2 naso dead in less than a week

[derrell]

i bought a naso from a lfs that carries good quality fish. i took him home and acclimated him using a drip system. the first 2 days it was fine...ate and swam around with everyone else in the tank. then the following 2 days he stayed hidden behind a rock where he died after having him 5 days. i went back to the lfs and he gave me another one. i had him feed him before i took him just to know that he was eating. got it home and acclimated him like i did the other. he seemed more active than the first one but after 3 days he hid behind a rock and after 2 days behind the rock, he died.

what's going on?

stats of the tank: 180gal reef. i have 3 yellow tangs, 1 female zebra angel, 3 pj cardinals, 5 chromis, 1 female maroon clown, 2 jawfish, 2, cleaner shrimp, 2 fire shrimp. all the water parameters were in check, that is for corals. i assume if the water was good enough for the corals then they are good enough for the fish.

also, i bought 5 other fish at the same time and from the same lfs when i bought the first naso and all of them are still alive with no problems. i also didn't see any signs of infection on either tang.

is this just coincidents or am i doing something wrong? i wanting to add some larger specimens to the tank but im afraid to now.

 

[SteveJakubiec]

Well, the problem could be that you added too many fish at once. You said that

also, i bought 5 other fish at the same time and from the same lfs when i bought the first naso and all of them are still alive with no problems. i also didn't see any signs of infection on either tang.

which could lead me to believe that you added too many fish at once. 5-6 Fish at once could cause some problems, not sure if it was your cause. Also, could it have been possible that is was being bullied by the other fish? Most notably the three yellow tangs?

-Also, since a Naso is a fairly large fish, could it have been possible that you did not have enough oxidation taking place? A powerhead pointed at the surface creating "waves" and thereby adding needed oxygen to the tank? (Just a suggestion)


Good Luck and I hope you find out what the problem is,
Steve

 

[derrell]

the 5 other fish that i bought were much smaller than him....jawfish, chromis, and a shrimp. none of the other fish gave the naso the time of the day and vise versa. i never saw the second naso being picked on, he actually would swim with the other 3 tangs. the saw the angel picking on the first naso one day but not that much. as far as oxidation i have a tunze wavebox and a sequence dart pump. and since im still in the process of building a new sump all the plumping on the tank isn't hard plumped so i have a lot of micro bubbles in the tank.

 

[SteveJakubiec]

It could just be that you have bad luck w/ Nasos? My friend has bad luck w/ any type of clownfish, always die or jump out.

 

[JamesJR]

Well, I am assuming you are talking about the fish, Naso Lituratus

I would wonder as IMPE, Nasos are generally pretty hardy fish.
The only problems I have seen people have with them is that very small specimens can sometimes be difficult to get to acclimate to captivity. How big was yours? If I was to buy one I would shoot for about 2.5-3 inches.

Also, keep in mind how big naso's get. I would say a 180 is marginally big enough for a naso long term, especially with that many other tangs.

 

[derrell]

both of them were 4"

 

[Hormigaquatica]

The store may have just gotten a poor shipment of Nasos. Try getting one from a different source. If that one doesnt make it, quit getting Nasos I guess...

 

[ssavader]

How about trying a third and placing it in QT to see how he does? If he survives QT (it can be tricky- watch the ammonia level closely!), but then dies (hopefully not) in the display tank, then you have a problem, most likely, with an aggressor in the tank. If he does well post QT, then you may of just had some "poor" fish.