2 fish MIA

[Doglips56]

Morning all! I have 2 fish that are MIA. One is my Royal Gramma. It had gotten VERY sick with the ich that plagued my tank. It is the general consensus that a new juvenile tang I had introduced (no one seems to be able to identify it ) was such an out of control bully that everyone was stressed to the point of illness. We put a trap in and goy both tangs out, neither of which showed even one white spot!

At any rate we were never able to catch the Royal gramma but the last time we saw it it was swimming all over, eating really well and looking much better but haven’t seen it since and no dead body either.

The other one is a fire goby. It has always been a shy little scaredy-cat and I thought it was hiding because we had the fish trap very close to her home for many many days before finally catching the tang. She no showed any signs of illness either (whatever it was I only lost a larger PJ cardinal and a file fish). Have not seen a trace of her since before the last time we saw the RG. Again no body just gone
I do have a purple claw reef lobster that we never ever see except it’s discarded exoskeleton so it’s alive. Any ideas?

 

[725196]

What is in your (CuC) clean up crew? How old is the tank?

often, smaller fish, will vie and never be found as the CuC got to them first and they are efficient.

Do a good, visual search in the tank but don’t expect to find them. Wait some time before you replace them in case they are still alive. I once put a fish in and didn’t see if for 6months. He his so well it took a long time before I ever spotted him. Once he was comfortable he started coming out regularly

 

[Doglips56]

What is in your (CuC) clean up crew? How old is the tank?

often, smaller fish, will vie and never be found as the CuC got to them first and they are efficient.

Do a good, visual search in the tank but don’t expect to find them. Wait some time before you replace them in case they are still alive. I once put a fish in and didn’t see if for 6months. He his so well it took a long time before I ever spotted him. Once he was comfortable he started coming out regularly

Age of tank: 8 mos 125g DT 40g sump
CUC: 4-6 astrea snails
5 bumblebee snails (just added for vermited snail infestation)
4 Mexican turbo
2 sand sifting conch
2 fire shrimp
5 tiny nessarius snails (just added)
1 purple claw reef lobster
Maybe around 10 hermit crabs? I haven’t lost any but it’s hard to count them because they’re often hidden in rock crevices
1 porcelain crab
Are a diamond goby and/or lawnmower blenny considered part of CUC? I have one of each

The royal gramma very well may have died as it was sick but not too sick to get away from the net and wouldn’t go near the trap. It really needed to be in my copper hospital tank but it was still pretty small and there are lots of hiding places and we never could catch it.

It is not that unusual for the fire goby to stay hidden for several days, and it could just be freaked out because we had the fish trap in the for many days before finally catching the tangs but this is a longer disappear even than usual but appeared very healthy and normal last time I saw it.
I’m not getting any replacements for them specifically. I have a 3 fish in copper QT right now. One is a yellow eye Kole tang juvenile and one is a blue stripe cleaner wrasse and is small and the 3rd is a beautiful pink or purple fish that I can’t remember the name of. It’s not a dottyback, I just can’t remember. It is in a 40 g breeder that I grow several species of Macroalgae in with a juvenile sailfin tang and a coral beauty. It is a fowlr tank.
Hope this gives some insight. If you click on my build thread banner I just updated with new pics a few weeks ago.
Thanks!