Dead cardinalfish....

[justjosh]

Came home tonight to a dead cardinalfish. It was in my 20 gallon long. Other residents include another bangaii cardinal and a YWG. Other cardinalfish appears to be as healthy as can be. I acquired these fish a week ago from a fellow reefer. He said they were a pair and were together for three months in his tank. Last night they were fed a big meal of mysis shrimp and both ate enthusiastically. I was really looking forward to breeding these fish My water quality is fine and there are no real predators in the tank. I cannot find an explanation for this. He did appear a little skinny. I think I will do a necropsy and see if I can find anything. UGH. Any ideas as to what happened?

 

[Recty]

Stress alone can kill a fish, was there another fish harassing it? What size tank did it come from? How long was it sitting in a bag? How long have you owned it?

 

[Angel*Fish]

Maybe he had intestinal parasites. Sorry about your fish.

 

[justjosh]

Stress alone can kill a fish, was there another fish harassing it? What size tank did it come from? How long was it sitting in a bag? How long have you owned it?

I agree, I think it might have been stress-related. The only other fish that could have been harassing it was the other bangaii and they were together for 4 months in the tank they came from. They were in a 29 gallon before they came to me. I have owned them since last weekend. They were in the bag for less than half an hour. I did an necropsy and I could not find anything worth noting. The only thing I noticed was bruising around the mid-section of the fish however I think this is due to livor mortis.

 

[cubsFAN]

I had a "pair" of bangaiis that got along well for several months. I was sure they would pair up. They both did well and were both eating. At some point one of the fish was starting to look stronger and started to bully the other fish. The other fish lost weight quickly and died within a week.

 

[justjosh]

I had a "pair" of bangaiis that got along well for several months. I was sure they would pair up. They both did well and were both eating. At some point one of the fish was starting to look stronger and started to bully the other fish. The other fish lost weight quickly and died within a week.

Hmm, this very possibly could have happened as they had just been moved into a different tank. The one that died did look a little skinnier the last couple of days....