My leopard wrasse died :(

[mikestanked]

So I bought a leopard wrasse on Friday afternoon and when I added him he didn't burrow into the sand right away. Once I turned off the lights he disappeared, then on Saturday I turned on my lights at the normal time and he didn't come out, I know that's normal so I wasn't worried.. then a couple of hours later he showed himself but was acting strange
He was panting really fast and laying on his side in the corner of the tank and I was worried. I had to go run some errands and I decided to go to my LFS and get my water tested. 0 nitrate and 0 nitrite, and 0 ammonia.
So upon return he was swimming around but still acting strange, lying on the sand and panting.
Around 9pm Saturday he was gone. Any ideas on why?
Maybe my tanks to small, maybe its not set up right for wrasse's
I really bummed because it was a really cool looking leopard wrasse, and it cost 30$.

 

[TheTodd]

They require a well established tank (50g min) and fine sand to burrow in. Go to places like liveaquaria.com and read about them. They are beautiful fish, but tough to keep alive.

 

[Wendy8184]

+1 on difficult fish...what size tank?

 

[Wendy8184]

I would love to have one but am afraid of the "difficult" label. I had a beautiful McCoskers wrasse that I bought from Liveaquaria for 70 dollars from the diver's den, and it lived for about 11/2 mo. then just died. It looked like nothing was wrong with it...not a mark on it. It was very strange...so anyway, i'm cautious now b/c i dont particularly like feeling like i killed something. so anyway i know how you feel. Sorry for your loss