Instant clown Death

maroun.c

New member
Hi,
Got 2 platinums a couple of weeks back, these had been in a holding tank for around 2 months. Acclimated fine and spent 2 weeks in my introduction tank with no signs of anything wrong so they went to an acclimation box in the tank for 3 days and then into the tank.
first 2-3 days were both swimming in the water column till the female noticed the BTA island and went in. the male made attempts to join here with submissive display... every night and he would be kicked out, no real aggression though.
2 days ago I saw him sleeping in an anemone right next tot he anemone of the female. Was watching the tank yesterday and everything was normal right before lights off. One minute after lights off turned on a flash light and inspected the tank to see if the clown was in the anemone and he was drifting upside in the water coming towards the right side of the tank where the female is and got stuck on the rocks. I scooped him out and placed him in the acclimation box, saw a few twitches of h is body before he died. I haven't seen anything like this in 15 years. it's Body looked intact so no signs of fighting or any accidents with the pumps...
No mantis or other possible fish killers (Tanks started with Ceramics and dead Live rock 1.5 year ago, added corals were small frags from my frag tank.
Only thing I'm worried about is 3 Red Sea Bubble tips I have in the anemone Island, yet the other clown is sleeping in those as well as two other RBTAs all day long. It spent the night before in one of those anemones, so could it have stung him? If indeed the Anemone stung him could an RBTA kill a clown so fast with a sting?
Would you advise to take out those bubble tips then?
 
Just checked with a voltmeter and I'm getting 3-4 volts of voltage in the tank, so no issues there.
Parameters wise I never tested for ammonia, nitrites yet as tank is running for 18 months now I doubt this would be an issue. I have around 35 fish (mostly wrasses, Cardinals, 4 tangs, Anthias,Gramma loretto, Fridmany...) all fish are doing excellent, No fish aggression on the clowns since addition.
Sainity 1.026
Ph is at 7.8-8
Temp 80
Alk 8
Ca 400
Mg 1180
 
It is possible and likely that it was the RBTA that killed the clown. Clowns are not immune to the sting of anemones, they actually have to build a slime layer that is resistant to the particular anemone that they are around. This can take a while. In the meantime, the clowns can be pretty much be instantly killed by the nomatistists of almost any stinging anemone.
 
These clowns are highly inbred, and have genetic defects. If all the other fishes and especially the other clown is doing fine, you can chalk up the death due to genetic weakness of the fish and due to this problem it had unexpected death. I am sure this is correct in 95%+ in most of the case like this.
 
Thanks for all the replies.
Interesting theories raised, guess all possible. The Anemone sting was the what i was worried about the most especially with the red sea BTAs i got as they look a bit different and its the first time i have a clown with them. Yet the remaining clown is at ease with allmthe anemones so i dont see why it would be different for the other clown. Guess i can skip taking out a few anemones.
 
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