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Because of all the scavangers in a marine tank a dead fish can dissapear in a matter of minutes. Fortunally I havent had one just die in the tank, but I've seen other things dissapear in minutes.

I totally agree, even tropical fish will have a food chain, also it would be next to impossible to prevent this in a community tank

I always try to remove them as soon as I find them. But, like has been said, it's part of nature for the other fish to scavenge on whatever they can find. I've had many fish just disappear over the years. Most of the time, if the fish are healthy, it doesn't have any ill effects on the other fish.

in my old 2 footer i used to count my fish befor i went to shool and when i cam home there could be 1-3 fish missing, usually neons or such. i eventually found that my BN was hungry and when they went close to the ground used to pounce on them.

I remove dead fish soon as they're noticed.

If a fish is dyin of old age in the tank I let it die in there, then remove it.

If a fish is diseased it's removed before death if I can't heal it.

The Amazon Nut...

I always remove dead fish from my tank.. I haven't had the many (which is good) but i just feel that they dirty the tank and screw with ph levels and so forth... they also look terrible and make the water stink...

I always remove dead fish and some times I will remove a fish before it dies.
Other times all I have ever found is a skelton or even a part skelton.

Keith

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MMM well in my tank, over past 4 months I have had 4 neon tetras and a small flying fox disappear without a trace overnight!

i haven't seen many of the fish that have died in my tank because my loaches usually take care of it before i wake up the following morning. Its only ever the little fish that die though. They're not feasting on anything big.

You turn on the tanklight and discover a dead fish being made into a meal by the other fish...do you remove what's remaining or let the fish finish?

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

we tend to think of our aquariums as some type of fish utopia. remember- in the wild, they do not have scheduled feeding times consisting of pellets, flakes, whatever. they will snack on dead tankmates as a matter of instinct. to them, an abudance of calories now does not equate to an abundance of food tomorrow.

my wife thought our pictus cats were so cute at feeding time- they looked so "cute" with their swollen bellies of man-made food. then she watched one suck up a dead white cloud whole. it is a natural part of nature.

as a matter of habit, i also remove carcasses as soon as i find them. but a small fish that dies during the night may not be there in the morning.

I would remove the body as soon as I saw it. I am dreading this situation as I have not had to deal with it yet. A friend of mine said that most of the time when they lose a fish, by the time they get home from work or wake up in the morning, there is not much left to remove. I wonder, if a fish is well fed would they still be as tempted to eat the dead body of a tank mate?

It was actually my BN that didn't want to let go

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Try removing one from the mouth of a jardini, nice and stressfull..

Leaving the body in also seems like a great way to spread whatever disease killed it.

That's what I did...I've had dead fish before but this was the first time I'd actually seen the other fish taking care of the removal

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

you remove the dead fish, it will pollute the tank

I remove it. Always.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.