Foxface dead, don't know why?

[SteveZZR]

Hi guys,

My one spot foxface died whilst I've been on my night shift. Was fine around 6pm when I last looked in the tank and took frozen brine when I fed it.

Mrs says it was struggling and getting blown in the current when she saw it last night when she settled our daughter off to bed.



Other fish are: yellow clown goby, pair of Bangaiis, and a mandarin.

Its a 30G tank, foxface was a 3" juvi and my 70G upgrade is waiting in the garage for my week off so didn't think getting him early to clean up my rock would be an issue.

SG 1.026, nitrate and phos undetectable due to GHA bloom (rock came from an FO predator tank and brought a load of phosphate with it, oops newbie error!) that's been going on for months.



KH was 13 when I checked a few days ago, don't know how its crept up there. Calcium approx. 500ppm on API, haven't done mag. Will do ammonia nitrite and kh and ph shortly as I've just got in



Any input guys? The other fish seem fine and don't think any of them are responsible?



Can aiptasia kill fish? I only have one in the tank I can see and its about 1" across fully open inc. Tentacles. Close to where fish died too....

 

[SteveZZR]

just to confirm, results as of right now.

SG 1.026

PH approx. 8.2

KH 13/14 (API kit)

Cal 540ppm

ammonia 0.25ppm false positive (usual pale green api test)

nitrite zero

nitrate 10ppm

phosphate between 0.25 and 0.5ppm

temp is 25 degrees at present



Lights have come on low blue now and the fish isn't there where the Mrs spotted it 'dead'; glimmer of hope!

 

[Deinonych]

How long have you had the fish? Was it quarantined?

Can't imagine aggression from the other inhabitants caused death. Foxfaces are pretty hardy, and your tank parameters look fine. Only concern would be a parasite depending on your quarantine protocol, if any.

FWIW, I will say that my wife called me at work to report my Blue Flasher Wrasse dead when he was in quarantine. 11 months later, he's alive and kicking.

 

[SteveZZR]

I didn't personally quarantine the foxface - he was in the lfs for about a month and I got him just over two weeks ago.



Initially seemed stressed, moving up and down the tank a little erratically before settling in a cave. Next day and for the time since hes been out and about annihilating my hair algae.



Mrs said it was next to my clam when 'dead' and there's very little flow there. It isn't there now, so unless it was dragged by a hermit it moved itself off out of sight...

 

[SteveZZR]

But the current tank is set to become my QT when I upgrade into the Aquamedic this week

 

[snorvich]

LFS do not quarantine fish; the longer a fish is there, the more likely it will have a parasite or other problem. Could be a parasite, or could have starved to death from inadequate algae in this sized tank.

 

[Puffyluv]

Ouch, snorvich, watch it...that isn't true about all LFS...how would you like it if I said that the longer an animal was in your tank, the greater chance it had of getting sick and dying? Please use a qualifier like "most" and remember there are still some good ones out there...

 

[Nina51]

i'm with steve on this issue. i've seen many times when a person will claim an LFS quarantines fish so they don't find it necessary to do it themselves. there probably aren't many (if any) stores that have the ability to use a truly effective qt protocol.

 

[Puffyluv]

I agree! However, there is a difference in saying most stores don't have the systems to do effective QT...and saying the longer a fish is at a store the more likely it is to have disease.

 

[snorvich]

Ouch, snorvich, watch it...that isn't true about all LFS...how would you like it if I said that the longer an animal was in your tank, the greater chance it had of getting sick and dying? Please use a qualifier like "most" and remember there are still some good ones out there...

I know of no LFS that adequately quarantines. And since LFS use fish systems, I stand by my original statement that the longer a fish is at an LFS, the greater the chance of incurring a parasite. And I assure you, I am very careful what I say in this forum. However, full disclosure would mean that you should indicate that you run a LFS.

 

[Puffyluv]

I do...wasn't trying to hide that. We will not distribute anything except tank bred or tank raised fish, though...(although we used to do captive conditioned from SA, they didn't meet our idea of this) because we do not have adequate quarantine. I may order fish every month, or it may be every two months...at most, every two weeks. Never wild collected. I imagine the average hobbyist that doesn't QT has even more risk of having disease?

Anyway, sorry, wasn't trying to start a hobbyist vs. LFS war...I always encourage people to buy fish off our local forum that have been in captivity awhile. Much hardier.

 

[gone fishin]

I certainly do not mean to offend anyone, I however only trust a fish is disease free after it goes through my own QT protocol.

To the OP with the info given either the fish had an illness or it falls under the category that sometimes they just die. Good luck

 

[snorvich]

I always encourage people to buy fish off our local forum that have been in captivity awhile. Much hardier.

And I have seen many examples of people buying fish from local hobbyists that had it be a big problem. If you do not quarantine it, as said above by gone fishin, you should not trust it for health.

 

[Spar]

I certainly do not mean to offend anyone, I however only trust a fish is disease free after it goes through my own QT protocol.

^^This. There is no chance I would put trust in the hands of someone else (so-called experts or not) when it is my pets/friends who are at risk. Only yourself to answer to when something goes wrong.

 

[snorvich]

Consider the following example: a hobbyist buys a fish from a local hobbyist. But the local seller fails to mention he bought some snails for his tank just recently. (a real example taken from this forum) Oops, velvet rears its ugly head. As gone fishin and Spar say, never assume it is safe unless you have insured that it is safe.

 

[SteveZZR]

An orange Spot turbo snail has turned up dead now, all other fish ok right now.



Could it be related?

 

[Puffyluv]

Agreed with all...surely no fish is ever to be considered "safe" unless a skin scraping has been done, and a gill fluke pulled.

I just took issue with "the longer a fish is at an LFS, the more likely it is to have a disease." Sorry to have derailed the thread...

It sounds like the OP tried to QT, of sorts...but yes, we never heard what system the rock came from. Perhaps it was there it was transferred. Either way, QT is surely essential...and unfortunately must be done in clean water, meaning in most cases little bacteria. I'm not sure it would have helped, this time, though- as it seems there were no signs.

Sorry for your loss!

 

[SteveZZR]

Tank has been up for about 4 months now, 6kg rock from my nano and 6kg from a local bloke who was giving up fish to keep more reptiles. Tank was a predator tank with moray, bamboo shark, spotted sweetlips and few others. All healthy when he moved them on.

Brought my gobys and mandarin across to the 3ft and added bangaiis in October, not lost any fish or had trouble until now

 

[Puffyluv]

Yeah, four months fallow should have been plenty...hmm, you sure do have a puzzler here...sometimes fish die just because they are terribly unhappy. Something about the set up? :/ Though it does sound adequate. I hate the "never will know" deaths...hope someone can come up with something! :banghead:

 

[snorvich]

In a 30 gallon tank, it is likely that an algae grazer starved to death. They must eat constantly.