mysterious death...

[gilraen]

This morning I found my percula clown dead at the bottom of the tank. Yesterday morning he ate like crazy and as of last night was happily swimming around. He had no signs of attacks by other fish, no sign of disease. NOTHING. Also yesterday I tested the waters and ammonia was 0.25ppm, eveything else was 0.

 

[zaku999]

I have also similar mysterious death in my tank! A cow fish and a Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse. Eating happily and then died suddenly the next day!!

my best guess was that they were attacked by my larger fish and was shocked to death...

Btw how long have you been keeping your clown?

 

[Jason]

I would guess some sort of shock. Fish get kinda sketchy sometimes..........

sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[Hara]

The fact you have a significant ammonia reading tells me it isnt as mysterious as you might think. You may have had a previous ammonia spike and your readings are showing it on the way down.....hard to say for sure. Watch your nitrite readings as well as they usually spike after an ammonia spike. Something may have triggered a mini cycle...

 

[gilraen]

zaku999, I've had the clown for 2 months.

Hara, I test waters every week, even last week I had the same readings and before that every week everything was 0. If there was an ammonia spike it happened between 4-5 days. In my ammonia card 0.25ppm is just the next step up from 0, I didn't think it was bad... Is just plain weird. Like I said, my little dude was doing just awesome yesterday. I usually sit and watch my fish for a long time...trust me, this clown was superhealthy.

 

[Hara]

superhealthy fish do not "just die" in tanks with perfect water quality
something had to happen.

a) something happened to stress it to death ie: fish harrasment
b) the fish was not as healthy as you thought
c) water quality deteriorated in some fashion at some point in time

 

[schoeplein]

Or a visually perfectly healthy (say that three times fast) fish had a parasite that finally took him out.... :?

Time to replace em' with a pair. 8)

 

[gilraen]

superhealthy fish do not "just die" in tanks with perfect water quality
something had to happen.

a) something happened to stress it to death ie: fish harrasment
b) the fish was not as healthy as you thought
c) water quality deteriorated in some fashion at some point in time

I know fish just don't die. That's the problem.

a)Had the clown for 2 months, never was harrased, he was actually harrasing my magenta dottyback.
b)Visually, the fish was healthy
c)Like I said, I test every week. I know my H2O parameters. Today I bought new test kits to see it that's the problem.
d)When I posted this I just wanted to share the experience, not launch an investigation.

I don't mean to be argumentative over a fish, forgive me if that's what it 'sounds' like. I love this forum and like I said, I just like to share the events that happen in my tank.

 

[Jason]

Like I said............Fish get sketchy sometimes and check out on you for no reason. I think in the first 6 months fish can check out and you won't have any clue what did it.

stress kills. how would you like to be netted, put into an air tight box, drug across the ocean floor and then let out of the box once you got to the other side of the ocean then be in a place where you didn't know anyone and had to change a lot of things about the way you lived.......

I know it's not the EXACTLY the same thing, but still.........it kinda is

My vote goes for the fish was healthy and had an anxiety problem, sketched out, and died.

Don;'t rack your brain trying to figure it out, fish that are two months old have a very high chance of checking out on you for no reason..... that's why you shouldn't name your fish until about 6 months in.

Think about it like this....... I've got a clown(a gold stripped maroon) that is about 8 years old I think. I got it from my LFS when a guy brought it back because it killed something in his tank..... it also nipped his finger. Anyways I took it home and had him about 6 months. then one day he was missing the entire top of his head, the skin was missing all the way to the skull and it was all torn up. there was no other fish in the tank with him and the water tested fine. I don't think it was a parasite or anything either because he had been fine or 6 months prior. I do not know what was wrong with the fish. anyways his head was jacked up like that for about a week and he was basically just laying on his side on the bottom of the tank... then one day he was fine. I didn't do anything except leave him alone..........

what does all that mean....... beats me. It does prove my point that some fish are just naturally sickly and have a shorter life span than others................ humans do the same thing you are saying happened to your fish, it's called SIDS.

so again, Sorry to hear about your loss, but don't rack your brain to hard trying to figure it out...... the reality of life in the big tank is that things die.

 

[Hara]

d)When I posted this I just wanted to share the experience, not launch an investigation.

I apologize. I thought you were trying to find a reason as to why the fish died.

 

[gilraen]

d)When I posted this I just wanted to share the experience, not launch an investigation.

I apologize. I thought you were trying to find a reason as to why the fish died.

You don't have to apologize, I realized I was a little (or a lot rough) in my 'talking'. I'm sorry. I'm really really stressed out, especially since I just found out my condi anemone also died. The thing is, I bought the new tests and every reading is the same. Phosphates are also 0, pH is 8.2 and alkalinity is normal...

Anyway, thanks to all for your responses. I'll just let nature take course and see what happens.