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The case of the fish that disappeared | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Was that aquarium an established one, (none / 0) (#4)
by Chloe24 on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 10:09:00 PM PST

thanks so much for that :) I was unsure whether to post this here on in the diary section so thanks I'll know next time! ;) It seems this mystery is still unsolved however :( I have no snails, I did about 2 months ago but they were the tiny,often-go-unoticed type snails, and appeared long-after this incident. My tank had also been set up about 2 months when this happened so im not sure whether that accounts for anything or not :/ I do happen to have 2 young fish which have developed to look almost identical to my lost fish, im quite sure they are no relation however, as I have four of these young fish all together, 2 of which are red :S and im pretty sure these 4 four fish were some of a group of babies which I witnessed being born, it is nice however to have a fish which appears the same :) So I guess, that leaves cannibalism huh, its horrible if that is the true reason but right now it does seem to be the only conclusion :( Thanks again for your help :) xx

[ Parent ]

Re: Was that aquarium an established one, (none / 0) (#5)
by siops on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 09:25:29 AM PST

Darlin, could it be possible that indeed, you already had those often-unnoticed snails the night your precious pretty blue guppy vanished? And what do you mean unnoticed exactly? Well, my tank had always had these tiny, tiny snails from my gravel. And if i look at the gravel, i don't really see them (their color blends quite well with my gravel) But often, i do see them cause some of them climb up the glass walls. Anyway, i'm not sure if we have the same snails though and if they behave quite the same way.
One day, i saw one of my guppies behaving weakly. I was pretty sure it would die the next day, but still hoped not. So the next day, i was surprised to see it still alive. So i went to school. But when i got home, it was dead, and decaying. With LOTS of snails on top of it, savoring it. part of it was just the skeleton, but part was still there, decaying. (huhu! well, im sort of thanking the snails, in hopes that they helped consume the dead fish, therefore helping to not contaminate my water.)

Anyway, i did experience something similar to that vanishing fish. I once had this puny puny guppy. It was also not very sociable. But it was like that for a month (since i got it, i think) already. But i did get worried about its size! it looked really sad, doesn't even have a bulge for its stomach. And it had split tails (which the shop seller said is just fine, that it would fix itself eventally). It was quite young. But one day, it disappeared. I looked under the filter, among the plants, under the rocks. NADA. I tried looking for any signs of its skeleton (cause i assumed the snails ate him up and left the skeleton just like the first time) but i didn't find it. My theory is, maybe his skelly got buried in the sands... aww not that i rememeber, i feel awful about what i did (more accurately, what i did not do) sigh...

What do you think? If your snails appeared two months after, then they must have been already there in the first place right? Or you did a gravel change or something... Nevertheless, Sorry for your loss dear!! hope somehow, there's still a chance on unraveling the story behind that, so we can if at all possible prevent it from happpening again. Belated Merry Christmas!

[ Parent ]

Malaysian Trumpet Snails, (none / 0) (#6)
by unclescott on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 12:58:02 PM PST

Melanoides tuberculata are really dedicated carnivores. Once you have them, you have them forever, unless you throw out the gravel and really nuk that aquarium. Plant people love them because they clean up all sorts of left over food and bodies, but leave the plants alone. They also plow through the gravel, eliminating dead spots which could get toxic.

They also are useful in tanks with livebearers, though as suggested, bodies are consumed quickly. In a tank where someone is trying to spawn and hatch livebearers, they will really frustrate the aquarist.

During the day, it appears that there are a couple in the aquarium. In the same tank, 1/2 hour after lights out, one will find hundreds or thousands of those little, indestructable beggers climbing the tank sides.

Are these the ones which you encountered siops?

As mentioned, they really do work their way through the gravel. As also previously mentioned here, sometimes in the evening the aquarist will be meditatively watching an aquarium and will be startled as a section of the gravel lurches to the side. More than one person has looked at the pop or glass of milk they were holding and wondered what was in that stuff!

http://www.2cah.com/pandora/M_tuberculata.html
http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Bug,%20Snails,%20Malaysian%20Trumpet.htm
http://tinyurl.com/ygqhtb

[ Parent ]

Re: Malaysian Trumpet Snails, (none / 0) (#7)
by siops on Tue Dec 26, 2006 at 09:44:23 PM PST

yeah unclescott!! That's it! I always have to remove them always. They don't eat the plants? Hmmm, mine loves the plants. My cabombas, aside from their possible lack of light to grow, has started to... thin away. And i often see these snails leeching onto the stems. So is it still considered that kind of snail? It sure does look the same.

Unclescoot, i recently, seriously just now, have seen a new type of snail lurking about my tank! It looks like this "pond snail" in this 2nd pic in this site http://naturalaquariums.com/inverts/snails.html, except redder. I'm actualy a bit freaked and bothered seeing them. (im not used to them!)

[ Parent ]

The snail in that photo is probably one of (none / 0) (#10)
by unclescott on Fri Dec 29, 2006 at 01:19:49 PM PST

the Physa. Maybe Google Physa for images. We've had several sets of comments upon them lately and one of the ladies on this site provided a nice image of them and I can't find that particular thread. However the following thread will provide some info and image links.

http://www.guppylog.com/story/2005/6/8/172949/3641
http://naturalaquariums.com/inverts/snails.html

MollieGuppy mentioned the genus Lymnaea in another recent discussion on snails. I was really grateful for that because they used to be present in the millions in a several acre vernal pool/swamp near my home. When we ambled/ waded through there as students, we concluded that there was nothing in that body of water (short of microscopic stuff) which was more numerous. That genus is common in North America and Europe. I would be surprised if they were not also found several places in Asia, though maybe in cooler areas.

I have long beaten the drum for keeping a few pond snails. (I especially like the red ramshorn sport and the more interestly patterned Physa, just as a matter of attractiveness.) I feel that they do a good job of cleaning up uneaten food and sometimes preventing disease. Because they metabolize uneaten food they are not proof against ammonia problems though.

If they multiply like crazy, that is an indication that we are over feeding. We (I, you, whoever) will need to be more careful, step up water changes and take a lot of the snails out of the aquarium at that point. That is work, but a lot less heart break than an epidemic. (Overfeeding brine shrimp in most any form - live baby, froxen, even in flakes - is a recipe for an outbreak of velvet.)

I'm in the process of tearing down a long established livebearer tank that is pretty dirty and over run with plants and snails. The darters will get the snails, the better plants will be returned to that and other tanks. A lot of plant and snail shell debris will hit the compost heap. And I'm agonizing over which of the fish which would do wonderfully well in there, will get promoted to that aquarium.

The various pond snails will not hurt healthy plants (well-lite in good water) unless the snails are in overwhelming numbers. The busy man's pond snail trap is a piece of wilted lettuce. So long as that lettuce is free of soap or pesticides, it can be left in the aquarium for a few minutes while one does other things. Then come back and gently lift the lettuce out and over a bucket. Shake the snails off of the lettuce and again leave it where there are too many snails.

[ Parent ]

Re: Malaysian Trumpet Snails, (none / 0) (#8)
by lomelindi on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 01:45:50 AM PST

Uncle Scoot. I love it.

[ Parent ]

I've been called worse. ;) (none / 0) (#9)
by unclescott on Wed Dec 27, 2006 at 12:23:18 PM PST

[ Parent ]

The case of the fish that disappeared | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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