

My question is I am sure he died since it has been 2-3 days but is this going to cause a problem in my tank since I can't find him?

[Juruense]

Did he go carpet surfing?

[RiverOtter]

Just keep a eye on your tests. Then you can do a water change as needed.

[MotherFish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14296810#post14296810 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Juruense
Did he go carpet surfing? Yeah, that was my first thought as well.
Whenever a healthy fish suddenly goes missing I immediately look behind the tank.

Well I hope he still shows up alive and well, but if he died in the tank then there's nothing for you to worry about (except what killed him).
Your cleanup crew would have done their job and started picking him clean as soon as they smelled his fresh corpse.
Even if you didn't have a cuc, a fish that small rotting in a 75g probably wouldn't even be a blip on your test kits as your biofiltration would compensate for the added ammonia.

[fender4string]

If he didn't jump maybe look in the overflow. My brother "lost" a clown for about 15 minutes before we looked behind the tank (overflow is HOB in case people are confused :) ). His clown went for a ride in the overflow and was stuck-he didn't look like he had much fun lol.

[rtaylors3]

Oh no! I found him! That really sucks! What in the world would posses a fish to jump out? No more jumping fish for me!

[Juruense]

All the fish I have ever owned have jumped out, except for the ones that just died.

[rtaylors3]

Not good news at all! Very disturbing... Could he had had a problem with the new chalk basslet I just got? He disappeared within a week or two after I got him.

[michellejy]

Flasher and fairy wrasses are known for jumping. I have one that very easily startles, and he hits the lights nearly daily, even though nothing harasses him. If you want to keep flasher or fairy wrasses, a lid is a must.

I'm sorry your fish died.

[rtaylors3]

He actually jumped out the back where the only space avaliable is. I have a glass top.

[Ranchhand02]

That sucks man. I hate to lose fish like that.

[rtaylors3]

I feel really bad cause the first morning I notced him missing I feel if I had thought about loking behind hte tank he may have still been alive and I could have saved him. From this moment on if a fish goes missing I will definetely look! I don't know why I didn't think about that! K, i'll stop beating myself up.

[shuguley]

sorry about you loss, My fairy wrasse jumped about a month ago, he managed to get through eggcrate that I had cut to fit, but aparently not good enough. My wife saw him laying on the floor and thought it was one of my son's toys, so she picked it up and screamed when water squirted out it's mouth, her reaction was funny, but the dead fish was sad.

After he jumped I made a new top using 1/4" pond netting and a screen window DIY kit. My new top is awesome, there is no way a fish could make it out.... I hope.

[michellejy]

I have a canopy and then put mesh screen over the back to keep my known jumpers in. I also put mesh screen over both of my overflows. I thought it was as safe as it could possibly be unless a fish was determined to jump up on the center brace and balance himself in place until he fried under the lights.

Then a few days ago, my jawfish disappeared. I looked everywhere including the sump in case in some bizarre feat of strength, he swam against the current of the returns to get into the overflow. It turns out that the mesh on the back had one tiny gap in the center that must have happened when I actually put the canopy in place. So unfortunately, I know first hand that you can make every attempt to take precautions and still lose a fish. :(

I spent last night cutting egg crate to the exact size of the tank and then wrapping it in mesh screen. I also still have the canopy as well. If the fish makes it through those two layers, I give up! :p

[rtaylors3]

Are these fish trying to tell us something? Geeze!! What about window screen material (the plastic kind)? I'll figure something out. Thanks for the suggestions all.

[michellejy]

If you can find 1/4" egg crate, it should work. Window screen will also work as long as it is well secured.