Pistol shrimp are clown fish

gaving · Dec 31, 2020

I had two clown fish and a pistol shrimp. And some coral (torch, frogspawn, hammer and mushroom) I woke up and one of the clown fish was dead in the shrimps cave that he made. This is the second time this happened I got fish like 5 months ago and the same thing happened 3 weeks after I got them. Then I went 4 months without fish. Then I just got these new clowns and one is dead. All of the parameters are all good and the water has been stable for months now.

cboylan1606 · Dec 31, 2020

Do you qt your new fish?

gaving · Dec 31, 2020

cboylan1606 said:
Do you qt your new fish?

No but I checked and they all looked perfectly healthy. They were swimming all good and there were no spots on them

cboylan1606 · Dec 31, 2020

I’m not an expert. Also have lost fish that “seem” health. The problem I’ve found in my research and from ppl here is that most lfs and online retailers use copper in there systems so when you get a fish it appears healthy but can have masked issues. I had a complete wipeout not long ago due to velvet I now qt all fish

gaving · Dec 31, 2020

cboylan1606 said:
I’m not an expert. Also have lost fish that “seem” health. The problem I’ve found in my research and from ppl here is that most lfs and online retailers use copper in there systems so when you get a fish it appears healthy but can have masked issues. I had a complete wipeout not long ago due to velvet I now qt all fish

I got my fish from a local fish store but when ever I put fish in my tank I never use any of there water.

cboylan1606 · Dec 31, 2020

gaving said:
I got my fish from a local fish store but when ever I put fish in my tank I never use any of there water.

Neither do I but if they are running copper “which most do from my understanding” and that fish say came into the lfs that Monday and you bought on a Friday then technically it hasn’t been in therapeutic levels for the time needed to treat. Which in turn just masks whatever they are carrying.

cboylan1606 · Dec 31, 2020

I now look at it as every fish I get is sick and at the very least needs to go into a observation tank for 30 days before going into my main display.

gaving · Dec 31, 2020

cboylan1606 said:
Neither do I but if they are running copper “which most do from my understanding” and that fish say came into the lfs that Monday and you bought on a Friday then technically it hasn’t been in therapeutic levels for the time needed to treat. Which in turn just masks whatever they are carrying.

This same thing happened 5 months ago when I got two clowns. I hade them for 1 month the. The next day I found the shrimp eating them.

gaving · Dec 31, 2020

cboylan1606 said:
I now look at it as every fish I get is sick and at the very least needs to go into a observation tank for 30 days before going into my main display.

I definitely think I will need to quarantine fish the next time.

cboylan1606 · Dec 31, 2020

gaving said:
I definitely think I will need to quarantine fish the next time.

I’m new to the whole keeping fish world however over the last 6-8 months that I’ve had fish I’ve learned a lot. I started with one tank I now have 4 set up in my house. My main dt a treatment tank a observation tank and I’m setting up a coral qt now. I lost all but one fish 6 weeks ago due to velvet. Presumably from either a fish I didn’t quarantine or from a frag I didn’t quarantine. I introduced both at the same time from the same lfs and a week later I saw signs of what I thought was ick. Turned out to be velvet and wiped my tank out in 48hours.

gaving · Dec 31, 2020

cboylan1606 said:
I’m new to the whole keeping fish world however over the last 6-8 months that I’ve had fish I’ve learned a lot. I started with one tank I now have 4 set up in my house. My main dt a treatment tank a observation tank and I’m setting up a coral qt now. I lost all but one fish 6 weeks ago due to velvet. Presumably from either a fish I didn’t quarantine or from a frag I didn’t quarantine. I introduced both at the same time from the same lfs and a week later I saw signs of what I thought was ick. Turned out to be velvet and wiped my tank out in 48hours.

I am also new 6 months. I will definitely need to set up a quarantine tank.

ThePurple12 · Dec 31, 2020

It's more likely that the clownfish died and the shrimp carried the body into its hole to eat. After all, shrimp are scavengers.

When I had one, it didn't bother any of my fish, including the clowns.

gaving · Dec 31, 2020

ThePurple12 said:
It's more likely that the clownfish died and the shrimp carried the body into its hole to eat. After all, shrimp are scavengers.

When I had one, it didn't bother any of my fish, including the clowns.

That is one of my thoughts as well I am just confused on why they died then.

ThePurple12 · Dec 31, 2020

Was the clownfish looking healthy when you got it? Where did you get it?

gaving · Dec 31, 2020

ThePurple12 said:
Was the clownfish looking healthy when you got it? Where did you get it?

I got it from a local fish store and they were looking healthy. I got two of them one of them got eaten/died. The other one is still in the tank . I have him in a small container so he is staying to temperature but the shrimp can’t get to him if he dies.

ThePurple12 · Dec 31, 2020

I'm not sure how the clown died then. What species of pistol shrimp is it? Tiger, candycane?

Make sure the clown in the container gets enough aeration also.