bartlett's anthias dying with mouth open

[javisaman]

Not my picture but exactly the same symptoms

I have a 60 gallon cube that's been up for about 7 months now. As of right now I have a single clownfish, one fire shrimp, and bunch of snails and hermits. My parameters are well within the normal range, as I keep SPS corals. I've had 3 anthias, 2 of them died within the first month, the last one died about 2 months later, today. I suspected that the fish had flukes from the beginning and treated them accordingly, however, even with that the fish eventually died. They all had this trademark open mouth and wide open gills. I've fresh water dipped them to see if any flukes came off, and there are none. Now I know it isn't ammonia poisoning as my corals would likely be the first to show symptoms and when I measure I get a zero reading. Could it be lack of oxygen? I have enough flow to keep SPS, so I'm sure sure how that could be. Could it be stress from having a light on all the time? Not the aquarium lights, but ambient lights. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TankStudy]

I've had this issue many times. I am having it occur right now as I speak. I bought 12 chromis to study for the next 8 months. They are slowly dying off while everything else in the tank seems to be fine.

We always here of acclimating them to our tanks so they adjust. The thing people tend to leave out is, what happens when these fish never truly adjust...they die. Water and everything maybe good but the fish just aren't able to adjust to it.

Over the years, I have concluded that not every fish you buy can adjust. If my water parameters and everything else in the tank is thriving, there is nothing else you can do.

 

[javisaman]

Thank you for the reply. Could it be something we aren't measuring (i.e. dissolved oxygen)?

 

[ca1ore]

Were they eating? Most of the time, when I have lost Anthias for no obvious reason, it was because they just were not getting adequate food.

 

[javisaman]

Eating fine and swimming no sunken in stomach. The fact that all of them had this open mouth, wide gill appearance is what bothers me

 

[drukkosz]

looks like you scared them to death

But being serious, It's probably a last breath type of thing. When fish die unexpectedly, it's usually due to improper water conditions. They're probably fighting to breathe, gasping.

 

[Fishfirst]

Anthias that have had this happen suddenly usually are under some stress such as photo stress or being bullied.

 

[R.W.]

I lost 6 anthias to a heatwave last year when I forgot to turn on my A/C. They looked exactly like that when I found them.

 

[bglegs]

I had a swissguard basslet that looked like that a few weeks before he died.

 

[SDguy]

I'm not sure this reflects anything about the way it died. Likely it just has to do with their mouth structure, muscle spasms at death, etc.

 

[javisaman]

Thank you for the responses everyone. I can't say it was water parameters that killed it since I have sps and more sensitive animals in the tank. However, stress from photo seems likely. My roommate likes to keep the light on all night. There is also some aggression from my clownfish.

 

[ryanrid]

I'm not sure this reflects anything about the way it died. Likely it just has to do with their mouth structure, muscle spasms at death, etc.

Agree with this