Sad

[Mental1]

So last week I left on Tuesday, came home Saturday, and fed the fish. The lion tank has 3 lions, a matted filefish and a melanurus wrasse in it. It occurred to me as I fed that the melanurus wrasse was MIA. She did not show up Sunday either. I tried looking in the overflow and saw nothing swimming around. Left a note for the guy that works in the house and fed the fish tanks on Wednesday and asked if he saw her and he said she was there on Wednesday. Looked around again and saw nothing. I left him another note and asked if he made sure the screen was on and he left me a note yesterday saying yes. So I asked my husband to look in the overflow -- he's a lot taller than me! Had to close the flow off and there she was .. dead.

Really bummed. There is no way she starved in a few days so the only thing I can think of is that she got jabbed by one of the lions, jumped ending up in the overflow, and died from the jab? She was a really beautiful fish. So sad...

 

[jhentr]

Sorry for your lost Sherri. Things like this always gets me down in the hobby.

 

[ultraxr]

Sorry to hear about your loss. It worries me sometime seeing my bluejaw triggers swimming around so close to my lion. Sometimes, it looks like they even brush up against the lion to get it to move away on purpose.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Sorry for your lost Sherri. Things like this always gets me down in the hobby.

Then you sure don't want to see a reef in person; that's one tough neighborhood. BTW, I think the lion sting, jumping scenario is highly unlikely. Wrasse will jump any chance they get. Just the cramped conditions and constantly fighting the flow in the box could have done him in. IMO & IME, fish lost to lion stings are very, very rare. Fish eaten by lions are quite common; something I know well.

 

[Mental1]

I was wondering if being cramped could have done her in but that seems so unlikely. It's a pretty good sized box -- at least 20 inches deep and 6 inches wide. Obviously not ideal but??? I feel so awful. I should have looked harder on Sunday then.

 

[namxas]

I agree with Tusky...I can imagine the wrasse getting nailed by a lion unless you have "feeding frenzies" in the tank. Even then, if you've ever seen a fish take a hit from a lion, they don't jump...they're completely paralyzed in pretty short order (I've seen this first hand, and the fish in question was a large trigger). Wrasses are jumpers, and that's likely what happened.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[seahorsedreams]

I agree that it's probably not a jab. The scorps/lions really climb on each other and even land right on another's spikes, but they don't get jabbed.

But that really really stinks. I'm sorry :-/

 

[Wolverine]

Another vote for wrasses-will-be-wrasses. Not likely to involve a sting.

 

[Mental1]

I have dartfish and a starry blennie living in the overflow in my 180 -- for months. I take them out and they find a way back in. I can't imagine that she wouldn't survive for a few days in there. I mean she had been dead for a day or two given her condition so that meant she died after maybe three days in there assuming she went in Wednesday?

Thanks for all the condolences -- I love my fishies... )-;

 

[Wolverine]

You'd be amazed at how quickly the bodies start to get broken down in the aquarium. I've had fish seem fine at night, but in the morning the look almost skeletal.

 

[MrTuskfish]

You'd be amazed at how quickly the bodies start to get broken down in the aquarium. I've had fish seem fine at night, but in the morning the look almost skeletal.

True, and our amazing little eco-systems clean up all the waste.

 

[Mental1]

But there's no clean up crew to speak of but I guess you are right. Dang -- I did not think she would die in there. Sometimes I really hate learning new things the hard way.

 

[Wolverine]

But there's no clean up crew to speak of but I guess you are right.

They're there; they're just small (bacteria, micro-crustaceans, etc).

 

[StephLionfish]

Aw, that stinks... I'm sorry

 

[MrTuskfish]

I remember the saying: ''we're bacteria farmers first, fishkeepers second". Very true.

 

[Dragon moray ki]

Rip I just lost my goldenndwarf moray from a jump

 

[Mental1]

I saw your thread about your golden dwarf -- it stinks doesn't it? So sorry. Yeah -- I know there's a lot of bacteria. I guess I just feel bad that I did not act more quickly. Sometimes she would just stay out of the way for a few days so I did not have a feeling of urgency. Also, even if she was in the overflow, I did not think she would die in there. I have never had a fish die in the overflow. I think she probably stressed. I know the 65g had gotten too small for her -- an extremely active fish. So that overflow must have felt like hell. I did not hear her little fishy cries for help. Sigh.