mysterious death

[jabberwock]

I had my LMB for about 4 months. Tank is 8 months old (32 gallon biocube). He was super active and constantly feeding on the abundant algae in my tank. He died today with no symptoms or odd behavior. He might have been resting more than usual yesterday, but I did not think much of it. His corpse was quite skinny when I fished him out. The only change to the tank was that I added 2 turbo snails 3 or 4 days ago. I just tested parameters:

API test kits
Phosphate - 0
Nitrates - 30
Nitrites - 0
Ammonia - 0
Calcium - 420
alkalinity - 8
pH - 8
SG - 1.026 (refractometer)
temp - 80 degrees

I am kind of baffled. He seemed very healthy and hardy. Any thoughts about what could have led to his demise? Thanks

 

[ZachR32]

Could be internal parasites

 

[jabberwock]

I observed him regularly taking large green poops. Seemed logical for what he ate. Do internal parasites spread from fish to fish? I had suspected my clownfish had them when I first got them, but their poop started looking normal after a week or so.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Sorry for the loss
Invertebrates can carry the encrusted forms of exoparasites as well as the water they come in can carry the free living ones. 3 to 4 days could be any number of afflictions especially those that attack the gills(velvet is usually the fastest acting). But a naive fish can fall to some varieties of ich or flukes quickly too. Without a necropsy hard to say it was disease though.

I have had fish randomly swim into a powerhead or ram the side of a tank and pass without any disease at play. Watch your other fish closely see if there are any signs of disease with them before acting would be my suggestion.

 

[jabberwock]

Sorry for the loss
Invertebrates can carry the encrusted forms of exoparasites as well as the water they come in can carry the free living ones. 3 to 4 days could be any number of afflictions especially those that attack the gills(velvet is usually the fastest acting). But a naive fish can fall to some varieties of ich or flukes quickly too. Without a necropsy hard to say it was disease though.

I have had fish randomly swim into a powerhead or ram the side of a tank and pass without any disease at play. Watch your other fish closely see if there are any signs of disease with them before acting would be my suggestion.

He used to peck at the algae in my old powerhead when it was turned for a few minutes at feeding time. I always worried it would turn on while he was in it. That powerhead stopped working and I got a pair of smaller ones that alternate on and off. It is very plausible that he did not catch on to the new rhythm. I did not notice any physical trauma, but he was quite small. His name was Michael Jackson...