On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 21:09:03 +0000, Gill Passman
wrote:

Altum wrote:
Lately, I've been allowing ramshorn snails to live in a 10 gallon
planted tank - they seem to do more good than harm. I've also got
Amano shrimp and Malaysian trumpet snails in the tank.

Now a guppy has gone missing. I cleaned the tank and couldn't find a
trace of him. There isn't any smell, no corpse, and the water tests
fine. Fancy guppies with huge tails can't jump and I don't have cats.
Can shrimp and snails completely eat a dead guppy and plants absorb any
water quality problems? Should I keep searching for a corpse?


I quite often don't find dead fish unless I've noticed immediately after
their demise. I lost a platy in a 5 gall tank (QT) - only companions
where another 2 platys, some Platy fry and around 5 Blue Eyed Getrude
Rainbows (no snails) - there at breakfast and totally gone by lunchtime
with no opportunity for jumping or the cat getting at it...removed all
the decor, plants, filter etc. but no sign....

As long as the water quality remains OK I would stop the search other
than a cursory glance for floaters or anything suspicious in the
substrate...I've sometimes found reducing the water level (through a
change) has exposed the poor demised fish but this is the exception
rather than the rule...

I would guess the snails, shrimp and indeed the other fish have polished
him off - yuk...

Gill

OK. I give. What is a blue eyed Gertrude? I searched on Google and
came up with
Gertrude, a blue-eyed and buxom girl was the oldest of the three
Beckett daughters. She fell in love with Rizal. Tottie helped him
and
Lawrence the blond-haired, blue-eyed desert warrior representing
good against ... Gertrude Bell stayed on in the East. But their paths
would cross again. ...

and numerous other dead ends. So please tell me, the suspense is
killing me.

-- Mr Gardener