CT_ Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 A few weeks ago I got 11 cardinals. In the first couple days I lost one. Like it just disappeared. Then I lost another after 3-4 more days. Now I lost a third one yesterday. The tank is in the kitchen so if they jumped I'm pretty sure I'd find a body as there's not a lot of places for a body to hide. I do have a lid but it doesn't cover the back 2". I've not seen any nitrogen spikes, my nitrates are 5 before fertilizing. I don't have pets other than fish. Is there an explanation I'm missing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorydorasEthan Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 13 minutes ago, CT_ said: A few weeks ago I got 11 cardinals. In the first couple days I lost one. Like it just disappeared. Then I lost another after 3-4 more days. Now I lost a third one yesterday. The tank is in the kitchen so if they jumped I'm pretty sure I'd find a body as there's not a lot of places for a body to hide. I do have a lid but it doesn't cover the back 2". I've not seen any nitrogen spikes, my nitrates are 5 before fertilizing. I don't have pets other than fish. Is there an explanation I'm missing? What other fish/inhabitants do you have in the aquarium? Could the bodies have been sucked up by the filter? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted March 20, 2021 Author Share Posted March 20, 2021 26 minutes ago, CorydorasEthan said: What other fish/inhabitants do you have in the aquarium? Could the bodies have been sucked up by the filter? Ah good points but I have only 3 other guppies, 3otos, and some shrimp. The hob I'm running is a tidal 35 with all the intakes covered in aco sponge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorydorasEthan Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 3 hours ago, CT_ said: Ah good points but I have only 3 other guppies, 3otos, and some shrimp. The hob I'm running is a tidal 35 with all the intakes covered in aco sponge. Maybe the shrimp ate the bodies after they died? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolstoy21 Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 This happens to me. I’m suddenly like, “hey did I put a bunch of otos in here this year?” I think sometimes the other inhabitants eat up their fallen comrades faster than we realize. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaAggie Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 I agree with @tolstoy21 if you set up a tank for fish to live you will have lots of hides and spaces for things to end up. Between that anything in your tank eating a dead fish, because I am pretty sure nearly all aquarium inhabitants will snack on a body given the chance, i think the chance finding any thing smaller than a guppy or tetra that dies is slim unless you don’t have a lot of decor or hardscape in the tank. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted March 21, 2021 Author Share Posted March 21, 2021 Yikes. That's grim. I guess the question is then why did they die. everyone looks happy and healthy. Some or all of the cardinals are wild caught, perhaps they just couldn't handle the journey to my tank. my pH is 7.8, which is pretty high relative to what i heard the wild areas they come form. gh is 6 so not super soft but not that hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanked Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 I'm going with the scavenger theory. I realized one day that 4 of my Danios were missing. I never saw a dead or dying fish. I had always assumed they were in the Hornwort cloud where counting was nearly impossible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenman Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 Wild caught fish often come to you as adults. It's what those catching them caught, so you get old fish that may be near the end of their lifespan. Add in the stress that goes along with being wild-caught and going through the shipping process, and it's something of a miracle any ever live. I wouldn't stress out about it too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted March 26, 2021 Author Share Posted March 26, 2021 Ok another one gone while I was sleeping! How fast can 7 tetra 3 otos and 3 guppies dispose of a corpse? This time I looked around the tank and moved hard scape and found nothing. Nothing on the floor either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samanthabea Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 I had to take everything out and flip it to find my fish(sometimes alive and they seam out sometimes dead and was dislodged I've been struggling with ich so I keep a daily count) almost all of them were somewhat eaten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaAggie Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 24 minutes ago, CT_ said: Ok another one gone while I was sleeping! How fast can 7 tetra 3 otos and 3 guppies dispose of a corpse? This time I looked around the tank and moved hard scape and found nothing. Nothing on the floor either. Do you have snails. They come out of the woodwork in the dark and can make quick work things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted March 26, 2021 Author Share Posted March 26, 2021 22 minutes ago, AquaAggie said: Do you have snails. They come out of the woodwork in the dark and can make quick work things. just the one nerite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishdude Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 Oh man I've had this happen with a lot of fish, but especially tetras (neons to be exact). I had 18 about a year ago and I've got like 8 or 9 now. The population has stabilized after some bad luck, but anything from neon tetra disease to stress or some other random cause might be putting them out. And believe it or not the other tetras will devour dead brethren in a hurry (which is partly how the disease is spread and why it can happen so fast). Sorry to hear this, I hate it when fish start disappearing without a clear explanation 😢 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT_ Posted March 26, 2021 Author Share Posted March 26, 2021 AH! so they are cannibals then! They are vicious at feeding time. its a good thing they're competing with guppies and not a slower fish. They all seem so happy and healthy color is good. Internet says an average cardinal tetra weighs 130mg, so that's probably only 5-10 feedings worth, so I may not even notice the extra nitrogen released if they get digested and broken down slow enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishdude Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 Do you notice anything off behaviorally about any of the cardinals before one goes missing? Like do you have any that look a little sickly or stay away from the school? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishdude Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 1 minute ago, CT_ said: AH! so they are cannibals then! They are vicious at feeding time. its a good thing they're competing with guppies and not a slower fish. They all seem so happy and healthy color is good. Internet says an average cardinal tetra weighs 130mg, so that's probably only 5-10 feedings worth, so I may not even notice the extra nitrogen released if they get digested and broken down slow enough. Oh yeah, once a fish is dead it becomes protein for other fish even in the same species. It's one reason to avoid buying from tanks with dead fish because it indicates both that the tank isn't well cared for but also that any disease may be left to spread. Smaller fish have a tendency to disappear. In fact I've found just some fleshy husks of dead platys (and even one corydora) in my community tank if I overfeed and inadvertently kill a few. Fish will not miss a chance at a meal. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbit Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 I agree that fish can get devoured really fast once dead, but I wouldn’t discount the jumping theory either. When I got my school of neon tetras I quarantined them in a shallow tub with a 2inch gap on either side of the lid. In the span of maybe two days I had thee jump out. Two I found crisped on the floor, and one had actually jumped into the bowl where I was quarantining plecos! 😆 Do you have a cat or a dog? They may be taking care of the bodies for you. I lost several neon tetras from my 55 ages ago and I only ever found one body. I believe the cat found the others. Or you may have a portal in your tank. It happens to advanced fish keepers, you know! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishyMike Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 This happened to me also I got a group of cardinal tetras and neon tetras they dropped like flies and I really had to look for them! Under any and every decoration!!! And they will be pale to almost grey so look out for that! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 Chiming in a little late here, but I agree with "scavenger clean-up". Back in the past, my ghost shrimp could tidy up a dead tetra in very little time. On one occasion, the only evidence I saw one morning was the small traces of a (I think) spine! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan F Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 Can confirm your shrimp are eating your tetra bodies. I have a tank with NTD and Amanos. I can't do anything about the NTD but give them their best life, but I haven't had to scoop one out despite my population dwindling from 9 to just 6. The shrimp (and probably the cories) are just too fast to clean up the bodies. That and I have a heavily planted tank so a "hiding" and "dinner" tetra are difficult to distinguish. The good news is that it doesn't sound like anything in your tank is hunting your tetras just disposing of the bodies. Fishy bodies can also be really good at hiding. I once found a nearly completely decomposed molly between two anubias leaves. Scared the dickens out of me when I was cleaning and it finally popped out. It's grim, but this is what these animals do in the wild. It's what they are going to do in our tanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maggie Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 I had 11 dwarf danios in a 10 gallon with just shrimp. When I moved them to their 20 gallon, 2 danios (and a few shrimp) had completely disappeared with no evidence. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirsten Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 Yeah I recently had a shipment of tetras start disappearing 1 by 1, to the point that I soon needed to buy more to keep up their numbers. Important to keep in mind, too, that even brightly colored fish can be really good at hiding, especially when they're small. And when they die, they seem to be even smaller and harder to find. So you'd probably have to tear apart your tank looking for tiny bodies that may not still be there. I wouldn't worry too much. As fish keepers, we try so hard to do everything "right" and it sounds like it should be easy, but fish can have any number of unseen problems, especially small and mass-produced fish like tetras. Sometimes they're just weak to begin with and the inherent stress of moving does them in. It happens, and it's not necessarily anything you could have prevented. Just keep an eye on their population and keep it from getting lower than 5 or 6, and keep testing for ammonia to see if you need to do a body hunt. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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