Lost a maroon.....

[whowadat]

Hello, newbie here having just lost our first fish, a yellow striped maroon clown. All my parameters look good, did a 15% WC recently, didn't see any aggression by his tankmates...a yellow tang, a six line wrasse, a black n white damsel, and a mandarin dragonette in a 40 breeder with 20 gallon sump/fuge and 60+ pounds of LR.

We had him for about 7-10 days and he appeared to be healthy with no torn fins or obvious ailments and he was eating well. Last couple of days I noticed him swimming weird, laying on his side, and in unusual positions within a cave/overhang. In hindsight hadn't seen him eat anything for two days. I thought the weird swimming behavior was normal given this type of fish.

Checked him over with mag glass and did not see any signs of ich, although his fins were considerably more frayed. I assume he was stressed out by the other fish, which by the way are in their temp home waiting to be added to the 120 gallon tank when the new inhabitants arrive. One thing bothers me, placed an order for 5 fish at my LFS about 10 days ago, fish arrived and I asked them to hold for a few days make sure they were okay, all the fish died at LFS. This is the same LFS I bought clown at.

Any thoughts why this went south so I can avoid it in the future ? For example, we lined up a RBTA for it but never got it in the tank prior to the fish having died - did not having an anemone to host contribute to stress ?? Could the fish have been caught with cyanide and not show any symptoms for a week to 10 days ?? If so, how long should I wait before taking fish home from LFS ??

Lastly anything I should be on the look out for with other fish, they appear to behaving normal and eating.


Thanks in advance for any replies.


Mike

 

[Mike31154]

Well, I've lost a number of fish as well, but not a Maroon and none of the deaths were a mystery. Had a carpet surfing blenny, butterflyfish that starved and chromises that eventually all got picked off by tank mates.

Maroons and most clownfish are generally pretty hardy and the fact that a number of other fish from the batch at your LFS died within days of arrival would indicate it's not your fault that the Maroon expired. Something happened to it before it went into your system that led to his demise, I suspect. Clowns do not need to have an anemone to do well in a tank, although it helps and is nice if that can be arranged. I've read some posts where clown owners say they can't get their clowns to host an anemone. Any new fish will be stressed from transport and it's new surroundings when added to your tank.

There is a remote chance that one of his tankmates may have harrassed him, but Maroons can usually hold their own and your fish selection is similar to mine except for the wrasse. Don't know anything about them. My tank is a little larger than yours though, so even though you saw no aggression from the other fish, it may have happened in the evening or early morning when you may not be watching. Still think it's more likely that he was doomed even before you got him from something that happened during collection, handling or transit.