My Kole Tang died...

[Boret]

I woke up this morning to find my Kole Tang dead.

 

He had been in the tank for 4-5 months, was fat and healthy, eating like a pig, grazing all the time and with not a single mark, spot or blemish. A beautiful specimen that looked fantastic. However, this morning, I found him dead, laying on the bottom of the tank. A couple of shrimp and several hermits were going at it, so when I removed it from the tank I could see that the fins were bitten. But I think that is the after math of him being dead and the scavengers dong their job. What could kill a single fish, that looked perfectly healthy? His stomach area looked whitish but that also could be because it was dead and the hermits were eating him. I have no clue as all the parameters look good in the tank. The eyes were clear with no marks.

 

The only thing is I did a 5% water change yesterday. Same temp and pH, slightly higher salinity (I always do water changes with slightly higher salinity to compensate for salt creep). Nothing is affected, all the fish are doing great, the corals are growing and presenting full polyp extension and great coloration. I do small water changes 5% (10 gals) every 7-9 days.

 

What gives? This is a frustrating hobby!!!

 

Are Kole Tangs known to die suddenly?

[zygote2k]

I had one die mysteriously at the same time a yellow tang died. Both were found dead the next morning. I suspect the mating Chromis killed them.

[extreme_tooth_decay]

What gives? This is a frustrating hobby!!!

 

 

It really is man! Sorry to hear about your loss.

 

Opinions vary, but for me: As satisfying as it would be to know "that happened" so you could try to prevent it, sometimes it's just a random thing. Overthinking it just means you're probably going to end up "fixing" things that aren't broken.

 

Same thing happened to me with an Achilles I had for over a year. Always looked great, fat, swimming around, never a mark on him...one day he just dropped dead.

[capsfan]

That sucks. I have been thinking. We as aquarists understand why fish die most of the time. It is usually from disease or stress or something like that. When a fish dies out of the blue, we ask "What did I do wrong?" When we can't find anything, we are puzzled and confuzed like you. We often forget fish ,like people, only live for a certain time and then they die. Perhaps his death was a natural one.

Edited August 2, 2009 by capsfan

[Boret]

Thanks for the replies guys!

I guess I will have to stop worrying about it, because I have indeed been testing everything and looking at all the equipment trying to figure it out.

I do have chromies but given the huge difference in size I am amazed that they will be able to take down the kole tang. However, weird things happen in a reef tank, and for most we really do not have answers.

 

After visual inspection I really couldn't see any damage that resemble bite marks.

 

This fish was a present from my parents when they were visiting from overseas. We got him at BRK and it was doing great. Funny thing is that because my parents got him they always ask about him when we talk on the phone I will have to tell them the bad news.

 

After not losing any fish in well over a year in the last 2 months I've lost a Copperband to the intake of my CL and the Kole Tang to mysterious circumstances.