Stressed/Dying Coral Beauty??

[jwwill0]

I brought home a coral beauty today for my 55g tank. The tank is well established and all parameters have been stable for quite some time. There are five other small fish in it:

-Pair Ocell. Clowns
-Twin Spot Goby
-Firefish Goby
-Royal Gramma

All fish and corals have been happy, healthy, and growing for a while now, and I decided it was time for a new addition. The coral beauty has been at the lfs for about a week and a half, and I have seen it there several times. Always seemed ok, today included. I brought it home any floated the bag and began adding small amounts of tank water over the coarse of about 20-30 minutes. Once in the tank, it immediately hid behind the rocks, no big deal, still seemed ok. Later tonight I noticed it swim out toward the front of the tank and kind out "float" with the current as if not able to control its movements. It then floated toward the back of the tank and laid on it's side, and even upside down once. I gently lifted it up from the bottom to see if it was alive. It was and swam out of my hand. It then floated back down to the rocks and is laying flat like it is dead. I can't tell if it has stopped breathing, but I feel it is just a matter of time.

Question: Was it just bad luck, or did I probably do something wrong, or was it stress that killed it, or sickness?

 

[steve-s]

Question: Was it just bad luck, or did I probably do something wrong, or was it stress that killed it, or sickness?

Could be a couple of reasons but the two that come to mind most is when netting at the LFS it caused damage to the swim bladder or acclimation shock.

Even though you took steps to acclimate the fish, sometimes it just doesn't help. Dwarfs are very "iffy" and do not always travel well. The methods used for collection can also cause unseen problems that do not manifest for weeks or months after being in the home aquarium.

Either way there is very little you can do if anything to solve this if from the two mentioned above. Are there any "outward" signs that would suggest something parasitic or similar? Is the gramma behaving itself?

Cheers
Steve

 

[jwwill0]

No signs of anything parasitic, and it was showing no signs of problems at the lfs. The lfs actually seemed to do a pretty good job of collecting the fish. Didn't use a net. Used one of those acrlic cups that they hang on the side of the tank to put the bags in. Scooped it up with that without much fuss.

I do have about a 25-30 minute drive from the lfs to my house, then the acclimation time. Could that be causing a problem. I had a problem similar to this with a hippo tang back when my tank was fairly new. I assumed then that it was either just sick, or my tank was not as stable as I thought. Since then, I have only added smaller, more hardy fish, and have not had a single problem.

Right now, I have the fish in a buckt waiting on the qt tank to be ready. It is still breathing, but not moving. I had to pull it because a small crab started to nibble at the fins, and it did not move to get away.

Oh, and all other fish are behaving themselves.

 

[steve-s]

Right now, I have the fish in a buckt waiting on the qt tank to be ready. It is still breathing, but not moving. I had to pull it because a small crab started to nibble at the fins, and it did not move to get away.

All the signs sound like some sort of internal damage most likely being the swim bladder. The QT will not do much good in this case but would only serve as a place to seperate it as you have already done. With these kinds of issues, meds will not help as a rule. The only outside chance would be an anti biotic but I honestly do not believe it will do a thing...

Cheers
Steve