I have a 3.5 year old 240 gallon tank (450 gallon system), with about 40 fish in it, and an established reef. I have two Plank autofeeders that feed calanus and Reef Jerky several times a day, and I also feed a fair amount of mysis, twice daily. The feeders need periodic cleaning - old food can collect in them that doesn't get dispensed. 3 days ago, I cleaned the feeders and in the process quite a bit of old food found its way into the tank. The fish ate some of it and ignored some. Today I did my fish census that I do a couple times a year and realized that several fish are missing. Some of them I've had for several years, and I know I've seen them recently. I can't say for sure they died since the Plank cleaning, but I think they did. The biggest loss is my prized 5 inch Copperband, that I've had for 3 years.
Could they have died from eating the spoiled food? I thought that if it was bad, they wouldn't eat it. I can't think of any other changes recently that would have caused a mini die-off - no recent additions of coral or fish. All my coral is doing fine. Parameters seem fine.
Could they have died from eating the spoiled food? I thought that if it was bad, they wouldn't eat it. I can't think of any other changes recently that would have caused a mini die-off - no recent additions of coral or fish. All my coral is doing fine. Parameters seem fine.
