RIP King Loui my lawn mower blenny

[sschofie]

Unfortunately my LMB died yesterday afternoon. I'm trying to figure out if it was his time to go or if it was my fault. I've had him for 1 year and 4 months. I came home and he was lying sideways on the substrate( I thought he was dead, but when I tried to take him out he started to swim. I knew something was wrong because he was not the same fish(was not acting like himself). Then 2 hours later he was dead.) My SG - 1.025, Am and Trite - 0, PH - has always been 7.7(never able to get it up to 8.4 from the get go), Trates - 50(usually at 20, but I've been a lil lazy). My questions are:

How long do LMB live?
He was usually one of my fattest fish, but when I took him out of the tank his stomach was very soft almost like it was bloated, could that be a sign the something was wrong?
Could that extra 30ppm of trates kill him?
When I first setup the tank I bought some cheato, and with the cheato I aquired(sp?) (I don't remember their name when I looked it up) these little white worms with a hard shell all over my tank walls. They look like white specks on the glass. they are filter feeders if I remember correctly. Could he have choked on these while he was scraping the wall? (I don't think he would have survived for two hours if he was choking though)

Other than that I saw nothing out of the ordinary about his appearance so I don't think he had ick or anything like that.

I have 5 other fish that have been in the tank for almost the same amount of time(some longer), and they seem to be fine. Nothing out of the ordinary with them either.

Thank you very much for any responses

 

[melosu58]

Please read this from an earlier post

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=69288

 

[sschofie]

Thanks for the link melosu58, but my LMB also ate what I fed my fish.

 

[melosu58]

Hopefully he didn`t but I`ve seen so many obituaries for lawnmowers and the evidence points to this. But you would know what yours did. Sorry about the loss

 

[bamaboy2go]

Sorry for your loss sschofie, hope that the other fish do ok

 

[sschofie]

Thank you bamaboy2go. The other fish have been fine(before and after the death).

melosu58 - I really don't think that he starved because I've seen him scraping at food on the substrate many times after feeding and he would also be very plump afterwards. And I've also seen times when he was skinny. How long do they live on average? I'm thinking that maybe it was just his time to go. Thank you for the help

 

[melosu58]

I dont know exactly .I have a black sailfin blenny which looks exactly like a lawnmower except he`s black to dark gray. He acts like a lawnmower but he will eat flake and brine. He was like that when I got him. Saying that I have had a lawnmower that went to town on my algea but when it was gone I desparately tried to get him to eat anything I could but to no avail. He died and when he did he was not skinny and looking like he was starving. I`ve had my sail fin now about 6 years so I`m assumming that the lawnmower under right conditions should last just as long. On my post that I gave you with the past post on it dont pay particular attention to my post but what Steve S says. He is one of the most knowledgeable guys about this hobby there is. He is the one that I wanted you to read and not me. I`m no one but he is someone that I trust with my tank. Again I`m sorry about the loss. IMO I would try one of the other blennies before I would go back to the lawnmower. Good Luck,
Mike