Death of a Kole Tang

[Johnseye]

My Kole Tang was one of the first fish added to my tank a year ago. He had been healthy and eating as far as I could tell. I noticed he was missing yesterday, did a search and found his half eaten corpse in the back corner.

I recently setup a frag tank on a completely separate water column and physical space from the DT. A week days ago I removed a BTA from my DT and put it into the frag tank. I also pulled a large piece of birds nest coral from my DT and put it into the frag tank. Three days ago I changed my GFO and GAC as well as removing some overgrown chaeto. Since I increased my main lighting intensity by 5% I've noticed an increase in algae on the glass and some diatoms in areas.

About two days ago I noticed a slight PH increase from 8.4 to 8.5. Alk is steady at about 8.2, calc at 430. Phos is at .02. I plan on checking ammonia and nitrate tonight but that hasn't changed from undetectable since the tank cycled over a year ago.

My only thought is that the change of BTA and coral disrupted the ecosystem. Other than that he could have been out competed by the other fish for food, especially Melanurus wrasse who's a pig, but I never saw the Kole not eat.

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Sorry to hear of your loss. They are normally very hardy fish if you can get a healthy one to begin with.

Had the same thing happen to me about a month and a half ago. Never located the body, so it's a mystery to me. Seemed to be completely healthy and happy the day before, then gone the next. I do have about 300 pounds of LR in my tank, though so there was a slim chance of finding it in that environment.

Were any of your other fish affected by the changes made to your tank? Any other tangs that may have been harassing the Kole?

 

[Johnseye]

Sorry to hear of your loss. They are normally very hardy fish if you can get a healthy one to begin with.

Had the same thing happen to me about a month and a half ago. Never located the body, so it's a mystery to me. Seemed to be completely healthy and happy the day before, then gone the next. I do have about 300 pounds of LR in my tank, though so there was a slim chance of finding it in that environment.

Were any of your other fish affected by the changes made to your tank? Any other tangs that may have been harassing the Kole?

No other fish show any signs of problems. I also have a Yellow Tang introduced at the same time. The two were a pair in terms of swimming around together and very friendly. He's probably bummed now.

 

[Nina51]

i had a kole tang die recently. he was fine in the morning, ate like a pig, got home from work later in the day and he was just...dead.

 

[Deinonych]

i had a kole tang die recently. he was fine in the morning, ate like a pig, got home from work later in the day and he was just...dead.

Wow...wasn't your Kole a relatively recent acquisition? I remember your posting about it earlier this year.