HingleMcCringleberry Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 I need help fast! It may be too late this morning I tuned on the lights in my tank and came back an hour later to see my lawnmower blenny on his side at the bottom of the tank. His gills and mouth were wide open and he didn’t appear to be breathing. I assumed it was dead and went to remove it but while I stared in shock my cleaner shrimp noticed the fish and ran up to investigate. The blenny quickly farted forward and then collapsed on its side again. As I watched over the next 5 minutes the leaner shrimp chased the blenny around the side of the tank as the fish tried to inch away in tiny bursts until it seemed completely paralyzed and the cleaner shrimp started picking into its gills and mouth. I was trying to decide what to do when my large serpent star came hustling out and grabbed a hold of the partlized fish which I could now see was barely fluttering it’s gills. I grabbed the fish and put it in the only isolated environment I have. One of those breeder nets that hangs off the side of the tank. That’s where he is now. Totally catatonic. I have ave a rabbit fish. Could it be that? All my other fish and inverts and coral are totally happy and healthy and based on the extremely sudden decline of the blenny I don’t know what could have caused him to die (dont know for sure but he’s not moving same as when I first spotted him). I don’t jnow what happened. I don’t know if my fish is dead or what to do. And I’m worried about my other fish. There are no signs of illness, malnutrition, or injury that I can see on the blenny. Does anyone know what might have happened or what kind of action I should take???! Quote Link to comment
Justin_Luke Posted March 31, 2019 Share Posted March 31, 2019 This happens to lawnmower blennys quite frequently at the LFS where I work. It is almost surely due to stress (Which I know is broad). How long have you had the blenny? Is there enough flow in your tank to ensure a proper level of dissolved oxygen? Does he ever get picked on? You are doing the right thing by keeping him separated in an attempt to help him recover. However, I have never seen a lawnmower blenny come back after entering this state. I'm sorry and I hope your case is the exception to this. 2 Quote Link to comment
HingleMcCringleberry Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 29 minutes ago, Justin_Luke said: This happens to lawnmower blennys quite frequently at the LFS where I work. It is almost surely due to stress (Which I know is broad). How long have you had the blenny? Is there enough flow in your tank to ensure a proper level of dissolved oxygen? Does he ever get picked on? You are doing the right thing by keeping him separated in an attempt to help him recover. However, I have never seen a lawnmower blenny come back after entering this state. I'm sorry and I hope your case is the exception to this. Wow that’s unfortunate to hear although it is comforting to know it won’t affect my other fish. The blenny was actually the first fish introduced to the tank. That was about 2 months ago. Since then two perculas and a magnificent foxface rabbitfish were added. Nothing seemed to bother him at all. He spent about half his time hiding and half his time in the open coccasilnally picking at the rocks for algae. I’m shocked because so far as I can tell there were no warning signs. No new fish since a week ago. No water change in the last week either. All my sps and LPS corals seem happy and I checked water params yesterday. pH and alkalinity were a little low but not shockingly so. Otherwise all is well. I guess I’ll watch to see if he recovers but even if he could recover he will probably asphyxiate since he can’t pump his gills and the net cuts off most of the water flow that might help keep ogygen running to his gills. Very sad. But thank you for helping me to understand. Quote Link to comment
HingleMcCringleberry Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 Follow up question. How do I decide when a parylized fish is actually dead and remove it from my tank? Quote Link to comment
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