dead fish

[Reefer769]

alright i have a question. if one of my fish died and got lost in the rock somewhere, and i couldnt find him, would this cause my tank to crash? or should it be fine?

[charlie]

How big of a fish are we talkin about here, and how big is your tank? Do you have any crabs or snails that might be able to take care of the nasty deed for you?

[Reefer769]

well my tank is a 30gal cube, and i have plenty of snails, but no crabs. I have one clownfish about 3"and the other 2", a pygmy agnel about 4", and a yellow eyed tang about 3".

[Reefland]

It's always best to remove the decaying carcass if you can find it and in your case, it could be better to remove it if you have to dig for it. In tanks that are a bit larger, say 60+ gallons it probably isn't such an issue. As the tanks get smaller the decaying carcass implications can be amplified and lead to problems.

[Ninong]

well my tank is a 30gal cube, and i have plenty of snails, but no crabs. I have one clownfish about 3"and the other 2", a pygmy agnel about 4", and a yellow eyed tang about 3".

What died, the angel or the tang? Or was it some other fish that died? I thought you agreed not to buy more tangs after the problems you had with your yellow tang in this tank? You're just asking for trouble trying to keep a tang in a 30-gal tank.

[Reefer769]

nothing died. I was just asking "what if".

[Ninong]

nothing died. I was just asking "what if".

Why? Does one of your fish look like it's about to check out?

[Reefer769]

yea maybe, i know im gunna get a lot of beef about this, but here it goes. As you probably already guessed the tang isnt looking to hot. Its skin has bleached around its face, and its fins are almost "not there" anymore. Its able to swim still but it usually just hides out in the rock most of the day. So there you have it, im out of ideas, what should i do?

[charlie]

If it is looking that bad, I'd get it out of there now. It doesn't sound like it is gonna be to long before it dies. Then you're gonna have to tear things apart.

[Reefland]

Take it out and put it in a Q-Tank or transport it back to the LFS to see if they can properly care for it.

[Reefer769]

i definetly cant take it back to the fish store, becuase the last time i brought back a fish, and asked them if they can take him in and try to nurse it back to health, all they said was, UHHH... yea sure..ill try.. But the main problem is catching this fish, i would probably have to take out every freakin peice of rock in my tank to get him out.

[Reefland]

Better to do it while he's alive and has a bit of a chance somewhere else then when he's dead.

[Nelsonius]

I had a 35 gallon oceanic tank a few years back. It wasn't pretty when a decent size fish dies especially with no crabs to take care of it. If you have to rip apart the rock...sometimes they go back together better than before.

[Samper]

Agreed. You may like your new aquascape better than before.

I just tore a apart a 150 gallon with around 200lbs of LR to remove some fish for someone so I know you can do it in your cube.

[Reefer769]

alright, i will give it a try. Im going to start this next week when im on spring break, because this is going to take a while.

[Poseidon]

If he is really that sick, you shouldn't have any problems getting it out. It is when the things are doing well that you have trouble getting them out!