Kole tang died

[afm32607]

Ok so last night the guy was eating and this afternoon he was stuck to vortech dead.

Had the fish for close to a year. Tank mates are two clowns a clown goby and a blood shrimp. I did a water change Saturday evening and all fish were eating. I also bought one of the clowns and put it in the tank last night.

All corals and other fish look fine, though the clown goby looks skinny. (Was picked on badly by a reef lobster who is back at pet store). Only thing I've been doing lately that is unusual was trying the reef energy by Red Sea. (Even then only using 2 times a week and been doing so for a month and a half).

Any idea what could be wrong

Ca 500 ppm
Alk 7.7 dkh
Mg 1350 ppm
Salinity 35 ppt
Ph 8
Temp 78-79
Last time I checked trates everything was zero (was months ago)

 

[afm32607]

Is it possible for a healthy fish to get stuck to a power head and die as a result? Was a big fish at almost 4.5".

 

[ChrisKirkland]

Sometimes that happens. Wonder if he had some internal issues you never knew about.

 

[JKDMan]

in general i would say no.
A healthy fish can swim against that current no problems.
So most likely it was sick or dying already, then got to close to the power-head got stuck on it and died. possibly being dead even before it got stuck on the power-head.

 

[crvz]

I too would argue against an otherwise healthy fish that size getting stuck on the inlet of a powerhead. I've had fish for months to up to a year that have passed away like how you're describing, and my presumption has often been a lack of proper nutrition in these types of cases. Though if you've made any other changes or additions to the tank, other causes are more likely.

 

[Marshall O]

Sorry for the loss

Is it possible for a healthy fish to get stuck to a power head and die as a result? Was a big fish at almost 4.5".

No, IMO a healthy fish will never get stuck on a powerhead (or get "stuck" between rocks as I see other people say). How did it look (i.e. fat all around, just a big belly, skinny all around, etc.)? What did you feed it? What size tank? How much live rock do you have?

 

[snorvich]

You have a reef tank?

 

[afm32607]

It's a 75 gal reef tank.

It looked ok. Neither skinny nor particularly fat. I feel spectrum pellets 4 times a week, mysis twice, spirulina fed brine enriched with selcon once a week, nori once a week, ocean nutrition when I feel, and reef energy for acros twice a week (though that's been in use for a month).

I recently removed a marine beta and reef lobster from the tank causing me to partially break the tank down to get them out. Though nothing else was affected.

Normally when a fish dies I assume it's my fault. However, it was out for food the night before it died. Which I've never had happen...

 

[ca1ore]

IME, your feeding schedule is likely insufficient. I feed my tank a 4x4 sheet or nori daily, and other foods at least twice a day.

 

[Marshall O]

Honestly, that is a lot of meaty foods, with little roughage (nori) that the Tang should be feeding on daily. Obviously impossible to say, but that may have been a factor. If you do get another Tang in the future, I would recommend offering nori sheets daily.

 

[regent2010]

u know what, I've had 2 kole tangs the last 6 yrs they both likes to circle around the Vortech MP40 pump day in day out. mayb something to do with the noise/wave/magnet??

 

[afm32607]

Hmm I will up the nori a couple times more a week. When I feed pellets it's usually twice a day and often feed it in the AM before I leave for work on mysis days. Appreciate the input.