Missing fish

Angelajean

Angelajean

I know that I don't know
Hello,
We have had a busy summer and are getting ready to start homeschooling again so I haven't been online that much.

The problem I am having is this. I have lost my scissortail gobies and now my firefish over the last couple of months. All the fish appear to be fine and then poof they are gone.

Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates 0; pH 8.0;

Other fish are yellow tang, clown , YWG, fairy wrasse, anthias. We have a sally lightfoot crab, but she's not that big and a brown banded serpent star. Otherwise we have snails and crabs. Also have a cleaner shrimp.

All the fish that are missing slept under the same rock. Could it be bristle worms or fire worms?

Thanks for any suggestions.
Angie
 
RockStacker said:
Have you checked under tables or couches for dried fish? They might have jumped out of the tank.
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+1...those species BOTH need tight fitting tank lids....If you make them from window screen frame and mesh they can be very affordable and they work great....BRS carries a clear nylon 1/4 inch mesh pretty cheap...I just ordered some after finding a 3 year old misbar ocellaris AND a Carberyi anthias both concrete surfing within a week of each other....
 
The tank has a tight cover with screening. I have thoroughly cleaned behind the tank around the tank, etc. Still having disappearing fish. The only things I can come up with is Mr. T our serpent sea star or fireworms or big bristleworms? Someone I know who has had a saltwater tank for years told me to dip the rocks without coral in RODI water then back into the saltwater or to squirt RODI water in the crevices of the rock out side of the tank of course, but I am not sure about that. I haven't redone the rock scape in over a year so maybe if I move things around I could find some culprit. Just at a lost right now. Found a gorgeous anthias that I would like to have, but don't want to get anything right now until I figure this out. The anthias would go in quarantine first but still have to eventually put it in the big tank.
PLEASE HELP if you can
 
In one of my tanks I was loosing fish and snails, one night I saw what I thought was the culprit a worm about 4 inches long. As I watched it I saw where it was going into a rock. Well I'm a live and let live guy so after some heaven research I took the rock out of the tank and over a bucket I blaster fresh water into the hole I saw it going into. And before I could get out of the way a 9 inch bobbit worm came flying out of the rock. That was the end of my missing fish and snails.
 
No I evicted the Sally lightfoot last year. The only inverts I have are the regular brown serpent sea star snails and small hermit crabs.
Fish are YWG, yellow tang, coral beauty, 2 clowns and 3 firefish
 
Aquarian said:
In one of my tanks I was loosing fish and snails, one night I saw what I thought was the culprit a worm about 4 inches long. As I watched it I saw where it was going into a rock. Well I'm a live and let live guy so after some heaven research I took the rock out of the tank and over a bucket I blaster fresh water into the hole I saw it going into. And before I could get out of the way a 9 inch bobbit worm came flying out of the rock. That was the end of my missing fish and snails.
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I have seen suspicious worms in one particular rock. I hope I have nothing like that.
 
This is where I am at. I took a couple of suspect rocks out and cleaned them with RODI water and found zip. I am leaning towards a rogue serpent sea star. I had a rogue crazy starry eyed blenny and a crazy sally light foot so why not. Serpent Sea star is currently in the sump. My son's tank is in the process so he wants him in there. I don't want to lose anymore fish but I wish I could find a culprit other than the serpent sea star.
 
UPDATE
Redid the aquascape and moved the serpent sea star to the sump. (I moved him a week or so ago). No fish have disappeared and he is happy. I am feeding him silversides. We shall wait and see. I saw a few small bristleworms but nothing of any size and no fireworms. I did not sift all the sand. The puzzling part is that I have seen bigger bristleworms (I think) in the tank than what I found when scouring the rocks. I did not want to kill all my live rock. I do have an arrow crab too. He is cool looking at first he was creepy, now I think he is cool. Not sure how long I will keep him in the main tank.
 
Man, it's been a year with problems? Wow. I still believe it's the serpent. I watched mine prey on anything it could and at night time the fish all sleep. Bam, easy food for the serpent.
 
mariobrothersleeve said:
Man, it's been a year with problems? Wow. I still believe it's the serpent. I watched mine prey on anything it could and at night time the fish all sleep. Bam, easy food for the serpent.
Click to expand...
I agree because it is only the ones who sleep in the rock or on the bottom, like the firefish, wrasses, and one anthias. Although I think the anthias maybe died while we were on vacation because she would have been a bit big for the serpent. Seems like the problem has been as the serpent star has gotten bigger when it was smaller no problems.
 
Serpent stars WILL eat anything, large or small. They can invert their stomachs to digest ANY size food item. They are one of the top scavengers, little ones are OK, but I give the larger species the hairy eyeball when I see people adding them to their aquariums.
 

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