my favorite fish vanished in thin air (er, water)... please help

aboutlupus · #1 12/28/2007, 11:34 PM

I was hoping someone might have some suggestions about what might have happened to my Algae Blenny, who just completely vanished today. He was my favorite fish, so I'm kind of stressed out about it...

Some background... My tank has only been set up for about a month. It's a 90 gallon tank, with 150 lbs. of cured live rock. I also have a 40 gallon refugium and a 50 gallon sump (A little excessive, I know, but I wanted to make it as stable a system as possible and minimize maintenance).

As for livestock, after about 2 weeks, I added 2 Bangii Cardinals, a Convict Blenny and the Algae Blenny. (I also bought a Royal Dottyback, but he lives in the refugium because he's kind of aggressive).

Anyway, the Algae Blenny was always very active. (Much moreso than the Cardinals, who still don't seem to eat). When swimming around, he would also love to land in the substrate and kick it around, in a playful way.

About 4 or 5 days ago, after realizing I needed to start a cleanup crew (and deal with the green hair algae) I added about 15 Nassarius snails, about 10 small Blue-legged hermit crabs, 3 Emerald crabs and 3 Mexican Turbos snails.

The water has always tested fine. The ammonia levels have been consistently zero (except it shot to 0.25 the day after the cleanup crew was added, but went back to zero the following day). Nitrates and nitrites have been zero, the pH has been about 8.2 to 8.4, and salinity is about .024.

Now here's the problem: Tonight, when I came home from work, my Algae Blenny was nowhere. Not a trace of him. I looked all over the place, fearing he might've jumped out, but didn't see him anywhere. I even looked in the overflow, but couldn't see him back there either. I tested the water again, and everything is still the same.

I then thought the worst: maybe I have a Mantis Shrimp. But I find that hard to believe, since the Algae Blenny spent most of his time on top of the rocks, and the Convict Blenny and Bangaii Cardinals seem like more easy catches for a MS. And it's been set up for about a month, and nothing has appeared at all out of the ordinary until tonight.

So does anybody have any ideas what could have happened to my Algae Blenny? Could he have died sometime during the day today and been consumed completely by my minimal starter cleanup crew? He really was my favorite fish, and his disappearance has really been bugging me, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks in advance...

Jake_07 · #2 12/28/2007, 11:46 PM

he might just be hiding ive had fish gone missing for 2 weeks then just one day you see them swiming around

aboutlupus · #3 12/29/2007, 07:03 PM

Woops. My wife found him. He jumped. Somehow he was wrapped in a towel I had been using and left on the floor. Sucks. (But at least I can cross the mantis shrimp off my paranoid list of worst case scenarios). Thanks for listening...

McTeague · #4 12/29/2007, 07:08 PM

Sorry to hear that man

Jocephus · #5 12/29/2007, 07:17 PM

Try feeding your cardinals just before lights out. Like when you're ready to shut the lights down. They are usually nocturnal feeders. Sorry about the jumper.

aboutlupus · #6 12/30/2007, 10:21 AM

Thanks for the condolences. The worst part about it is how hard my wife is taking it -- she

And thanks for the advice about the Cardinals. That makes perfect sense -- since I don't really ever see them eat, but they obviously must be eating, since I've had them for nearly 2 weeks now...

kenwendyb · #7 12/30/2007, 11:18 AM

I remember finding my first jumper.....Bottom of sock about a week later after cat had played with it and basset hound had slobbered on it. It took me a while to decipher what it was. I think that was the hard part. When I finally realized. Sorry to you both.

sanababit · #8 12/30/2007, 01:14 PM

my sixline wrasse jumped, next day i went to check my tank i saw something on the floor, i tought it was a freaking big cockroach and jumped back like a little girl, after closer inspection i noticed it was my fish.

sana

ckprax · #9 12/30/2007, 02:08 PM

i just found my highfin goby on the carpet this morning

aboutlupus · #10 12/31/2007, 02:57 AM

I'm sorry to hear about everyone else's bad fish jumping experiences too...

This seems to be a bigger problem than I thought... Are there any reasonable ways to keep the fish corralled in the tank, short of putting on a lid that gets in the way of the light? (I almost feel like putting a wide mesh screen on top of the tank, although that just sounds kinda cheesy...). Does anyone have any suggestions?

cyclops23 · #11 12/31/2007, 03:03 AM

eggcrate is a good option, if you can kinda hide it. it lets the light through and prevents the smaller fishes from jumping.