Lost my Emperor Angelfish

[jonathanmuth]

I have had him for about a month. He never showed any signs of sickness and has been eating fine. Yesterday we went to feed him he looked more white than normal and would not eat. Then today he had quit swimming and was breathing really slow. We noticed his gills were red and he was beginning to be almost transparent towards the top. We do have a bubble tip anemone, is it possible he was stung? All of the other fish look fine and show no signs of sickness. Any thoughts of why this happened?

 

[tcamos]

Very sorry for your loss. That must have been hard to handle.

How old was the fish?

As for what killed it, well, it's hard to say. Red gills is of course one of the symptoms of ammonia poisoning but it can also be caused by parasites and viral infections too.

I've had fish get stung before and they did not exhibit the symptoms you describe, there was no reddening of the gills.

 

[jonathanmuth]

It was tough. This is my 12 year old sons and I tank and he was devastated. The fish was a juvenile. I checked and the ammonia was 0. The crazy thing was it was so fast and the other fish show no signs of problems

 

[tcamos]

Did you examine the fish at all after it died? Perhaps this would allow you to see if there wer e parasites or other gill issues.

 

[jonathanmuth]

I did not. I have not added anything to the tank though in over a month and nothing has changed. Is it possible that a parasite would be dormant for that long and then manifest for no reason? I am still pretty new to this so pardon my ignorance.

 

[tcamos]

Parasites have odd life cycles I've even read of some that depend on the sexual maturity of the fish.

But there are many things that could do it so I'm really just spit balling here.

The fact that the fish is a young/small fish can explain why it was affected and the other fish weren't. I recently lost several fish myself and we're always left with the question why these fish and not these others?

 

[vincent92]

Not long enough acclimation could kill fish sometimes.... some fish quicker than others. Just my opinion they can show no stress or any problems eating at all till one day bamm:/ also I've heard long ago fish like clowns can carry diseases or something like that, that can harm other newly fish other than itself.. Clownfish disease can kill all new and old fish in an aquarium. 3rd paragraph down or so explains a lot about your fishes color fading, gills redding, refusal to eat, and slow breath till death. Just trying to help. Do u have a clown?

 

[vincent92]

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/ichparasiticdiseases/a/aabrooklynella.htm

If it helps 3rd paragraph caught my attention

 

[dream54ing]

Sorry for your lost...

hope you didn't have him 10gal tank. I've rescued a few adults emperor from a 20/30gal

 

[jonathanmuth]

Vincent92 thanks for the info. He did not have any mucus or slime on him either though. I checked for that. I do have two maroon clowns that host my anemone. My tank is 130 gallons. I really want to replace him as I love the emperor but I am afraid to without knowing what killed the last one.

 

[jonathanmuth]

Come to think of it though from the very beginning he did spend a lot of time over at the cleaner shrimp.

 

[albano]

Angels should go thru weeks of QT before going into your DT... They can often appear to be eating and 'doing well' and then suddenly die.

Maroon clowns, especially a pair, can be very aggressive...you may have to consider removing them!