always try to remove dead fish in tank?

[fungia]

two days ago, my flasher wrasse got hurt by something, i dont know what. it was hiding for a few days trying to heal. but today he is dead in the hole that it sleeps in. the problem is he is in a spot that is very hard to reach and i might have to remove a lot of rocks to get the fish. would it be ok if i left him in there?

 

[iseeweed]

How big is the tank, and how big is the fish?

 

[Anonymous]

If you have hermit crabs or shrimp, they'll most likely clean the body down to the bones within a day or two

 

[Anonymous]

You could try to siphon it out.

Louey

 

[Sea Turtle]

I have a 75 gallon reef tank with 100 lbs of rock. I had a large tubo snail die the other day. He had to be at least the size of a golf ball. The hermit crabs must have eaten him up in no time because there was nothing left of him except a little dead skin floating around. I wouldn't worry about it as long as you have some hermits. They probably found that fish in about 50 seconds.

 

[Anonymous]

I've never been able to get dead fish out of my tank.

 

[Anonymous]

Dead snails make my tank smell.

 

[Anonymous]

In my well established 120, I once had a 7 inch fox face die from unknown reasons. When I first noticed it had died, it was being devoured by nassarius snails, crabs and some bristle worms. Three days later there wasn't a trace of it. I think if the tank is large enough, well established and has an ample clean up crew, leaving a fish carcass isn't going to matter.

 

[Anonymous]

other than the sheer amount of organic waste/food a rotting corpse represents, there's also the issue of diseases to consider-alot of them just luuuuub to make whoopee in dead/rotting flesh

i've always been one for trying to find a corpse and remove it asap, as soon as i've thought/noticed a fish is missing-the other fish have to breathe the crap in while it's rotting-i wouldn't like a dead squirrel rotting on my kitchen counter next to the room fan now, would i ?