the Undone guy
New member
Hi everyone,
As you can see by my profile, I've been keeping salt water tanks for about a decade now. I've recently encountered a problem of which I have no idea how to solve or diagnose. Long story short - 2 tail spot blennies dead within the past two weeks. I recently moved and downsized from a 35gal cube to a 12gal pico (same dimensions as the manta ray 18) whose filtration is simply a skimmer.
The 1st was my mistake, he spent a weekend in a very stressful environment (LFS) and died within 6 hours. Needless to say, I should have never purchased him; lesson learned.
The 2nd is the mystery. I found one at a much better LFS, and observed the fish for the better part of an hour before deciding to purchase. He was eating, and acting like a normal blenny (perching, hiding, looking paranoid). I took him home, temperature acclimated the bag, and drip acclimated for one hour. After releasing the fish into the tank he was a bit stressed and hid for the night. The next day he had found himself a hole and was acting as he was at the fish store. He ate and continued to perch and hide. The next day all was the same until the evening - he stuck himself in the corner and was breathing very heavily. I noticed him trying to jump at one point and put a net on the top. The next day (today) he was still hiding in a corner breathing heavily. I attempted to feed, he took a bite or two but not much. I continued to try and feed throughout the day which elicited little response. This went on for a few hours, until I finally found him dead.
This would all seem like a mistake on my part, but all of my levels are optimal. My 2 other fish (ocellaris clowns) are perfectly healthy, and have been ignoring the newcomer as usual (they are very calm fish). All inverts (conch, snails, hermits) are healthy as well. All of my corals (sps, lps, softies) are doing better than ever. I'm running at 0ppm ammonia, nitrite, and no noticeable nitrate. Salinity is ~1.026-1.027, temperature rides around 78F, and pH rides around 8.
The dead blenny's belly was slightly concave, but I didn't think starvation causes heavy breathing; plus he was eating the second day. Any idea what may be going on in my tank? I'm already out $80 and all I want is a single blenny to keep me entertained =(
As you can see by my profile, I've been keeping salt water tanks for about a decade now. I've recently encountered a problem of which I have no idea how to solve or diagnose. Long story short - 2 tail spot blennies dead within the past two weeks. I recently moved and downsized from a 35gal cube to a 12gal pico (same dimensions as the manta ray 18) whose filtration is simply a skimmer.
The 1st was my mistake, he spent a weekend in a very stressful environment (LFS) and died within 6 hours. Needless to say, I should have never purchased him; lesson learned.
The 2nd is the mystery. I found one at a much better LFS, and observed the fish for the better part of an hour before deciding to purchase. He was eating, and acting like a normal blenny (perching, hiding, looking paranoid). I took him home, temperature acclimated the bag, and drip acclimated for one hour. After releasing the fish into the tank he was a bit stressed and hid for the night. The next day he had found himself a hole and was acting as he was at the fish store. He ate and continued to perch and hide. The next day all was the same until the evening - he stuck himself in the corner and was breathing very heavily. I noticed him trying to jump at one point and put a net on the top. The next day (today) he was still hiding in a corner breathing heavily. I attempted to feed, he took a bite or two but not much. I continued to try and feed throughout the day which elicited little response. This went on for a few hours, until I finally found him dead.
This would all seem like a mistake on my part, but all of my levels are optimal. My 2 other fish (ocellaris clowns) are perfectly healthy, and have been ignoring the newcomer as usual (they are very calm fish). All inverts (conch, snails, hermits) are healthy as well. All of my corals (sps, lps, softies) are doing better than ever. I'm running at 0ppm ammonia, nitrite, and no noticeable nitrate. Salinity is ~1.026-1.027, temperature rides around 78F, and pH rides around 8.
The dead blenny's belly was slightly concave, but I didn't think starvation causes heavy breathing; plus he was eating the second day. Any idea what may be going on in my tank? I'm already out $80 and all I want is a single blenny to keep me entertained =(
