Help!! Mysterious Neon problems....

[adcs]

Hello!

Hope you're all having a nice christmas!.

Our neons keep going "missing". We've lost 6 in the space of 6 weeks and there's no sign of them at all!

Two of them developed a large skin lesion on their back and it looked like somebody had pulled the scales off the fish in a vertical line exposing flesh.

The tank is 30" long and has a base filter and power head for filtration.

The only other fish in the tank are Synodontis Eupterus "Feather-fin Catfish", Botia Modesta "Blue Botia", Botia Almorhae "Pakistan Loach", Botia Striata "Candy Stripped Loach", Sword fish, guppies and platties. I wouldn't have suspected any of those fish of being naughty and eating anybody.

I don't want to move the fish into another tank until I rule out the possiblity of a nasty disease.

It sounds silly but it's like they're getting sucked into the filtration system and "disappearing".

Does anybody have any suggestions as to what is happening to these fish?

Help!

 

[Cian McLiam]

How big is the Synodontis?
Neons sleep just an inch or maybe even on the bottom at night, just as the catfish is making its daily rounds. I would suspect he may be finding it hard to resist a tasty neon in the middle of the night. Im not very familiar with the loaches you have but most catfish wouldnt turn down a late night tetra snack.

Ken

 

[Phantom Thief]

Hey adcs,

Yet another case of a neon AWOL. Drat.Some places to check:

1. Filter
2. Floor surrounding aquarium
3. Inside the catfish

HTH

P.T.

 

[Nix]

umm don't try to pry open your catfish's mouth

But like Phantom said Check inside the filter

 

[CFC]

My monies on the catfish, neons shouldnt be kept with anything with a mouth large enough to swallow them as they seem to be part of the natural diet of just about every fish that ever swam on the planet.

 

[thething]

I WOULD AGREE ON THE CATFISH ASWELL. AS I HAVE ONE. HAVEN'T LOST NEONS BUT HE DOES LIKE A NIBBLE OF A FISH IF THEY DIE

KEEP AN EYE OF THEM. ONE NITE WHEN THE LIGHT IS OFF. SIT BY YOUR TANK WITH A SMALL LIGHT AND WATCH HIM.