Fish Decay Rate....... :(

[Tiredguy]

So,,, I might have had a fish die in my tank.. or he might be in the sand bed hiding... not sure.... But I did wake up to a cloudy tank,,, so if you have a fish,, say two inch wrasse, and you can't find its body.. how long does it take for it to break down and stop souring your water? i've done a water change today,, helped with the cloudy water,,, and i'm running lots of carbon for now. but i'm heading away for new years for 3 days and a little worried..

 

[Luke.]

How bigs the tank?

 

[Bigfish]

I doubt a 2" wrasse would foul a tank. Clean up crew should make short work of it... Provided you have a clean up crew.

 

[derrick orosz]

Most likely one of your giant aptaisia would have ate it

 

[SamB]

Even a small fish death in the tank can throw off the chemistry quickly and any decaying material will create Ammonia which your bacteria may or may not be able to keep up with depending on how established your tank is and how deep your sandbed is ...
If you know of the wrasse’s preferred sleeping spot, I would search there without disrupting the sand bed too much
If the water continues to be cloudy (milky) colour then you definitely have a decaying creature on your hands

 

[Tiredguy]

How bigs the tank?

50g

 

[Tiredguy]

Most likely one of your giant aptaisia would have ate it

I think I caught you throwing some copper in that home made food of yours

 

[Tiredguy]

Even a small fish death in the tank can throw off the chemistry quickly and any decaying material will create Ammonia which your bacteria may or may not be able to keep up with depending on how established your tank is and how deep your sandbed is ...
If you know of the wrasse’s preferred sleeping spot, I would search there without disrupting the sand bed too much
If the water continues to be cloudy (milky) colour then you definitely have a decaying creature on your hands

Good post, Tank is established 5 years plus, with a good 6 inch bed,,, Clean up crew is healthy, and the odd thing I have found is in the past if something dies the clean up crew is all over it or hanging out in that area, my clean up crew is scattered around the tank currently, Derrick had mentioned between throwing pennies in his tank for luck that he has a wrasse that has dug itself into the substrate for days, I hope that’s the case and perhaps it kicked up some crap from the substrate

 

[Tiredguy]

So the big question is how long can it mess with things? I did a water change this morning. Helped a lot. The. I did a slow drip water change this afternoon, Let about a gal an hour drip out and my auto top up topped up with new salt water,

 

[Luke.]

Well I’ve lost fish in my tank in the past and have a anemone get shredded and my tanks a 40 gallon , I just did some water changes and things seemed fine .

Do you vac your sand ?

 

[Tiredguy]

Well I’ve lost fish in my tank in the past and have a anemone get shredded and my tanks a 40 gallon , I just did some water changes and things seemed fine .

Do you vac your sand ?

I do not vac my sand but I have a sand sifting star and the snails that live in the bed, Do you vac your sand bed? I’ve heard mixed things on it, Also more afraid of breaking corals trying to vac,

 

[Josh]

you can use a small pump with a small air line to just shoot water gently at the sandbed if you are worried. I do this using my turkey baster.

 

[Bece13]

How deep is your sand bed? IF is a DSB (4" or more) you should not clean it (disturb it).

 

[Tiredguy]

How deep is your sand bed? IF is a DSB (4" or more) you should not clean it (disturb it).

it's 4-6 inches for the most part

 

[Bece13]

As far as I know a sand sifting star is not good for DSB as it will eat your fauna that lives in the DSB and it will become a deposit for your detritus.
The most important thing for DSB to work is to be made of very fine sand and have the right creatures living in it. Otherwise it will be a nightmare.
Here is an good article about DSB: http://www.ronshimek.com/deep_sand_beds.html

 

[Tiredguy]

so fish didn't die,,, it was my goby being a dick making huge sand storms when ever i wasn't looking,, looks like he's making a new house.....

 

[Luke.]

Sorry missed your post . And yes I always vac at least 1-2 times a month and I have white sand so I like a clean sand bed but I’ve always worried of never touching the sand and then going to clean it someday because of a dirty sand bed and then something turns for the worst . I’ve lost 3 chromis in my tank and at the time I’ve never had much clean up crew so I was worried and never found them again . I find it’s always good to be worried and do everything you can to get levels down , and sometimes you can get away with a lot without an issue . It didn’t hurt to do 5-10% a day till 100%