All My Fish Are Dying.

[FragIt Dan]

Question: wouldn't the clown be able to thwart this stinging or does the infiltration of the Cnidocytes via the vascular system circumvent the clown's defenses? - trying to cut down on the possibilities.

Good point... not really sure on this one. My understanding of the clownfish defense mechanism is that it tricks the anemone into thinking it is one of the tentacles, thus avoiding the firing on the cnidocytes into it's skin. It is not immune to the toxins themselves.

I see two possible mechanisms of poisoning that could explain your situation:

1) If the cnidocytes were free floating in the water, it is possible the gills of the clown would be exposed to the cnidocytes. This may not be a location where the clown has 'anemone resistance', although this is speculation on my part.

2) If the mechanism of poisoning was a global release of toxins into the water (as happens with some sea cucumbers when they die), then there would be a background level of toxins in the water to which all critters would be exposed. As the clownfish is not immune to the toxins, it would suffer along with all the other inhabitants.

I really don't know what, if any toxins, are present in your anemone, so this is all really just speculation... a 'possible' explanation. Some toxins in cnidarians, in box jellyfish for example, can target specific physiological pathways in the body (i.e. cardiopulmonary function) that may not exist in corals, and thus leave them unharmed. Again, lots of unknowns, so really just take these as guesses. I have thought all this through when it has happened to me. The ideas I am tossing out here are the best I was able to come up with for my situation. In the end though, I was left with dead fish and no explanation, so I feel for you.

Dan

 

[Reefers4U]

maybe try the talented folks over at WetWebMedia - I know there is a section that you can submit questions and I've personally found lots of answers by pouring through the FAQs.

 

[vamaro]

Sorry about your fish. I had the same exact thing happen to my bluejaw last year. I treated the rest of my for flukes and things settled down.

 

[vamaro]

Sorry about your fish. I had the same exact thing happen to my bluejaw last year. I treated the rest of my for flukes and things settled down.

Just wanted to clarify that I have a fish only. My fish was racing at crazy fast speeds, then hid and was dead the next morning, nothing stung the fish. He just went nuts. Mine was a female bluejaw.

 

[ja4207]

Good answer, I have always ran a Grd probe so I never thought much about it.
Test the water with a multi-tester, see if you get a reading.

Grounding probes honestly do nothing but provide you with a false sense of security. Voltage in the water is not a problem until you make a circuit. In other words, Assuming you are insulated from ground you can hold the hot leg of an electrical circuit all day long. As soon as you go to ground or neutral (same in most residential applications) you complete the circuit and get shocked. If there is stray voltage in the tank its better to check with a volt meter once a week/month than to place a grounding probe in the water and run that current through your system. If you find stray voltage find the source and scrap it. My .02.