3 dwarf angels swiftly knocked off?

[paulfromero]

Hi all,

am at a loss with this event.

Last friday, I bought a new pacific blue tang, a 3"+ Annularis Angel, and a 2 day old banded cat shark (6"). I had a lively group of dwarf angels...1 flame and 2 coral beauties...for a couple of months in my 300g tank. On saturday, I cleaned the tank and the filters completely; I also toppled over some live rock accidentally where the dwarf angels and flame hanged out.

the other day, I noticed that the dwarf angels are missing, and today, I saw the partially eaten corpse of what I believe was the flame under the collapse area of liverock. The two coral beauties are missing.

I think the Annularis must have killed all three, but he (in the relatively short period of time I've observed him) shows no aggression towards any of the tangs or even the small pseudochromies, cardinals, or firefish.

Might I have killed them in the (relatively)minor LR collapse??

Does the cat shark have a hand in this? I dont think so because there are slower, smaller fish in the tank plus shrimp and snails still alive.

I heard that there is usually no problems keeping a large angel with small angels (www.wetwebmedia.com) and this Annularis has been a model resident, as far as I know. I cant believe that he would or could so swiftly knock off 3 dwarf angels without some history of chasing them around.

does anyone have some experiences they could share that would help me out understanding this?

Thanks,

Paul

ps: the coral beauties are unaccounted for; perhaps I could save them by taking out the annularis?

 

[Th3Mast3rR33f3r]

Hi all,

am at a loss with this event.

Last friday, I bought a new pacific blue tang, a 3"+ Annularis Angel, and a 2 day old banded cat shark (6"). I had a lively group of dwarf angels...1 flame and 2 coral beauties...for a couple of months in my 300g tank. On saturday, I cleaned the tank and the filters completely; I also toppled over some live rock accidentally where the dwarf angels and flame hanged out.

the other day, I noticed that the dwarf angels are missing, and today, I saw the partially eaten corpse of what I believe was the flame under the collapse area of liverock. The two coral beauties are missing.

I think the Annularis must have killed all three, but he (in the relatively short period of time I've observed him) shows no aggression towards any of the tangs or even the small pseudochromies, cardinals, or firefish.

Might I have killed them in the (relatively)minor LR collapse??

Does the cat shark have a hand in this? I dont think so because there are slower, smaller fish in the tank plus shrimp and snails still alive.

I heard that there is usually no problems keeping a large angel with small angels (www.wetwebmedia.com) and this Annularis has been a model resident, as far as I know. I cant believe that he would or could so swiftly knock off 3 dwarf angels without some history of chasing them around.

does anyone have some experiences they could share that would help me out understanding this?

Thanks,

Paul

ps: the coral beauties are unaccounted for; perhaps I could save them by taking out the annularis?

You seem surprised that a "shark" ate your angels. Lol! I'm very sorry to hear this though.

 

[albano]

You seem surprised that a "shark" ate your angels. Lol!

I haven't kept cat sharks in over 20 years, but I doubt the shark had anything to do with it!

 

[jeremy K]

I don't know too much about your particular system, but I'll throw out a few ideas. First of all, you added a lot of bioload in a very short period of time. Granted you have a large tank, but still, if your biological filtration was not able to keep up, you might have had a brief ammonia spike. That would kill your angels. Particularly if you just cleaned out your filters - this might have removed some of your helpful bacteria just when you most needed them.

Another possiblilty - if your live rock disturbed your sandbed when you had your rockslide, it might have released anaerobic pockets of hydrogen sulfide (particularly if you have a deep sand bed, and if the rocks disturbed it). That also would have killed your fish.

A third possibility is that one or more of your new arrivals might have brought a parasite with them which could have infected your other fish.

These possibilities are not exhaustive, just what occurs to me from your description.

I might suggest (if you haven't already), check your tank for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates, and treat accordingly. Maybe run some carbon if you suspect hydrogen sulfide.

Good luck!

 

[crvz]

maybe I missed it, but how long have you had the dwarf angels, and are you certain they were healthy and eating well before the addition of the new fish?

 

[Sheol]

I would tend to suspect the new Angel myself, but.. do you think you might have injured the dwarfs when the LR was knocked over?

Sincerely,
Mattew

 

[TNTtropical]

I have had a few bad experiences with annularius angels in the past they were quite aggessive towards my flame angel and other peaceful tankmates. Just my 2 cents but i thoiught you should know.... maybe he is the culpret in all of this!

 

[geaux xman]

FYI to all.... the OP was from 2006. We're at half a decade later pondering why the guy fish died.

 

[Rapide]

Lol!!!

 

[humaguy]

FYI to all.... the OP was from 2006. We're at half a decade later pondering why the guy fish died.

haha....Line of the day!!

 

[pktech]

Still looking after all these years ... a dedicated reefer is he ... Who ressurects these posts & tricks us??????

 

[albano]

FYI to all.... the OP was from 2006. We're at half a decade later pondering why the guy fish died.

Soooo, you think they died of old age?

:rolleye1:

 

[Sheol]

A likely solution! LOL

Matt