Fire fish caught in filter, now I can’t find him, and I’m going away in 3 days.

[Jack_10218]

Yesterday I got home to see my fire fish stuck in the bio cube 32 back wall filtration thing, with his head sticking out into the tank, and the rest of his body in the 1st filtration area. I got him out and he kind of lifelessly sank to the bottom, and sat there for about an hour or 2, and he was still breathing. (For clarification, he was completely healthy before this, eating, and acting normally, I know he wasn’t sick) I checked back in on him and he moved position, still not really moving and breathing. It was night, so I look for him the next day, and I can’t find him. He isn’t anywhere I can see, and he isn’t in his normal hole he sleeps in.I don’t know if he is alive sitting in a hole somewhere, or if he is dead. The problem is that I am going away in 3 days, and can’t have a dead fish in the tank while I am gone. Are there any ideas on where I can find him? Or what I can do?

 

[Cell]

If he got sucked into the overflow, it likely was not healthy. Only weak fish get sucked into the overflow. If it's dead it will likely get processed by your cuc within a day so you may never find it. But I've known firefish to hide for days at a time too so it may be hiding.

 

[Jack_10218]

If he got sucked into the overflow, it likely was not healthy. Only weak fish get sucked into the overflow. If it's dead it will likely get processed by your cuc within a day so you may never find it. But I've known firefish to hide for days at a time too so it may be hiding.

I don’t have a lot of clean up crew, I only have an emerald crab, 3 skater hermits, 1 electric blue hermit, and a cleaner shrimp. Is this enough to break it down? And I see all the members of the clean up crew right now, and they haven’t found it yet.

 

[Cell]

Yeah firefish are pretty small fish. It might have just died and been eaten by now. Or still hiding...

 

[Jack_10218]

Yeah firefish are pretty small fish. It might have just died and been eaten by now. Or still hiding...

Thanks. So I guess my next question would be, is it worth trying to find its body if it IS dead and not consumed by CUC yet? Or would that bring too many problems. I’m going away for 8 days. How much would the fire fish death effect the system if it isn’t removed? The fire fish was quite small as well, maybe an inch and a half to 2 inches

 

[Jack_10218]

Update: I found my cleaner shrimp with his head in his claws… so he’s dead. I’m going to try and take the peice from him, but should I try and find the rest of the body? Or let the CUC do their thing?

 

[brandon429]

Not worth tank disturbance leave as is. All tanks can absorb some losses not a problem

 

[Cell]

You can look around a bit, but it's likely the head is all that is left. I wouldn't move anything or turn any rocks to find it though.