Ne0eN October 6, 2006 Share October 6, 2006 Last night I glanced at my tank and saw crabs devouring what looked like remains of a dead fish. Whoa! that was my Kole Tang! He was active and happy and healthy and eating as recently as the night before. I checked water params - Temp 82, pH 8.3, sg 1.023, Ca 405, Alk 6.5 - I don't usually test for ammonia so I don't have a test. I'll steal my gf's tests and repeat the tests tonight. I'm a bit puzzled why would a fish drop in less than 24 hrs without any signs of disease. Ever since I added Majestic Angel I've had 3 unexplained casualties (Coral Beauty dissapeared few days later, Spotted Mandarin died a month later, and now this). My other inhabitants are Blue Hippo Tang, pair of False Percs, Royal Gramma, Watchman Goby. I'm thinking about installing a 24/7 surveilance webcam on my tank... Could a pistol shrimp shot him to death? -- Rob :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardofNOVA October 6, 2006 Share October 6, 2006 I'd say the Watchman Goby did it! Can't trust those shifty eyed suckers!!! Serious, sorry for the lost! Have you changed their diet lately? Mysterys of the deep continues... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN October 6, 2006 Author Share October 6, 2006 I'd say the Watchman Goby did it! Interesting theory. I did see him out last night. I haven't seen him in quite a while, so it is kinda strange that he would pop-up right after the incident... But then again, I have noticed an interesting behaviour, that everytime he would pop his head out, the Kole would chase him back into his cave. So I guess he must have finally conspired with the pistol shrimp, and an assasination transpired. :( -- Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest snapper October 6, 2006 Share October 6, 2006 Sorry to hear about the loss. I doubt there is a predator like a pistol shrimp doing the bad deeds. The crabs would get nabbed too if this were the case. I think it would be helpful to have a chronolgy of when you added fish. Sometimes fish come from the store already on their last legs due to capture and shipping stresses. They may look good, but be a time bomb waiting to happen. It is entirely possible to have a pathogen and not know it too. How long has the system been up? Have you done anything significantly different in the past week to ten days? Like a big water change? Changed supplements, food? Added new livestock? Post some pics please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak October 6, 2006 Share October 6, 2006 Sorry to hear about the loss. I doubt there is a predator like a pistol shrimp doing the bad deeds. The crabs would get nabbed too if this were the case. Pistol shrip, predator? how soonafter he last ate did you loose the fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Stearns October 6, 2006 Share October 6, 2006 Yep definitely the goby with the lead pipe in the library. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emissary October 6, 2006 Share October 6, 2006 Yep definitely the goby with the lead pipe in the library. <shakes head> I do believe Rob's taking your watchman theory seriously. Sheesh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN October 6, 2006 Author Share October 6, 2006 Right........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0eN October 6, 2006 Author Share October 6, 2006 Sorry to hear about the loss. I doubt there is a predator like a pistol shrimp doing the bad deeds. The crabs would get nabbed too if this were the case. I think it would be helpful to have a chronolgy of when you added fish. Sometimes fish come from the store already on their last legs due to capture and shipping stresses. They may look good, but be a time bomb waiting to happen. It is entirely possible to have a pathogen and not know it too. How long has the system been up? Have you done anything significantly different in the past week to ten days? Like a big water change? Changed supplements, food? Added new livestock? Post some pics please Hey Snapper, I was kinda kidding when I went along Howard's Goby/shrimp theory. Here's the chronology: Got the fish from BRK about 5 months ago. Healthy as a fish could be. Active grazer, ate pretty much anything I threw in there. (mostly frozen mix with occasional supplement of flake and live brine) The tank has been established for about 3 years. No changes to set-up or eating schedule in months... No major water changes. Actually due for a water change... This was definitely not a sick fish. I will post sonme pics shortly. The only thing I can think of... the tank has been running a bit hot lately - 82-83 for the last week or so. I just put a new fan over the sump. -- Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzekunoi October 6, 2006 Share October 6, 2006 It's a crazy idea but... Resently Sean posted about a pathogen in frozen shrimp and I myself suspect frozen krill as a potential source of disaster. Sorry to hear about your fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale October 6, 2006 Share October 6, 2006 It's a crazy idea but... Resently Sean posted about a pathogen in frozen shrimp and I myself suspect frozen krill as a potential source of disaster. Sorry to hear about your fish! I have not read all of it, but Coral magazine has an article about this in the new issue I just got the other day. D. Knopp & Co. tested some frozen foods. What I had time to read was interesting. I can't remember if it was someone at BRK or someone at MACNA-Houston, but I recall being told a story about pistol shrimp w/ goby combo and that if goby deems other fish threat - it will have pistol kill it. It seems a bit odd for pistol to take a tang out though. Loss of established tang - hmm, I have 2 tangs over the years that were established, one yellow after being in tank for about 4+ year and a tomini after like 2+ years. Both eating fine one day and next, doa. Before and after each loss [at that time I had 2 tanks going, 1 death in each tank] I did not have any other loss. Was it looking thin or maybe fat like something blocking poop track. Or just normal and doa next day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiddly October 6, 2006 Share October 6, 2006 I am also sorry for your loss. I'm also sorry there's no clear cause. It's terribly frustrating not to know what to do to try to fix things like this. Good luck in figuring it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesbuf October 6, 2006 Share October 6, 2006 Sorry for you loss. I also just lost a fish, my queen angel. Sucks. Fish are living creatures just like us. Sometimes creatures die from natural causes, no matter how healthy the fish may have appeared. And you also have to remember that fish have hundreds of babies for a reason, because many will never make it because of predators, growth abnormalities, or congenital defects. The fish we keep in our little universes are still very young, and at this age abnormalities arise that can cause death. My guess is that it wasn't anything you did. Think about how many humans used to die before we had surgery to pull out defective gall bladders or appendixes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiddly October 6, 2006 Share October 6, 2006 I am also sorry for your loss. I'm also sorry there's no clear cause. It's terribly frustrating not to know what to do to try to fix things like this. Good luck in figuring it out. Oh NO! My favorite all time fish! I'm so very sorry :(. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveoutlaw October 6, 2006 Share October 6, 2006 Rob - Sorry to hear. I came in the other night to find my cleaner shrimp being cleaned by the cleaner crew. It definately wasn't Col. Mustard in the kitchen with the monkey wrench. I've had a number of mysteries since I got into this hobby and I think that the fact is......sometimes we'll never know what killed our fishies. Hope you can figure it out. Now, about these pistol shrimp assassins....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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