Death of a cromis

[ninjamini]

I found a blue green cromis dead today and he had been about half eaten. I have a purple tang who was always a bully but when I added these fish 3 months ago I put up some pictures of a bigger purple tang that has seamed to tame him...but now I wonder if he is back to his old ways because of the dead fish. Plus I found him at the scene of the crime eating away.

Should I suspect him? Or something else.

Inhabitants:
Purple tang
2 bluegreen cromis...oops one now
Black Blenny
2 False percs
Yellow clown goby (the newbie)
Flame hawk
Brittle star had since he was too small to see, a hitchhiker
A few hermits and a few snails

Tank 150 gal
Amonia 0
Nitrates 10
Calcium 430
Ph 8.2
Alk 9

All tested today because of the death.
But why would a nice purple tank kill a tiny cromis? Any thoughts?

 

[ninjamini]

So many views......bump

 

[hogfanreefer]

Most likely it's the other chromis.

 

[ninjamini]

Most likely it's the other chromis.

There schooling fish???

 

[justthewife]

I agree, it is most likely the other Chromis. Or the brittle star.

 

[ilikefish34]

There schooling fish???

They are in the open reef of the sea but their pecking order is problematic in the confined space of the home aquarium.

I'll give you a link to a good thread where they talk about this and the practiced theory of hyperdominance, a term that I was unfamiliar with, along with some other success and failure stories.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2334885

This was eye opening for me and will hopefully be helpful to you.

Good Luck
Mike

 

[Lambert58]

^ +1

reef math: 3 chromis = 1 chromis x 1 month

 

[Psionicdragon]

was there any red sores? if so then its uronema.

 

[Baldguy]

^ +1

reef math: 3 chromis = 1 chromis x 1 month

I was lucky. Started with 3 and it took almost a year to get to one.

 

[Yogre]

I don't suspect the tang either. I've tried blue-green chromis at least twice that I can remember, and it has never worked out well. I always ended up with one, or none (which I suspect was caused by uronema, chromis seem to suffer from this parasite).