My first aquatic fatality!

[nancymarie]

About three weeks ago I purchased a darling pair of Randall's shrimp gobies. The guy at the LFS said that they had the pair in the store for a while (I trust him; he has been a great help to me from the beginning of setting up my tank). They were happy and presumably healthy from the time I brought them home. They ate ravenously everyday until this week. I lost both of them within 48 hours. On Thursday morning one of the gobies didn't eat (strange!). On closer inspection he appeared "flushed" in the cheeks. It looked like tiny red spots or veins under his skin around his gills. When I got home from work he was in the same spot and died within the hour. The second goby appeared fine. On Friday morning the second goby was reclusive but still ate a little. This morning all that was left of the poor thing was a head and a skeleton tail.

 

Some background...

14G Biocube up and running for 5 months. I modified the pump to a MJ900 and added a hydor rotating flow attachment. All lighting is stock. I use RO/DI water and Oceanic salt mix. I perform 20% water changes weekly.

18lb LR and 1 inch depth of LS.

 

Inhabitants: 5 blue hermits, 4 nass snails, 4 astrea snails, 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 tank raised ocelaris clownfish, green star polyp, blue waving hand xenia, red mushrooms, 4 small zoa varieties, torch coral, and frogspawn coral.

 

Tank parameters on Thursday & Friday (same results on both days):

Nitrate, Nitrite, and Ammonia = 0

Sal = 1.023

pH =8.2

Alk = normal (that is the reading from the test, no numeric value given)

Calcium = 490

Mg = 1290

 

Does anyone have any ideas about what may have happened to these guys? Is there any fish disease that causes tiny red spots under the skin? Should I be worried about my clown or other tank inhabitants? They all appear fine at the moment. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[paneubert]

Flushed gills almost sounds like an excess of Oxygen. But I know that can't be the issue........you sure the test kit is giving you accurate results? I would assume those dead bodies would have at least shown a little ammonia or something in such a small tank.

[nancymarie]

Flushed gills almost sounds like an excess of Oxygen. But I know that can't be the issue........you sure the test kit is giving you accurate results? I would assume those dead bodies would have at least shown a little ammonia or something in such a small tank.

 

Well, I pulled out the first guy within minutes of his death and followed with a 10% water change. I haven't re-tested the water yet today after I pulled out the second guy. The values may be different now. The second goby died sometime last night. I should probably confirm the results with a different test kit but I'll have to go pick one up.

[lgreen]

Randall gobies are pretty small, I doubt you'd see any ammonia if the tank was somewhat established.

 

It is hard to say what happened. How did you acclimate them and how long had you had them in your tank?

 

I'd guess stress from the move = bacterial infection = death and possibly loss of one mate = more stress = further inability to fight off infection = death of other.

 

Your fish and coral = test kit. Is the clown alive? Most likely no ammonia or nitrite then And even if so, which I highly doubt, it will be gone in a day or two w/ no ill effects.

[nancymarie]

Randall gobies are pretty small, I doubt you'd see any ammonia if the tank was somewhat established.

 

It is hard to say what happened. How did you acclimate them and how long had you had them in your tank?

 

 

I'd guess stress from the move = bacterial infection = death and possibly loss of one mate = more stress = further inability to fight off infection = death of other.

 

Your fish and coral = test kit. Is the clown alive? Most likely no ammonia or nitrite then And even if so, which I highly doubt, it will be gone in a day or two w/ no ill effects.

 

The gobies had been in the tank for three weeks. When acclimating them I did a 10 minute float, then added a some tank water to the bag over them next five minutes, then added them to the tank with a net (no bag water in the tank).

 

The clown and all other tank ihabitants are doing fine. I do have a test kit and test weekly. I just meant that I may pick up a second test kit to confrim that the kit that I am using is accurate.

[Osprey]

Cue the Dragnet theme.

 

Your clownfish is wanted for questioning. They're very territorial. All the evidence is circumstantial, though.

[nancymarie]

Cue the Dragnet theme.

 

Your clownfish is wanted for questioning. They're very territorial. All the evidence is circumstantial, though.

 

That did cross my mind. The clown did have the tank to himself for about a month before I added the gobies. Could they have been harassed to death? Neither goby had any open wounds although the first guy did have a small whole on his dorsal fin.

If it was the clown, is there any other nano appropriate fish that I could keep with him?

 

Anyone think that they might have been ill?

[clifford513]

Were they wild caught? Could be the effects of cyanide, jmo. Your tank sounds healthy and well maintained. I would tend to think cyanide or some internal parasite.

[lgreen]

I doubt the clown would have touched them.

 

I'd stick with the internal parasite/bacterial infection idea considering the only evidence you have is that you saw some redness.

[endopsychic trashcan]

Maybe some of that "ecoli" spinach wound up in their veggies. Yeah, I know its thin, but hey I'm a hypochondriac.

[nancymarie]

I'd stick with the internal parasite/bacterial infection idea considering the only evidence you have is that you saw some redness.

 

I guess it is QT for all my new additions.

 

Thanks all for the input.

 

Nancy