Missing Kole Tang
 

Hi Reefers,

On Tuesday night I got a Kole tang and a wrasse from a fellow reefer. Because they came from a reputable person and seemed healthy I carefully acclimatized them and introduced them both in my DT. Within minutes they both disappeared in the rockwork. The next day, the wrasse started swimming around. The Kole has been MIA for 48 hours now.

Anybody else had this experience? Is he dead? Do I need to rip the rockwork apart to find the body? He was a little stressed out and breathing rapidly when I first put him into the tank.

The skimmer doesn't seem to indicate any undesirable bological activity....

Any thoughts anyone? Any advice?

usually the cuc gets it before you can find anything. Not worth ripping rocks apart in my opinion. Test your water, that is the best way to tell. If you have a spike in nitrates or ammonia then you probably have a dead fish. Water changes are my solution to that.

I just tested the ammonia; it's undetectable. Still no trace of my Kole tang. Could he be alive and hiding for the third day?

Yes they can hide for days.....what other fish do you have in the tank?

A pair of Percula Clowns, a Copperband Butterfly, a pair of shrimp and a wrasse that came from the same tank as the Kole....

ummm well there are no fish it should be hiding from so I would have a good look around and try to see if he is OK.

I did look around to no avail. I would have to start moving rocks (a lot of rocks).

Is it worth the trouble?

If you want to avoid an ammo spike/algae outbreak due to a dead fish, then ya, it's worth it :wink:

Hopefully he's just hiding

I would move the rocks and look for him.

I think if it died the bristle worms will likely have already eaten it. You could use a power head to try to wash it out of the rocks.

I agree, if it died crabs/bristleworms would not waste any time at it... If you have a reasonable-enough volume of water it shouldn't matter that much if it's just a single fish. (reasonable-enough volume depends on the maturity, but likely 50+ gallons and you're good... my 300+ gallons I wouldn't think a bit about it -- except that it does suck to lose a fish)

.... If it is alive, then it'll come out at some point.

OK, I ripped most of the tank apart; no trace of my tang. It's as if he found a portal to someone else's tank....

I tested the water, and all the params were normal; the Ca and Alk were a little low, so I did a 10% water change. I plan on testing the water religiously every couple of days. over the next couple of weeks.

Question for canreefers: what is an indication of a dead fish in the tank? High ammonia? High nitrates? High PO4?

cyano

I would say that moving rocks around and stirring crap up in your tank would cause more harm than a missing fish. Plus you most likely stressed out the other fish while doing so. It's best to let nature take its course. People worry way too much in this hobby.

^ +1

+1

Did you look behind the tank? Maybe it jumped? Or.. CUC did its job.

There's no way he could've jumped; I have a pretty good cover.

I think it's the CUC. I'm still clinging to the remote hope that he might mysteriously reappear...