Very Eventful Water Change Day

[sammiesam]

Hey guys, I wanted to share my crazy day with you

So first off, I take out all the ornaments and what not from the tank and I realize there is a fish missing, one of the 2 pork chops I had left is gone. Now before I went on holidays this fish was looking pretty sickly and I wasn't expecting him to last all that much longer.
So my guess is that he died when I was away and got eaten up by the other fish in the tank because he is 100% gone, no traces of a dead dish anywhere.

So after that, I go about cleaning the tank and just finish with the vacuum when I can't find one of the loaches, my smallest yo yo loach was missing. I was thinking, oh my god you have got to be joking me, he was JUST here infront of me. So I was so scared I had vacuumed him up, checked the water I had taken out, checked the hose, checked the floor and everywhere around the tank NOTHING
So I am thinking maybe he hid himself, so I look through the gravel, around the edges of the tank because that is usually where they go. I can't find him.

So I start actually panicking, and start raking through the entire tank carefully. I did this 5 times and low n behold the lil bugger had burried himself in the middle of the tank at the veeeeeeery bottom of the gravel, under a good almost 2 inches of gravel. I was reaaalllly relieved when I found him!!!!

Anyways that's my story of the crazy tank cleaning I had today. OH I also got a very entertaining video of worm, one of my loaches burying himself....I will add it once I upload it!

[sammiesam]

Here's the video I uploaded onto FB - I took it with my phone and I don't know how to get it on here soooo yeah if you're on my FB you can see it anyways
www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150748751890584

[Carl]

Your Gourami appears to be checking him out and saying: "What are you doing you weirdo?" or "What have you found, can i have some?"

I too have more "scares" than I can remember.
For one I have carefully removed ornaments only to find a Khuli loach deeply embedded inside some tiny crack in this ornament

Carl

[goldenpuon]

lol Glad the loach is ok and even more so that he was doing something silly! Nice video. The gourami looks very confused about the loach in the gravel. Hmm.. I wonder what it would do if the gravel was 8 inches deep! Would it make you a bunch of tunnels like a prairie dog? Thanks for sharing!!

[bikeguy33]

wonder if the loach thinks like an ostrich..."i cant see you, you cant see me....lol. as carl stated it is common to lose fish. i have lost foot long SA cichlids briefly. i understand your panic.

[sammiesam]

They only burrow when I clean the tank because they get mad at me for taking all the ornaments out and taking away all their hiding spots. Rufus my largest loach usually does this up then instead of actually hiding he shakes vigorously and flings gravel everywhere and makes a huge mess of it - I think it's his way of throwing a tantrum.

The Gourami in that video is what made it so funny to me, he just was so baffled as to why this fish was half in the gravel.

[babygeige]

Did you move the video? It says it's unavailable

[sammiesam]

No I didn't move it - like I said though, I only uploaded it onto my facebook and I have pretty secure settings so you probably can't see it since I don't have you on my friends list sorry :S I am not sure how to upload it from my iphone to the site so everyone can see it.

[angelminx]

I lost a marble hatchet once, and looked everywhere I could think of, including what I could see behind the tanks. 5 months later I finally found him when I was trying to pull something out from under the 10G "stand" (actually a very sturdy end table my grandparents once had). Most recently, I lost my favorite Betta. He "committed suicide" overnight, and when I finally found him later the next day, he was past saving--unless you know how to re-hydrate a fish, LOL!. I thought that the cat had eaten him.

I also have a heck of a time catching cories when I need to. When my last one had fin rot, I almost caught him a couple of times, but then he disappeared and I couldn't find him for anything. I was reaching inside the tank trying to flush him out of the plants with my hands, and even up-ended the resin half-log and the big piece of driftwood. I routed everyone but him, inclucing the shrimp. I finally had to pull up all the water sprite and water wisteria--the anubias, crypts, and swords I let be and just ran my hands through them. It probably took me close to an hour to find/catch him. From then on he stayed in the breeder net, except for his treatments, until I finally "broke down" and released him today.

[parker002]

I've never had any luck catching cory cats. They're just too quick.