First fish loss of my Aquarium. What should I do. (1 Viewer)

[bigdubb]

I noticed this morning that one of my chromis died. He wasn't eating that much. He would swim around and get active during feedings, but just wouldn't eat. I dont know what it was.

Well, he's now on the bottom of my tank and the hermit crabs and snails are going to town. I have a rather significant clean up crew at the moment, and often worry that I"m not getting them enough food as I've lost a few hermit crabs over the past few weeks. Should I just leave that fish in there and let the buggers in there take care of business or should I remove the carcass.

 

[SmnParish]

How big is the tank? If it's a pretty small tank i'd get it out just to be extra safe, though it's probably fine with a big CUC

 

[Travis Dragan]

I generally like to remove any death, just to be extra safe. My thought is "what if it had some thing that could be transferred" from the fish picking on it.

 

[Kyle T.]

What size tank do you have? Do you have any other chromis in the tank?

Chromis aren't the best beginner fish as of now. There is a disease going around with chromis making them die more often than they used to. Also, in smaller aquariums keeping a "shoal" of chromis won't usually work long term. They do tend to pick each other off over time until there is one left, two if you're lucky.

 

[Vashjir]

I generally like to remove any death, just to be extra safe. My thought is "what if it had some thing that could be transferred" from the fish picking on it.

I'd immagine if the fish is already dead and decomposing/getting eaten that whatever killed it already had maximum exposure to you other fish. Now I'm not saying I'd leave it in there either, unless like in bigdubb's situation, it being consumed quicklyby the cuc. My main concern otherwise is fouling the water with a chunk of rotten fish.

 

[bigdubb]

The tank is a 60 gal tank. I stepped out for a couple of hours for some job interviews and its gone. No where to be seen in the tank at the moment. I also have a skimmer that is rated for 150 gal at light biological load.

The other two fish seem to be doing well. I don't know what it was about that fish, it was odd to say the least. The others seem quite healthy and they are eating ravenously.

I'll keep an eye on them to see if they present any other issues.

 

[Kyle T.]

The tank is a 60 gal tank. I stepped out for a couple of hours for some job interviews and its gone. No where to be seen in the tank at the moment. I also have a skimmer that is rated for 150 gal at light biological load.

The other two fish seem to be doing well. I don't know what it was about that fish, it was odd to say the least. The others seem quite healthy and they are eating ravenously.

I'll keep an eye on them to see if they present any other issues.

What kind of fish are these other two fish?

 

[bigdubb]

The other two are also chromis.

They were the first three in the tank. AFter it had cycled I added them about four weeks ago.

 

[Kyle T.]

Unless it hasn't taken to eating much from the start I think it was probably the weakest of the three and got bullied by the others. Getting them to cohabitate in the average home aquarium can be difficult. I know of very few Lon term successes where they don't dwindle in number over the long term, and these are also in quite large tanks.

 

[bigdubb]

Yah, in reading some more I'v heard the same thing. I think that will eventually be the outcome of the other two I have right now, given enough time.

 

[Klaskcoff@hotmail.com]

imo its all about clean food vers (food your not sure is clean) crabs and fish can make a big mess when eating dead fish which is larger then the normal stuff you probably feed. not that there was necessarily parasites on the inside of your fish but if their was removing it is normally the best idea so its not spread around as it gets ripped up. you can always give the clean up crew a clean treat as a substatue.