Banggai cardinal died??

[NefariousAquarius]

Tying to figure out what's going on with my Banggai Cardinal (LFS "30day quarantined"). He was eating great for the 1st 5 days (frozen mysis shrimp), then 3 days ago he quit eating and hid a lot. This morning he was lying on the sand bed and passed this afternoon.

I have a 20 gal Nuvo AIO which took 47 days to fishless "cycle" (ammonia and nitrite zeroed in 24hrs.) I have a skimmer and hob refugium in the mail, otherwise I have the filter sock and a media basket with floss, carbon and rock. I did a 30% water change last night.

I test nightly but here are my test results this morning .

2-3-2023
Parameters - (red sea test kit)
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - greater than 20ppm, less than 50ppm
Phosphate - .07 (Hannah checker)
ALK - 7.5 DKH
Salinity - 34ppt
Temp - 78.1 F

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Did you see any rapid or deep breathing in the fish prior to death?

What other animals are in the tank?

Jay

 

[NefariousAquarius]

Did you see any rapid or deep breathing in the fish prior to death?
What other animals are in the tank?
Jay

He was shy, but no labored breathing till this morning a few hours before he died. No other animals in the tank, it was my 1st creature in the tank. Here was was on the 1st night (last wed) and Monday while he was feeding.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Although it looks small, and thus may not be wild caught, if it was wild caught, this excerpt is something I wrote up about a huge issue with this species:

Banggai Cardinalfish Iridovirus (BCIR)
This fish was originally discovered in 1933 but then lost to science for about 60 years, when the Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni) was “rediscovered” and began entering the tropical fish trade. Aquarists noted how hardy the species was and that they were very easy to reproduce in captivity. A decade later, the price for wild-caught Banggai cardinalfish had decreased fivefold, but the animals were now considered very delicate, with high losses seen in newly acquired wild fish.

What was the cause of this sudden change in the apparent health of this species in captivity? Poor handling, collection with cyanide (unlikely), and bacterial disease were all suggested as possible reasons for this change. A researcher then published a study showing that the presence of an iridovirus was associated with episodes of mass mortality in newly imported cardinalfish (Weber et al. 2009). A similar virus has since been isolated from the common batfish, Platax orbicularis (Sriwanayos et al. 2013), but a corresponding high mortality in aquarium fish of that species has not been noted, perhaps because many fewer batfish are imported for the pet trade than the ever-popular Banggai cardinalfish.

Since there is no cure for this viral disease, captive-raised fish that were never exposed to wild stock, or fish that have subsequently developed immunity by surviving an infection would be the best choices for aquarists. Avoid inexpensive wild-caught Banggai Cardinalfish. Not only do they have a poor survival record, but they’re also being collected at such a high rate that wild populations are locally threatened with extinction.

Jay