Fish died, diagnosis help?

[ieatbugman]

Ok, I recently got a clown fish and red scooter blenny for my newest tank (ten gallon) and after a week (they were eating and acting totally fine) they suddenly died. All of the corals were perfectly fine, so it wasn’t water quality (unless im missing something in which case please tell me!) and they were eating just fine (san Francisco brand myssis and flake foods). Any ideas? I don’t want to kill anything else in the take because of something i did. Could it have been an internal parasite?

 

[reefsaver]

I would test for ammonia, nitrates,phosphates and maybe PH/Alkilinity.
If your params are okay. How much were you feeding them? Daily? It's possible they starved or it was a sudden change in parameters. A 10 Gallons stability is harder to keep stable so I would really check every parameter i could think of, salinity and then wonder if I had fed them enough. To be completely honest. A 10 gallon is too small for both a Clownfish and Red Scooter Blenny. The blenny in particular primarily eats copepods and having a self sustaining copepod population in a 10 gallon is insanely expert level difficult from my objective perspective.
Red Scooters are typically kept in 75 gallons and in some cases, 25 gallons after really maturing the system.
Clownfish are typically kept in a minumum of 20 gallons. So it's rough if you feel me.

 

[reefsaver]

You know what don't let it let you down brother. My advice for your 10 gallon would be having a single Yellow Clown Goby as fish stock, and some corals for shelter. That's me personally, Firefish are another cool single stocking choice. After your system really matures and establishes itself consider one more tank mate. Patience is hard I get it. I suck at patience too.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ok, I recently got a clown fish and red scooter blenny for my newest tank (ten gallon) and after a week (they were eating and acting totally fine) they suddenly died. All of the corals were perfectly fine, so it wasn’t water quality (unless im missing something in which case please tell me!) and they were eating just fine (san Francisco brand myssis and flake foods). Any ideas? I don’t want to kill anything else in the take because of something i did. Could it have been an internal parasite?

prior to this event, any unusual signs such as hiding, loss of appetite, heavy breathing ?
What is your tank temperature, salinity, ammonia and ph level?
When you found the fish dead, were there any blemishes on body and were mouths open or closed?

 

[ieatbugman]

As far as im aware no unusual signs, temperature would be from 78-80,

 

[ieatbugman]

Amonia was zero to very low, ph i do not know. the fish after it died was faded, we saw it alive in the morning and came up an hour or two later and it died

 

[ieatbugman]

To be honest it was about a month ago so i am a little hazy on all the details

 

[ieatbugman]

I feel you, thank you

You know what don't let it let you down brother. My advice for your 10 gallon would be having a single Yellow Clown Goby as fish stock, and some corals for shelter. That's me personally, Firefish are another cool single stocking choice. After your system really matures and establishes itself consider one more tank mate. Patience is hard I get it. I suck at patience too.

 

[ieatbugman]

The weirdest part is my sister saw them alive in the morning, went down to breakfast and came back up and they were dead, we were 100% feeding them enough

 

[ieatbugman]

I tend to overfeed a little bit than underfeed

 

[ieatbugman]

Hopefully just a little bit

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

To be honest it was about a month ago so i am a little hazy on all the details

Generally, in cases where fish died, but the invertebrates are all doing well, the issue lays with a fish disease. There may have been some subtle symptoms with the fish that you missed (rapid breathing is easy to miss). If there are no fish remaining in the tank, the standard option is to hold the tank fishless for 60 days to allow any fish diseases to die out from lack of a host, and then quarantine any new fish that you buy (or buy tank raised or pre-quarantine fish).

 

[reefsaver]

There are, unfortunately, some cases where people have done everything right, even the experts at BRS. Yet, fish or livestock just don't make it. In my opinion, this is likely due to a combination of factors. These include the effects of transportation and changes in diet, where the new diet may not consist of the same organisms found in the livestock's natural habitat.

This situation can be likened to middle-aged sailors who developed scurvy because their diets lacked enough Vitamin C. Similarly, a vitamin deficiency in a fish, though not resulting in scurvy, could cause significant health issues that ultimately lead to death.

I'm no expert, but it's possible that deficiencies in essential nutrients contribute to fish mortality. However, the truth is likely even more complex and nuanced than I suggest. The interplay of many factors makes it very difficult to pinpoint the exact causes of fish mortality in many cases.

 

[Dom]

When you found the fish dead, were there any blemishes on body and were mouths open or closed?

I have a question about this:

Where "mouth open" or "mouth closed" are concerned, what does this suggest?

Is it that "mouth open" suggests that the fish was "gasping" for air? A fish that swims into flow to help oxygenate would die with its mouth open, wouldn't it?

So a dead fish with an open mouth would suggest disease?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a question about this:

Where "mouth open" or "mouth closed" are concerned, what does this suggest?

Is it that "mouth open" suggests that the fish was "gasping" for air? A fish that swims into flow to help oxygenate would die with its mouth open, wouldn't it?

So a dead fish with an open mouth would suggest disease?

Correct - mouth open suggests low oxygen level or gill issue

 

[ieatbugman]

Interesting, thank you so much for your thoughts and your time