Dying Coral Beauty

[TaraT]

I just added a coral beauty to my tank yesterday. It was doing great. Swimming around, eating. It just all of a sudden went to the bottom and laid on its side gasping. I checked water parameters. I’m new and have no idea what to do. Any help us appreciated. 45 gallon tank
amonina 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5 ppm
Salinity 1.025
Ph 8.3
Temp 78

 

[TaraT]

Here is a video

 

[TheDuude]

How did you acclimate the fish to your tank and how are you checking your salinity?

 

[TaraT]

I have 2 clowns and a Midas blenny. They are all acting fine and the blenny changes color very easily when stressed but looks just fine right now. I checked the coral beauty’s mouth for obstructions.

 

[TaraT]

How did you acclimate the fish to your tank and how are you checking your salinity?

I drip acclimated and I have a refractometer.

 

[TaraT]

I drip acclimated and I have a refractometer.

could a salinity problem take that long to show? Honest question

 

[TheDuude]

could a salinity problem take that long to show? Honest question

Hard to say... If your other fish are doing fine it is probably not a water parameter issue. Did you notice any aggression from the clowns? My Female clown has killed two dwarf angels in the 7 years I have had her.

 

[TaraT]

No, now at all. They are still young. They have been off on their own. I haven’t seen any physical damage.

 

[TriggerFinger]

Did you get this fish from a store? If so, it’s possible they were holding it in copper with a low salinity. Acclimating from low to high salinity should be done slowly so it doesn’t shock the fish. Any chance you know what salinity the fish came from?

 

[TaraT]

Thank you all. I really appreciate it. I called the store. It was at 1.024 so not very far off of mine. This is really strange.

 

[HeyJay]

Salinity is not a concern, assuming your reading is accurate. Maybe low oxygen level. Do you have a lot of water movement and surface agitation?

 

[TaraT]

Salinity is not a concern, assuming your reading is accurate. Maybe low oxygen level. Do you have a lot of water movement and surface agitation?

I just moved the filter and power heads to agitate the surface more. Fingers crossed.

 

[goggs29]

Imo you need ways to check salinity or recalibrate monthly. If your tester is off the current fish you have slowly adjusted to the rise in salinity with each wc. Just my 2 cents

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Thank you all. I really appreciate it. I called the store. It was at 1.024 so not very far off of mine. This is really strange.

I wouldn't dismiss salinity. Unless you tested it prior to drip acclimation to know how to tackle acclimation, it would be hard to trust that they have their fish in 1.024 water.

Most fish I received from fish stores and online vendors are in much lower levels and require different acclimation techniques.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you all. I really appreciate it. I called the store. It was at 1.024 so not very far off of mine. This is really strange.

Like Triggerfinger, my first thought was going from low salinity at the store to your tank. However, that small of a change wouldn't be an issue. I saw somebody else mention a mouth obstruction, I wondered about that also, but in most of those cases, the mouth is stuck wide open, and your fish is able to open and close. I couldn't get a good measurement on its respiration rate, but it appears to be in excess of 180 bpm - which is of course very serious.

The only odd symptom that I can see is that the fish is very negatively buoyant. The video clip shows it struggling to stay off the bottom. This effort could in turn result in the rapid breathing. That said, I can't think of anything that would deflate a fish's gas bladder overnight like that.

So - here is a wild idea: Midas blennies are normally pretty peaceful, but they sometimes go rogue - could it have bitten the angel?

Jay Hemdal

 

[TaraT]

Oh wow! Yeah he did keep swimming by the blenny. Would there be any physical signs? Thank you so much for taking your time to help and watch the video.

 

[TaraT]

Well he passed but I’m grateful for all the help. I took a water sample into the store. It all looked fine. I’m keeping a close eye on the others now but seems ok so far.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Sorry to hear that it died. It did look very weak in the video, sorry I couldn't pinpoint the issue for you!

Jay

 

[Qasimja]

it was probably nothing you did some fish just die after adding them into your tank hopefully it wasnt a parasite he was carrying

 

[TriggerFinger]

Sorry for your fish loss. It may not have been in the best shape to begin with and the stress of moving could have been too much. Note I can’t see the video so I’m just going off what you’ve written.