joe

1 of my platies died like 3 weeks ago when i was at a camp and my mom didnt get it out. I looked for it the next day and it wasnt there. Where could it have gone? Is it bad to never find a dead fish?

Gunnie

It could have been eaten by your other fish. that's not uncommon.

FishFan

Miss Mouse

Sorry to hear that Joe but dont worry - the others probably had a good meal

Jason

That snail-gut thing is pretty disgusting

Adz

The same thing happend to me a few weeks ago, I couldnt find it anywhere

fletch

I had a large sword tail and a large cory in my tank. They both died in the same week and the first I knew of it was an awfull smell and cludy water. I looked for ages for any remains but couldnt find any. I couldnt get rid of the cloudiness so I cleaned the filter. In the filter was tons of green goo, it definately wasnt algae so I presume it was dissolved fish. gross!!

Adz

That is gross!!

fletch

Put me off curry, beans on toast and anything else remotely wet looking for a while

joe

that is the sickest thing i have ever heard :P

Evan1

Sorry to hear about your fish Joe. The same thing happened to me about a year ago, I had a large Gourami, about 3.5" long, and overnight, literally, he just DISSAPEARED!! No remains, no one said they cleaned up his dead body, Nothing!! Just gone. He also didn't "jump ship" in the middle of the night!! Weirdd!!! :

Evan1

Sorry to hear about your fish Joe. The same thing happened to me about a year ago, I had a large Gourami, about 3.5" long, and overnight, literally, he just DISSAPEARED!! No remains, no one said they cleaned up his dead body, Nothing!! Just gone. He also didn't "jump ship" in the middle of the night!! Weirdd!!! :

AquaGirl

Yes Joe, it was probably eaten by other fish in the tank. When I stop by the pet store, I often happen to see some dead fish in some tanks, floating in the water, and all other fish pecking at it. For some reason fish eat other fish even of the same kind when they see one die. Anyone knows why?

Miss Mouse

Probably a natural instinct to clean the area they live in? Like you would move a dead body out of your house instead of letting it rot? Ugh thats really grim sorry

Adz

ya would'nt eat it tho :P LOL

joe

that is true i wouldnt eat a dead body

Miss Mouse

HAhaha no i definitely wouldn't - but I think most animals would do the same. It's just their instinct to keep their living area clean I guess - at least we can move or bury something icky but I dont think you'd see the fishies shovelling gravel over the body

Durbkat

That happened to me to when I was about 10 years old I had to gold fish in a fish bowl and one of them died and when I came home All I found was the bones of the dead fish then the other goldfish died a few weeks later because the fish he ate was sick.

hydreloy

Well I know that it is gross to some people and it is very interesting to others, but the realty of this situation is that if and when a fish dies, and if you see it floating. You should check for icky, because if your fish does eat that dead one...It will die. But on the other hand, if you see no icky, I would leave it because it is a great protein meal for your fish...Makes them "strong like bull"...lol..Not really.

So the next time you go out and buy some fish whereever...check to see if there are any dead fish in the very same tank that you are getting the fish in...Check the dead one's for icky...and If there is icky on it, then I recommend not buying the fish.

If and when I do get a dead fish, I put it in my crawfish tank, and the crawfish disposses it. Mmuh ha ha ha

fletch

whats icky again?

hydreloy

Ichthyopthirius multifilis - ick

When you fish had Ick it looks like someone has sprinkled them with salt. It is little teeny tiny specks of white. Most of the time these specks show up on the fins and tails first. They do not have a raised appearance and are flat against the fish.

Ick is always present in your tank, in your fish. Stress is the main cause of Ick. Your fish can get stressed as a result of many things. It is common to find that Ick seems to show up most often when you add new fish to the tank because of my explaination on the above post. Almost every time you bring a fish home from the store and add them to a tank within a few days not only does the new fish develop Ick, but several of the other fish as well. Very frustrating, but can be prevented.

Fish purchased at the store have had a large amount of stress. They have left their happy home, been transported to a new environment, then you buy them, transport them again and put them in another new environment, all within usually a matter of a few days.

Another way that stresses your fish is moving your fish from tank to tank. I, with 18 tanks, tend to do this on a barely ever unless for a variety of reasons; compatibility issues, Cichlids getting so large that the smaller fish are in danger, fish getting larger and outgrowing a smaller tank, etc. Most of the time I don't encounter much of an Ick problem doing this, but it does happen upon occasion. The third reason would be dirty water(never happens to me). When the water gets cloudy or contains too much ammonia or nitrates this will stress the fish out a lot thus causing Ick.

If you do encounter this problem, go to your local pet shop and tell the associate that you have ick, and they will show you thee antidote.

hydreloy

Im sorry for the inconvience,but I forgot the pic.
http://home.btclick.com/jatrops/Ick.gif

fletch

oh, yeah, thats white spot.

hydreloy

Oh, thats what you guys call it these's days??

Gunnie

Leaving a dead fish in your tank will cause your ammonia level to go up as the carcass rots. Unless your other fish are big enough to eat the dead fish immediately, then you are just fouling your tank, and they may be eating a fish that died of a disease that they can catch also. I would not recommend ever doing this. They should get all the protein they need from the regular food that you feed them.