Missing fire fish

[James5214]

Ok so I posted on here about a week and a half ago. I got a dartfish from my LFS and he went into.hidding immediately. Alot of people said they will hide most of the time. But like I said we are going in 2 weeks and I haven't seen him once. Not at feeding time anything. I moved two Rick structures today some people said not to I might crush him so I did it carefully and nothing. There is a few more rocks I have to still move around unless when I pulled the rocks out he was still inside of it somewhere. But i haven't had fish jerky on my floor ever since i got him and my ammonia nitrite and nitrates never jumped indicating a decaying fish. Any thoughts or tips?

 

[blaxsun]

1. Check all around the tank (up to 6 feet away).
2. Check the overflow and sump.

 

[BryznNguyen]

Gonna have to second the checking overflow/sump I just found my other goby that went missing a week ago randomly in my AIO chamber while I was checking the water level. Thats the second fish that has made it in there thankfully I was able to net him out

 

[homer1475]

Just a side note......

In a well established tank, a small fish that dies should not show any spike of any kind. A small fish such as a dart fish will get cleaned up by the CUC in a matter of a few hours.

Case in point. I had a rather large male anthias die in a spot I could not remove the body, but I could see it. Within 2 days only thing left was bones.

 

[James5214]

Ok well I don't have a sump. It's my first salt tank so it's a budget build to the max. I have a tidal HOB filter and a HOB skimmer I have checked all around my tank my floor no dried up fish. I have a peppermint shrimp and 14 blue legged hermit crabs. The tanks is little over two months old I'm not saying it's the best established tank but I maintain it very well. Often water changes and things like that. I do not want to spend lots of money to go to waste. So idk if i should of still seen levels spike. But all my other fish are totally fine and normal and eating like nothing's wrong same with shrimp and crabs so maybe he did pass away and got eaten? Im out of options of what it could be

 

[vetteguy53081]

These are great hiders but also notorious jumpers.
Food will usually bring them out.
Also, they can and may slip through openings of overflow to sump

 

[James5214]

I have included all the details above. Looked all over and in tank. I do not have a sump.

 

[tharbin]

A firefish can and will wedge itself inside a rock and not come out even when removing the rock sometimes.

That said, if it is going on two weeks and you've never seen him there is a good chance he is gone. As @homer1475 said, a small fish like that can disappear and leave no real trace in less than a day. I had a firefish once that had been injured. When I went to bed it was obviously not doing well. When I woke up the next morning it was gone. All I could find was the bottom jaw and a piece of its tail. That was less than 8 hours from struggling to gone and consumed. It happens.

 

[James5214]

Well I'm thinking. He may not have made it. Like I said I'm going on 2 weeks. I have fed the tank live baby brine. Pellets. Full size live brine shrimp and never saw him come out. But he was healthy totally healthy fish. But maybe my snails and shrimp and crabs got to him. If so that stinks but it's the circle of life. It was only 20$ at LFS but I was just posting to see if you guys could give me any pointers or experience I didn't want to count him out yet lol. Thanks everyone. Maybe he lives on and we just don't know lol.

 

[tharbin]

Well I'm thinking. He may not have made it. Like I said I'm going on 2 weeks. I have fed the tank live baby brine. Pellets. Full size live brine shrimp and never saw him come out. But he was healthy totally healthy fish. But maybe my snails and shrimp and crabs got to him. If so that stinks but it's the circle of life. It was only 20$ at LFS but I was just posting to see if you guys could give me any pointers or experience I didn't want to count him out yet lol. Thanks everyone. Maybe he lives on and we just don't know lol.

If by shrimp and crabs you mean cleaner shrimp and hermit crabs, they won't go after a healthy fish. Neither will any of the typical CUC-type snails. Hopefully he is still in there and just not ready to join the group yet.

 

[James5214]

It's a peppermint shrimp and blue legged hermit crabs yes. And when I added him he was the best out of group from LFS even first day he was.out swimming in the tank and he even ate but once I turned lights out that was it haven't seen him in two weeks. I sure hope he is still alive in there somewhere!