Lost dead chromis

[protokix22]

So I had 4 chromis, and one by one they have been dropping like flies. Each week, pretty much on the dot, one more goes. I'm now down to just 1. Now my parameters are perfect, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20. My temps fine, and the salinity is in the perfect range. So my first question is, why do they keep dying? I've read, and talked to multiple people and the answer seems to be, that's just what happens occasionally with chromis. Any other thoughts? There was no outward appearance of injury/illness, and nothing really signalled that they were about to go until they stopped swimming in the open water and hid for a day.

That brings me to my second point. I've got a 60 gallon w/live sand, and a wet/dry filter. When the second chromis died, I couldn't find him. I don't have a cleaning crew yet, so I was worried about a spike. (the aquariums been up and running, not including the cycling, for about 2 and a half months now). Luckily, as I was going through decorations one by one, I found him inside one of them dead. Now, it's like deja vu. The third one to die has mysteriously disapeared. I wanted to keep my eye on him when he went into seclusion because I had a feeling he was about to kick the bucket. I lost track of him, and now I can't find him anywhere. Does anyone have any reccomendations what to do, I'm 99% sure he's dead by now. Should I do anything to avoid an ammonia spike. I have two clowns in there right now that I've grown really attached to (George and Jerry) and I don't want a spike that'll kill them.

 

[David S]

How are the clowns with the chromis,been hassled by the clowns can stress them enough to kill them.

 

[protokix22]

The clowns really don't seem to bother them at all. At first all the chromis would swim around together, then they began to do their own things. Never saw either of the clowns pay any mind it all, they're too busy bullying eachother trying to pair off haha.

 

[FTMMWS]

Usually with multiple chromis you will end up with one anyway ..They usually pick each other off one by one..

Shouldn't be a problem if your tank went through a proper cycle already...Its not like you have a mass die off..

 

[joy13]

Do you have bristle worms in your tank? They are some of the best clean up crew and if you watch them they will come out and go to the body of the dead fish.

Chances are the chromis are wild caught with poisons so they are very stressed by the time they get to the store. Some people say that even the act of putting them in qt is enough to stress them to the point of death.

 

[protokix22]

Okay thanks guys. Joy, I don't have any bristle worms, but I'm starting to think that between this incident and the growth of algae, a clean-up crew is the best next step... So I shouldn't completely freak out yet? The chromis disapeared last night, and my ammonia is still at 0. Should I rush out and get some cleaners like asap?