Neon tetras dissappearing!?

[LAVMAN]

OK my sig. has the type of fish i have and i started off with 6 neons then one was sickly and it died and i found it stuck to the circulation pump then i had 5 and i noticed yesterday morning i only had four i didnt worry i assumed one was hidding? but then this morning i only have three! and i saw 4 before i went to bed. i dont see the two missing fish anywhere in the tank or on the filter intakes/?????????????

anyone have any ideas?????????????*GOLDFISH*

 

[Newman]

The cories had supper. that is all.

 

[LAVMAN]

why would they go after a live tetra???? i thought they were peaceful

 

[ValRasbora]

check around the floor near the tank, they could have jumped out.

 

[homebunnyj]

Maybe you got a bad batch of neons; a lot of times they are weak. The other fish may be eating them after they die, or their carcasses may be up under ornaments or in some other hard-to-find location. It would be a good idea to test ammonia for a while to make sure the fish aren't decaying in the tank and leading to more deaths.

 

[AndiH]

cories are peaceful, but they are also scavengers

 

[LAVMAN]

ok makes sense ill do some tests and i guess ill check the tank more carefully.

 

[hayer]

same thing happened to me too!!!omg it is so annoying! i think it was my molly, my dwarf gourami, or my cories who ate them(cories eat the dead bodies) because they were so tiny!!!

 

[LAVMAN]

well im a big enough man to know when im wrong and i didnt think the neons could fit through my filter screen but i was wrong i just opened it up and there were two obviously dead tetras... not such a mystery now lol..... thanks everyone

 

[Newman]

dang...your tetras must be unhealthy in some way, to be weak enough to get into the filter like that. make sure the water is clean. if you must, then put a sponge/foam cutout on the filter intake (not sure what kind of filter you have) to prevent fish from getting in. but if they were healthy, they shouldnt be winding up there... sorry for your losses dude.

 

[LAVMAN]

ya i was thinking the same thing i must have bought unhealthy fish i have a marine land bio wheel 200 but im keepin my old 10g filter running on the back aswell till i sell it so its intake holes are a bit bigger and its a aqua clear 20..... looseing fish is part of the learning process so .. thanks tho

 

[TiggertheOscar]

I had a similar situation recently, i put a half dozen tetras in a tank of adult tiger barbs, big mistake, the next morning there was only one left.
lapse of judgement on my part!, I wonder if Petsmart's 14 day garauntee covers this?

 

[Newman]

ROFL

i feel so bad for the fish, but the petmart guarantee comment made me laugh.

We'll dying fish dont HAVE to be part of the learning process, but hardly anyone does everything perfect the first time =/ I tried hard to get my tank going correctly off my first try, and i lost my platy due to it eating too many live blackworms and getting bloat. may it rest in peace...

 

[JRB__]

dang...your tetras must be unhealthy in some way, to be weak enough to get into the filter like that. make sure the water is clean. if you must, then put a sponge/foam cutout on the filter intake (not sure what kind of filter you have) to prevent fish from getting in. but if they were healthy, they shouldnt be winding up there... sorry for your losses dude.

My guess would be that they were sucked into the filter intake after they died or as they were dying. Probably just a bad batch.
A pantyhose cut then placed on the intake with a rubber band should work fine. Thats what I do in my breeding tanks for the fry.

 

[Newman]

Only problem i find with that is that pnatyhose gets clogged with crap instantly. not a lot of filtration going on then. I've used that method, and ill have to say the sponge method is better. get a medium-coarse sponge.

 

[LAVMAN]

ya i just turned the filter on its lowest setting because it the second filter on there so it doesnt really matter how much it filters so that worked for far i picked up another 6 neons bringing the total to 9 and its been at 9 for 4 days so thats good lol. i looked at the LFS they didnt have the sponge in stock so ill get it another time.

 

[blamejames]

Tetras seem to do better in softer water maybe your water is too soft or when they are caught with nets at the LPS they could be getting crushed i noticed that at first with mine. went with a friend and i was like i gurantee that one of these fish is going to die because it got smashed and it did of course. they are very sensitive fish but once you get a good group they will last for a long time. so dont get discouraged!