violent death

[lion king]

I usually don't buy fish from this lfs, but if I see a dwarf or medium lion and have the room; I'll take a chance. This is the 3rd lion from there that died in a day or 2 from me bringing them home. The system is pristine, many fish have come through it. I just moved a black velvet angelfish from it the day before.

This fish was labeled an antenata lion, probably a mombasa; just under 3". He ate the first night. The 2nd day he was laying on his side and I didn't know quite what to do. I added a poly filter and carbon just cause. He seems to straighten up and I thought all would be well. Then he violently flashed across the tank, almost seizing and turned all white. He laid upside down and was breathing shallow. An hour later his color was back and breathing was somewhat normal. Then he seized again, violently more violent than before, turning white. It was late and I found him dead in the middle of the night,

Anyone see anything like this before.

 

[Dsnakes]

That sounds interesting. I am curious to hear what it could be. @Lionfish Lair @Humblefish @ihavecrabs

Sorry just tagging a few that may have input #reefsquad

 

[4FordFamily]

I have seen this in new fish and attribute it to poison (long term copper or any other medication) or poor collection methods such as cyanide collection. I’ve seen this several times throughout the years, unfortunately. It may not be your LFS fault, rather the supplier.

It seems to happen most in the first week or two, but within 30 days almost always. I think the stress of the tank move coupled with disease running rampant puts them at higher risk when added to a new tank.

 

[ihavecrabs]

I have not seen this before myself; however, lionfish are not known to handle copper very well.

Like @4FordFamily mentioned, this is definitely possible. Maybe the LFS or someone along the supplier distribution path.

Here is a link for reference on fish species and copper tolerance in case you are interested: https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/283450/

They also do not travel or ship well at all. My suggestion if you are determined to house one would be to pick one up from Live Aquaria. With their guarantee, they are more incentivised to only ship out healthy specimens (otherwise they refund or replace for you) therefore you'll be more likely to be successful with the one you get.

Sorry for your loss and good luck!

 

[Humblefish]

It sounds like a reaction to a toxin of some kind. As mentioned above, lionfish do not usually handle copper well if your LFS had been treating with that.

 

[lion king]

Sounds right, this store runs a low sg at 1.018 and adds copper to their system. That's one reason I don't buy fish from them, but the smaller lions are my soft spot. Explains also why all their lions die.

 

[GHsaltie]

I have seen this behavior once before. It was about a year ago I think I was doing a water change on a tank with a smallish fuzzy dwarf. He had been, as far as I could tell, in perfect health for the two weeks since he arrived. He had a mild spaz attack while I was changing his water, almost stabbed my hand in the process. The second time was several minutes later, it was so violent he crashed into the wall and jumped out of the water a couple times. Went bellyside up and died about a minute later.

 

[Humblefish]

I don't think she's been active lately, but @Lionfish Lair's input would be very useful here.

 

[glb]

Sorry about your fishie. I agree that Live Aquaria would be a good bet. I live in South Florida so I can get almost anything locally, but they have the best reputation amongst all online vendors imo. Good luck!

 

[lion king]

Sorry about your fishie. I agree that Live Aquaria would be a good bet. I live in South Florida so I can get almost anything locally, but they have the best reputation amongst all online vendors imo. Good luck!

I'm not concerned with finding a source for another lion, I'd like to figure out what could have happened, it was very disturbing watching a fish die like that.

I have 6 other lions all from lfs when they were starving, sick, or eating only live foods. I posted in the predator section about my search for a mombasa. Liveaquaria has let me down a few times of late, so that is not a source I would look to.

 

[VelasCorals]

That sounds like copper to me. I have seen the same eating, lethargy and turn pale with copper and lionfish. LFS probably had copper in the system and would have died there. Sorry for the loss

 

[MSB123]

I'm currently quarantineing a 4.5" lion, I love him to death! I got mine from liveaquaria and he's almost through his 3 week QT! I haven't treated with copper, and everything is looking great! Go with liveaquaria, really dependable.

 

[Maritimer]

Sounds right, this store runs a low sg at 1.018 and adds copper to their system. That's one reason I don't buy fish from them, but the smaller lions are my soft spot. Explains also why all their lions die.

Are they the kind of people who would take being alerted to a problem like this as constructive criticism, or as a "bash"? Seems that their quality of livestock and service could rise a notch, and the lives of a lot of fish could potentially be saved, if they simply knew that lions don't deal well with that setup . . .

~Bruce

 

[lion king]

Are they the kind of people who would take being alerted to a problem like this as constructive criticism, or as a "bash"? Seems that their quality of livestock and service could rise a notch, and the lives of a lot of fish could potentially be saved, if they simply knew that lions don't deal well with that setup . . .

~Bruce

NO! People that run their system like this know exactly what they are doing. Some have taken it to whole other level, creating drug cocktails and keeping a low sg system. This system manages any potential disease or parasites just long enough to sell the fish. I'm in this store frequently for another purpose and if I have a spot and see a dwarf or medium lion I try to give it a good home. I always qt so figured I'd deal with whatever pops up. I didn't realize that running copper in their system would be pretty much a death sentence. I watched 2 of the 3 lions seize, I had never seen that before. After the 3rd and posting here today I realized it had the copper.