Woke up to chunks of clown fish

[BrettE]

Monday we lost a diamond goby, and this morning we found a chunk of one of our clowns stuck to the side of an MP40. What is going on? The goby looked thin, so perhaps unrelated. With a 1/4 of a clownfish stuck to a power head, I have to think something attacked it. Last night, the tank residents were:

• 2 orange storm clown
• 1 purple firefish
• 1 cleaner shrimp
• 5 astrea snails
• 5 turbo snails
• 5 ceriths snails

Is the shrimp killing fish?

 

[hexcolor reef]

Cleaner shrimp won’t and don’t kill fish. How small was the clown fish? Sounds like the wave maker is the reason

 

[JTP424]

Can you post a photo of the tank? I'd be curious as to equipment etc. I'm in the same boat as Hex, I think it might be a wavemaker caught the guy. Maybe a power surge, thing stopped, fish got curious. Curiosity killed the clownfish.

 

[BrettE]

It seems unlikely to me that she was able to get in there, but who knows.

They’re smallish, maybe 1-1/2” overall length from nose to tail.

I’m worried that whatever killed the goby was contagious.

 

[hexcolor reef]

Pretty small clown fish, mp40 has a guard so possibly after it died something came up and ate it. Fish eat other fish. Pick at them after they die

 

[BrettE]

that’s what I was thinking too. A chunk of the clown got blown about and stuck on the MP40.

Is my cleaner shrimp it getting enough food or something? I thought they would scavenge food. Do I need to feed it specifically.

 

[hexcolor reef]

that’s what I was thinking too. A chunk of the clown got blown about and stuck on the MP40.

Is my cleaner shrimp it getting enough food or something? I thought they would scavenge food. Do I need to feed it specifically.

You don’t need to feed it specifically but you should feed the fish more. What ever food the fish don’t eat the shrimp will but you also have snails in the tank that eat left over food so it’s competing with the shrimp.

ceriths snails also eat fish if dead

 

[BrettE]

I have an Avast Plank on there. I run it for 12 seconds 3x per day. It’s got a mic of Avast reef jerky and pellets in there. I thought that seemed like plenty of food for everyone, but maybe I need more. When it was just the clowns I ran it for 8 seconds 3x per day.

 

[JTP424]

Gotcha, tank looks really clean... how new is it? I'm assuming you went through the cycle process and your levels etc are good? I'd be curious of your current parameters as well. I don't think any other livestock in the tank would harm the fish, especially with the tank size.
I'm no expert, just trying to gather as much information as possible.

 

[hexcolor reef]

I have an Avast Plank on there. I run it for 12 seconds 3x per day. It’s got a mic of Avast reef jerky and pellets in there. I thought that seemed like plenty of food for everyone, but maybe I need more. When it was just the clowns I ran it for 8 seconds 3x per day.

do you see any left over food ever on the sand bed

 

[Andreas' Reef]

wow this is tragic. Sorry for your loss

 

[BrokenReefer]

How close is the feeder to the MP40? In one of the pictures it looks like it drops almost on top of it and the other there's some dimension.

Possible the clown went after some food as it was being swept up by the MP40. I lost an Anthias to a similar fate, I had an auto feeder above my MP40 ... I moved it to the opposite corner after that.

 

[ilikefish69]

It seems unlikely to me that she was able to get in there, but who knows.

They’re smallish, maybe 1-1/2” overall length from nose to tail.

I’m worried that whatever killed the goby was contagious.

beautiful tank beautiful set up love the aquascape. I am not sure if it has been mentioned, the plastic decor thats ok in freshwater can breakdown and leech "unwanteds" in the water column and affect the fish. How long has the tank been up ? I know everyone always says it but it looks relatively new set up , but you do not have a large bioload either. since you are down to one fish , if you would like to make sure that whatever is in the tank is gone when you put new fish in, remove the last clown and put it in a QT tank. let the display go fallow for 100 days. during this time keep the lights on for max of 2-3 hours a day and make sure you have heat and flow in the tank. let the bacteria establish itself during this time, remove the plastic decor, and your next attempt will be a bit more successful i would say

 

[BrettE]

The feeder dumps out right above the MP40. It distributes the food nicely.

Wouldn’t the fish have to swim into the front of the MP40 to cut cut up in there?

The clown that we lost enjoyed the plastic decor at the fish shop, so we stuck some in there for her. I suppose we’ll pull it out.

The tank is about 2 months old. A water test on Sunday showed no ammonia, no nitrites, and some nitrate (see attached). I measured less nitrate with my Hanna (11.9), but either way not a lot.

I’m actually down to two fish, a shrimp, and a bunch of snails. Would I leave the inverts in the main tank? Won’t they need more light than that to produce enough food for the snails to eat?

I haven’t seen as much uneaten food on the bottom lately, which was why I bumped the feeding from 8 to 12 seconds. Now that there’s ones less fish eating, I guess there should be more available now. I’ll keep any eye on that.

Brett

 

[BrettE]

wow this is tragic. Sorry for your loss

Thanks. We really liked watching the two clowns hang out together and swim around. We’re pretty bummed.

 

[hexcolor reef]

You need to up the feeding and the decor isn’t what’s hurting the fish.
It’s the amount of food the tank is consuming. No food left on the substrate will let you know those snails are eating a ton. Clown fish mainly eat from the water surface or water column not what hits the sand.
The tank is pretty clean, you know your over feeding when see a lot more food left on the substrate.

Also if you have a sump connected that food is possible getting sucked out the tank quicker than you think

 

[BrettE]

I have a reef mat, so that for sure takes out any left over that make it into the overflow.

 

[ilikefish69]

The feeder dumps out right above the MP40. It distributes the food nicely.

Wouldn’t the fish have to swim into the front of the MP40 to cut cut up in there?

The clown that we lost enjoyed the plastic decor at the fish shop, so we stuck some in there for her. I suppose we’ll pull it out.

The tank is about 2 months old. A water test on Sunday showed no ammonia, no nitrites, and some nitrate (see attached). I measured less nitrate with my Hanna (11.9), but either way not a lot.

I’m actually down to two fish, a shrimp, and a bunch of snails. Would I leave the inverts in the main tank? Won’t they need more light than that to produce enough food for the snails to eat?

I haven’t seen as much uneaten food on the bottom lately, which was why I bumped the feeding from 8 to 12 seconds. Now that there’s ones less fish eating, I guess there should be more available now. I’ll keep any eye on that.

Brett

numbers look to be right in line for 2 month old tank. is the flake/pellet from the auto feeder the only food you put in? could mix it up with some mysis/brine frozen for some more protein.

it is hard to lose a fish, i have lost four in the 2.5 years i have been keeping this reef tank and with each one the guilt and sadness is always the same. sometimes you will never know what happened. stinks , but you are doing the right things , keep it up and with each month that passes that tank will be able to support its ecosystem better & better.

 

[Dburr1014]

Where did you get your rock from?
Is it possible you have a hitchhiker? Like a crab?

 

[nuxx]

Was the fish possibly sick and died, then just ended up in the powerhead?