Black Skirt Disappeared

[Italianblend]

Hello,

I have a small tank in my classroom, I think it is 2 or 2.5 gallon, and I was given 3 black skirt tetras as a gift from one of my students.

I know that they are supposed to be in bigger groups and have more room in the tank, but these three have survived together in my tank for 3 months with no problems. I fed them yesterday and when I came in this morning, one of them was just gone. There is no evidence that it jumped out of the tank, which would be very hard to do as I have a cover on it and there is very little exposed places for it to do that. I've seen no water splash or anything. I also don't see it's dead body anywhere in the tank at all. Or bones, or anything...

So, I am wondering if the other two decided to kill it sometime during the night? I believe I have one male and one female in the tank currently.

I don't have any PH equipment or anything like that, but I've been changing water and just recently have seen some algae build-up on the tank walls. I was going to get a tank scrubber this weekend to take care of that.

I would just like to know if black skirts would kill each other in a small tank and with only 3 of them. Or, what else could have happened? Thank you.

 

[electropunk06]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
is the tank filtered and heated?
i very much doubt that the other two killed it but i could have died naturally and then been eaten. It is hard to believe how the whole fish can disappear but it dose happen.
Lloyd

 

[This Old Spouse]

I had a serpae tetra and tiger barb disappear overnight once, but I think they jumped and my cat had a snack.

If you have a filter, have you checked inside it and behind it? It's amazing the places fish can find to hide.

 

[Italianblend]

I found him behind the heater!!!

He's swimming a little funny. Now he stopped at the bottom of the tank and seems to be "breathing" hard. And now he is swimming a little again. He seems a little tipsy, I hope he wasn't overheated or injured. He stopped at the bottom again =( I hope he is going to be okay.

 

[electropunk06]

Hi glad hes alive. All you can do now is keep an eye on him and maybe a few water changes to make sure he dosn't get ill.

 

[This Old Spouse]

If your heater doesn't have a guard on it he may have been scorched a bit. Hopefully not.

 

[Italianblend]

His eye is broken and the female seems to be more aggressive toward him now. That or she wants to play. =( What should I do? Should I euthanize him? =( he's half-swimming and half-floating =(

 

[Italianblend]

I'm not certain how, but his eye is completely out and he's on the bottom of the tank. It looks like he is about to die. Please let me know if there is a "good" way to euthanize him quickly.

 

[This Old Spouse]

It's probably too late, but the best way, I think, is to get him in the net, then smack him hard on a hard surface. Then do it again to make sure. I know it sounds horrible, but it's so much better than letting him suffer. Or scoop him in a glass with tank water and add a few drops of clove oil to knock him out, then do the above procedure. So sorry.

 

[Italianblend]

I am at work and do not have clove oil. Can I use rubbing alcohol?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Can't help but think that would be painful for a moment, but would do the trick. I'm hoping someone else can chime in here. You might want to repost this in the Fish Emergencies forum.

 

[Italianblend]

Thank you - I was teaching a class and when I was done, he was stuck against the vacuum of the filter and both of his eyes fell out. He was dead. =( poor guy

So, please tell me - why did his eyes fall out?

 

[FishFanatic13]

Thank you - I was teaching a class and when I was done, he was stuck against the vacuum of the filter and both of his eyes fell out. He was dead. =( poor guy

So, please tell me - why did his eyes fall out?

hi sorry about the news
i have had fish with missing eyes and normally i have found its other fish have attacked it
so my guess would be that the other 2 fish have attacked it

 

[Italianblend]

Thank you - I was teaching a class and when I was done, he was stuck against the vacuum of the filter and both of his eyes fell out. He was dead. =( poor guy

So, please tell me - why did his eyes fall out?

hi sorry about the news
i have had fish with missing eyes and normally i have found its other fish have attacked it
so my guess would be that the other 2 fish have attacked it

I think the female was attacking it after she sensed he was injured. Is this normal?

 

[coldcazzie]

Well, in term of fish being an opportunistic animal, and in terms of survival of the fittest, yes it is a very normal thing to happen. Food is food after all, never mind that it was your friend 10 minutes ago. Sounds harsh, but the fish have no idea they are not in "the wild" and therefore do not have to worry about getting enough food or avoiding predators. Instincts are instincts. If your instinct says that that weak fish over there is more likely to attract a predator/would make a good meal, a tetra, quite frankly, aint smart enough to work around that.