New clownfish dead in 2 days

[Mike N]

I picked up a nice little mocha storm clownfish from an lfs on Sunday. It was eating normally as soon as it was introduced to the tank. When I got home from work today it was dead.

I have five other fish in the tank, and they're all fine. I've checked the major parameters like ammonia nitrite nitrate and phosphate, everything is zero except for phosphate (.02) and nitrate(10ppm)

Some insight into why this happened would be excellent, I hate losing fish.
The gills on the left side look a little weird to me.

 

[LAReefer4Life]

Shot in the dark I am thinking Brook or severe flukes. If you still have the remains you can put into FWD in a clear bucket or tubber-ware container and see if any opaque sesame seed pieces fall off.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Possible Brooklynella or aggression. Would have been easier obviously to see it alive to best determine

 

[Bleigh]

Brook kills quickly. That’s what my first clown fish died of. By the time I realized there was something wrong, it was too late to do anything. The first fish I didn’t know what had happened cause the CUC got to it before I saw it. The second fish had the distinct slime strings coming off his body. It’s still so sad when they die.

 

[Katrina71]

I'm so sorry.

 

[Mike N]

Possible Brooklynella or aggression. Would have been easier obviously to see it alive to best determine

Thanks for the reply.
I really do hope it was aggression out of those two options.

 

[Mike N]

Brook kills quickly. That’s what my first clown fish died of. By the time I realized there was something wrong, it was too late to do anything. The first fish I didn’t know what had happened cause the CUC got to it before I saw it. The second fish had the distinct slime strings coming off his body. It’s still so sad when they die.

Thank you. I haven't seen any hint of slime or stringing at all. Fingers crossed it's not Brook.

 

[Katrina71]

It almost looks like a bite on the bottom pic closer to the eye.

 

[Bleigh]

Thank you. I haven't seen any hint of slime or stringing at all. Fingers crossed it's not Brook.

Fingers crossed. Do you have an acclimation box? @cromag27 makes some nice ones. I put my 6 line wrasse in a little breeder box I had for freshwater when my clowns were looking mean. They didn't react to him at all when I finally let him out.

 

[Bleigh]

It almost looks like a bite on the bottom pic closer to the eye.

Nice catch. Hopefully it is just a less than friendly fish.

 

[Katrina71]

@Mike N what other fish are on the suspect list? I'm gonna make a wager on a clown

 

[Bleigh]

@Mike N what other fish are on the suspect list? I'm gonna make a wager on a clown

+1... they're mean

 

[Mike N]

@Mike N what other fish are on the suspect list? I'm gonna make a wager on a clown

Suspects:
Midnight clown*
Tomini tang
Leopard wrasse
Lawnmower blenny
Blue Reef chromis

As far as I could tell there were no signs of bullying, of course that's about 5% of the time so it's possible for sure.
My girlfriend and I were pretty shocked at how brave this little clown was when he was introduced.

 

[Katrina71]

Yep. The mocha shoulda had a safe word.

 

[Bleigh]

Yep. The mocha shoulda had a safe word.

Lol... @Katrina71 !!! I'm dieing over here. That's for sure the issue. Next time, make sure the new fish has a clearly established safe word!

It might be odd, but I make my kid and his friends have one when they're playing rough. They tend to say stop and stuff when they're shooting water guns or throwing balloons and then trick each other and hit each other. It's easy for them to not realize when someone actually wants a break. So, for a real break, they have to say Cheetos. everyone puts whatever they're holding down and they can't use it to trick each other. If kids can do it, surely the fish can get it!

 

[jaxredsoxfan]

Im not sure this is true, i have 12 and 19 year old boys, lol

 

[jaxredsoxfan]

If kids can do it, surely the fish can get it!

Was trying to quote this

 

[Bleigh]

Was trying to quote this

LOL... I understood what you were going for. Hey, they can do it when they're 5... not sure what puberty does to the kids.... but it seems to break their brains