Missing fish...presumed dead

[Brieninsac]

I noticed yesterday morning during feed my Coral Beauty Angelfish was no where to be seen. This was very unusual for him since he never misses a meal. Using a flash light I was able to see him swimming inside my aquascape. So I didn't worry too much and left for work.

When I got home yesterday I couldn't see him anywhere. He still hasn't reappeared so I'm fearing the worst. I can't see his body anywhere so he's got be somewhere I can't get to.

My question is if he's dead how bad is this going to be on my tank if I can't get his body out? He was only about 3" long. I have about 10 crabs too.

[ussj4brolli]

I noticed yesterday morning during feed my Coral Beauty Angelfish was no where to be seen. This was very unusual for him since he never misses a meal. Using a flash light I was able to see him swimming inside my aquascape. So I didn't worry too much and left for work.

When I got home yesterday I couldn't see him anywhere. He still hasn't reappeared so I'm fearing the worst. I can't see his body anywhere so he's got be somewhere I can't get to.

My question is if he's dead how bad is this going to be on my tank if I can't get his body out? He was only about 3" long. I have about 10 crabs too.

The crabs will take care of it. Your tank will spike with Ammonia but if you have enough rock/bacteria you may not even see the spike. Iv`e lost fish and never noticed it.

[Animagus]

If you have an extra power head lying around you might want to use that & see if you can dislodge the body. While the CUC might take care of it for you, I would much rather remove a corpse then let it sit there and rot for who knows how long. Your Nitrates might rise a little, but nothing catastrophic.

[oscar650]

With 10 crabs he might be consumed entirely over night.
But I would still check he's not under some rock rotting. Crabs can't get everywhere because of their shell


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[scooter31707]

Have you checked the overflows? if not in there, then I agree with the others that the crab probably took care of it.

[Breadman03]

If you see it, feel free to pull it out. In all likelihood, you'll never see another trace of it if it is dead.

[reelfreak]

Any chance he's jumped behind the tank? I've found several fish chips over the years with a flashlight behind my tank. Even managed to have a chromis jump behind my canopy which has netting on the back recently.

[tzylak]

In my experience (2 years) the carcass is consumed within 3-6 hours. The CUC comes out from wherever in full force. I have 55G tank and never saw a Nitrate spike.
The circle of life can spin quite fast in a fish tank. . . .

[Brieninsac]

Thanks for the advice. I tested my water today and my Nitrates were 8ppm, Nitrites .1 and Ammonia 0. So I'm going to do a 30% water change tomorrow. I'll use the turkey baster around the area he was last seen. Otherwise, it's business as usual.