My Flamehawkfish Died (Was It Flukes or Aggression?)

[Cetus]

Flame Hawkfish Not Eating/Discoloration

I’m starting to worry about my flame Hawkfish. I’ve had him for around 2-3 months and he used to be very active and eat we’ll but as of this week he’s become much less active and outright refuses to eat. The only other fish in the tank is a bi-color blenny so I’m worried bullying could be...

www.reef2reef.com

Please read the above for context as it documents what was going on but long story short, my flame hawkfish one day stopped eating and wasted away for about a week in a quarantine tank until he passed this morning. I'm trying to figure out what could of caused it.

This body had a tiny bit of white feces coming out, like maybe a centimeter or so, but I'm not sure if that automatically confirms flukes. The other comments seemed to suggest that it was a bacterial infection and it could have been because my blenny was bullying him. That's what I thought but now I'm not sure. I'm wondering now what to do. I have no way to confirm if the blenny was being aggressive other than the fact they would often just sort of sit together whenever I was in the room. And if it was internal flukes, then how could he have gotten it? I had the hawkfish for a month or two and only now did it show signs of deterioration. Could internal flukes really take that long to kill a fish? What seems the most likely scenario here?

Here he is the day he got out of QT.

Here's a picture a month or so later showing muted coloration. He was eating perfectly well at the time though so I'm not sure.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I scanned the thread, but I’m on my phone about to go to a meeting and couldn’t really digest it all. Flame hawks are prone to external flukes. The white feces isn’t flukes, could be starvation, protozoans, bacteria or coccidia.
Jay

 

[Cetus]

I scanned the thread, but I’m on my phone about to go to a meeting and couldn’t really digest it all. Flame hawks are prone to external flukes. The white feces isn’t flukes, could be starvation, protozoans, bacteria or coccidia.
Jay

Well that's fortunate then I might not have to go fallow. Do you think it was aggression that led to a bacterial infection? That does make me worry a bit about the blenny then.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Well that's fortunate then I might not have to go fallow. Do you think it was aggression that led to a bacterial infection? That does make me worry a bit about the blenny then.

Tough to say, the hawk fish had symptoms that could go either way. Does the blenny show any symptoms ?
Jay

 

[Cetus]

Tough to say, the hawk fish had symptoms that could go either way. Does the blenny show any symptoms ?
Jay

Hard to say but so far has been behaving completely normally. Sort of hanging out on the rocks and this morning it followed a piece of food from behind the glass before I put it in. He's a bit skittish but nothing noteworthy I don't think?