Mysterious death

[greg1786]

I was in my room watching my diamond goby sift sand as usual. Btw ive had him for 6 months. I walked into the kitched to grab some mysis shrimp out of the freezer and by the time i got back to the tank he was laying half in and half out of his cave, dead as dead could be. Every parameter is perfect im very meticulous about keeping everything in my tank perfect. No aggressive inhabitants. When I removed him, his entire head was black like it had been burned or something. Other than that he had no markings showing injury or any other physical sign of distress. He was one of the coolest fish ive ever had and kept the sandbed spotless. Anyone have an opinion or idea what coulda happened

 

[hollister]

Just saying alls perfect isnt enough. Some tank history and specs like all equip. used and age and stock would help...

 

[greg1786]

nitrates 5ppm
nitrites 0
ammonia 0
ph 8.2
cal 450
alk 9
mag 1350
phos .04
Tank is a 6' 125 with 110 lbs live rock, 80 lbs live sand, 4x54 watt t5ho fixture, 2x96 watt pc fixture, dual overflows, rio 3100 return pump, 4 koralia 750 circ pumps, instant ocean 150 skimmer, 40 gallon sump with large ball chaeto and red gracilaria, brs gfo in sump and chemi pur elite. Temp ranges from 79-80 from day to night. The 125 was set up about four months ago but all water, live sand, live rock, and chaeto came from my previous system which was running for over a year and half. Other tank mates are 4'' yellow tang, 3.5'' lavender tang, 3 inch barred dartfish, 2 small cinnamon clowns both less than 3 inches, and target mandarin. The tank is a mixed reef but sps dominant. Inverts include one purple pincushion, 11 mexican turbos and two rose bubble tip anemones. Up until a few weeks ago I had not lost a fish for well over a year. I lost a starry blenny a few weeks ago when it jumped out of the tank. I am happy to provide ay other info youd like if I didnt cover it all. Im just baffeled because the diamond goby was very fat and healthy and ate like a pig. spent all day sifting sand and ate anything I fed to the tank. Like i said fine one minute literally and dead the next. When I pulled it out from under its cave its entire head was black

 

[Fretfreak13]

Following. I have had this happen to me twice in my 7 years of reefing, and one of them was in a QT ALONE. In your case, all I can think of is maybe it had a run in with the nems and got away, but died shortly after. However, that's...still pretty crazy. One my my instant deaths was a Labouts wrasse, and the other was a flame angel.

 

[hollister]

Daimond gobys,nice setup BTW , famous for rock slides from digging. The rock doesnt have to move much to hurt him. Placing main rock on the glass then adding sand and even some putty for extra security. Just a theory from the black head.

 

[greg1786]

@ fretfreak- were both instances you mentioned with a diamond goby? Also did the head turn black as well? The one you found dead in the DT was the fish out in the open or in its cave?

@ hollister- thanks for the kind words regarding my setup. I am torn between whether or not it was injury from a rock moving. I completely see how it could be possible as she not only sifts sand in the open but all around and beneath the rockwork. It also doesnt help that my barred dartfish has some pretty impressive tunnel work dug himself. I would like to point to rock injury as the cause so I can nail down that there isnt something more devious at play but I have a few reservations. The first being that I found her body laying on the substrate half in and half out of her cave head in first, but she was about 6" from either side of the edge of the rocks that makeup her cave. My drawback on that is I guess it is very possible that when the rock fell or shifted on her head, as a natural reaction she jerked her body to free herself, causing the fatal trama thus me finding her several inches from the rockwork. The dark head does suggest bruising I assume. Now the second drawback has to do with just that, the bruised or "black" head. Her entire body from her gills back were perfectly normal in color, while the area from the gills to the tip of her mouth were black. As mentioned before this could be bruising from the fallen rocks, however her eyes were in perfect condition which I assume they would appear swollen or possibly even bloodshot from brain trama. I also didnt notice a single scrape or spot of blood anywhere. One thing I did notice when I turned her upside down was that the bottom of her gills and jaw line was very yellow. I am sure this could just be natural coloring however Ive never flipped her upside down to be able to see that. Another concern for me is that I dont notice any of the rockwork to be out of place or shifted. Though to combat that, I guess if it shifted even an inch( which I most likely wouldnt notice) the weight of over 100 lbs of rock could easily kill her if it struck her head. I appreciate your interest and willingness to help. I would like to go on record as saying I am leaning toward agreeing with you that its more than likely a rock slide injury, however not being 100% positive i'm somewhat apprehensive about making that clear judgement just yet. Any other ideas or possibilities? Anyone else out there experience a similar situation with a suitable cause to the mystery?? Thanks again for your help thus far hollister! Happy reefing -Greg

 

[greg1786]

Tell me about it! My gf was devastated.

 

[greg1786]

Anyone else?

 

[OrQidz]

Sorry to hear about the poor guy, bummer....I had a bar goby die right in front of me once. It was swimming along like normal and suddenly literally stopped swimming and drifted over sideways, completely dead. Weirdest thing ever. I never have figured it out.

Can fish have a heart attack or anything sudden like a person?

 

[keithhays]

It doesn't sound like a water parameters or sudden infant fish syndrome. Something he came across, killed him. The most likely scenario is that he got too close to the Anemone, but managed to get away and die a few seconds later. Some gobies change color under stress. It is likely this happened just prior to death. If it wasn't the Anemone, you have something else in your tank like the Anemone that can kill or paralyze fish either instantly or within a few seconds.

 

[greg1786]

OrQuidz that is very odd. I wish I could have been in the room to see what happened to mine. Im not sure if they can have heart attacks but it seems reasonable. Not sure about either of the nems being the killer because in all the time Ive had the goby ive never seen it swim more than a few inches above the sandbed and both nems are about a foot or more above the sandbed on the rockwork. Although now that Im thinking of it, the cave where the goby was laying it directly beneath where the bigger nem is perched, but like I said, the nem is a good ways above it in the tank

 

[greg1786]

I really thought with the goby dying my sandbed would get a little dirty maybe a little algae growth but a few days later and its still spotless!! Im looking around at getting a new sandsifter but cant make a decision. Anybody have any experience with the blue spot sleeper goby or the yellow head sleeper?

 

[pjwperth]

Could have been a pistol shrimp even. Have you heard any clicking from the tank

 

[greg1786]

Nope, never heard a clicking noise. Although now that you say that, the blenny that i said I had jump out of the tank, i just assumed thats what happened. He literally just up and disappeared one day and since I never got any ammonia spike or didnt find his body i figured he hopped out and the dog ate him. He was a big boy too at around 5 inches. What about a mantis shrimp? I know theyve been known to sneak in on live rock as well would I hear a clicking noise if it were a mantis?

 

[Unome]

Sorry to hear about the poor guy, bummer....I had a bar goby die right in front of me once. It was swimming along like normal and suddenly literally stopped swimming and drifted over sideways, completely dead. Weirdest thing ever. I never have figured it out.

Can fish have a heart attack or anything sudden like a person?

We had similar thing happen in a molly tank we had years ago. One of the big Sailfins was swimming across the tank(55G), got about halfway and just slowly nosedived to the bottom and stopped.

Wife & I watched for about 5 minutes to make sure we had seen what we had. I finally walked over, scopped him out & tossed him.

 

[willybub]

Mine just disappeared yesterday and I have no clue where he went. I have looked all around the tank to see if he jumped ship but seen nothing. I'm positive he is dead, all the corals he liked to cover in sand are now clean.