Neon Tetra Disappearing Act !!!

by **blinddrummer15** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:03 am

About last week i had 5 of my Neon Tetras and my Chinese Algae Eater Disappear. I suspect they were eaten, but i don't know what would've done it as everything in my tank are supposedly "Peaceful". I have 2 small Ghost Shrimp, a bamboo shrimp, and a Clown Loach that i suspect did it, but they've never done any harm before and do not act like a threat.. they seam peaceful, but i don't know what is eaten them??? Please Help if you can!

by **miami754** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:21 am

Are you sure the fish did not just die and then were eaten? Even peaceful fish will eat another fish if it is already dead. Neons are especially susceptible to pH changes and are actually pretty fragile fish.

What are your water parameters - pH, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, temperature, tank size, how long tank has been up, etc?

Also, while clown loaches are generally peaceful to other species, they can become aggressive when kept by themselves. They prefer to be in groups. So, if you are keeping a loach by himself, this could explain it.

As far as the ghost shrimp, they too are generaly peaceful although I have heard of people say their ghost shrimp attacked one of their more peaceful fish. They attributed it to a misidentification though in both cases, I have also heard that ghost shrimp can harm fish by accident at night when the fish are sleeping. The shrimp can run into the fish and instinctively harm the fish due to fright. It seems a little far fetched to think this happened 6 times though.

My bet is that the fish died and were then eaten up by the shrimp. If you let us know your tank parameters, we can help you more.

Thanks.

by **Poetic_Irony2267** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:39 am

miami is again absolutely right on this, most likely a change in water parameters as well as doa eating occurs in a lot of tanks, i actually had a balloon belly ram kick it quite awhile back and my trap door/mystery snails had the fish deboned in just under a half an hour, i left it to be eaten as nature is the best cleaning tool. LOL sounds sick but to watch the snails completely cover the fish and all that was left was bones was pretty neat, i pulled the bones out and discarded them humanely in the trash... sorry for my sarcasm. it sucks when fish die, but when you have been at this hobby as long as i have, you kind of get a little cold when a fish dies, now if a 100 fish dies then i get upset......
i think you should get a couple more of the loaches as miami said they are best in groups of three or more. check your filter intake for remains, also check around the base of any of your ornaments for a white puffy cloud like substance, if the fish haven't been eaten they will end up in this shape as they start to rot. if you find them like that, get them out, test your water and do a decent sized water change as a rotting fish can devastate your tanks water parameters.
hope this helps,
Brandon

by **Tmercier834747** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:33 pm

Agreed on all points. If a fish dies of natural causes all its peacful co-inhabitants can become the culprits of a fast 'disappearing act'. Tetras can 'disappear' especially fast. I had a neon that died on me and a group of snails made it disappear in under an hour. 8 hours at night is a long time for things to get out of sight.

by **joel123** » Sun May 04, 2008 8:59 am

same thing happend to me but i had ten neons and 2 bleeding hart tetras go over night

by **Zambize4899** » Tue May 06, 2008 5:49 am

I had 3 black neon tetras go in 2 days. I noticed a slight fishy smell to my tank so I really searched every square inch of the tank. I found barely identifiable remnants, mostly some bones and a bump on the end that appeared to be the remains of the head. None of my fish were big enough to kill these fish so I think they died and then my others had a feast.

Zambize

Neon Tetra Disappearing Act !!!

6 posts