Coral Beauty died

mpatterson42 · 2026-10-14T22:03:20-0400

Unfortunately my Coral Beauty died. It's been in my tank since August 2025 (40G tank 20G sump). I purchased it from Biota, captive bred. The fish has been no problem, it always eats and doesn't bother anyone. The only thing I've seen is my royal gramma will chase it out of the grammas cave if he goes in. Yesterday I feed reef roids to my tank, I saw it while feeding the coral. Today I saw one of my nassarius snails on top of the sand bed which is unusual, then I saw a second and a third. I looked around and saw him in the sand next to my bubble coral. I scooped him out and he was already completely dead. No other issues with other fish; two clownfish, royal gramma, starry blenny, marine betta (small only like 1") and mandarin dragonet. No idea what could've happened.

Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Alk 7.5, Nitrate 2.5, Phosphate 0.1, Salinity 1.024, Temp 79F.

TheSaltyCPA · 2026-10-14T22:25:21-0400

#reefsquad

vetteguy53081 · 2026-10-14T22:45:11-0400

mpatterson42 said:
Unfortunately my Coral Beauty died. It's been in my tank since August 2025 (40G tank 20G sump). I purchased it from Biota, captive bred. The fish has been no problem, it always eats and doesn't bother anyone. The only thing I've seen is my royal gramma will chase it out of the grammas cave if he goes in. Yesterday I feed reef roids to my tank, I saw it while feeding the coral. Today I saw one of my nassarius snails on top of the sand bed which is unusual, then I saw a second and a third. I looked around and saw him in the sand next to my bubble coral. I scooped him out and he was already completely dead. No other issues with other fish; two clownfish, royal gramma, starry blenny, marine betta (small only like 1") and mandarin dragonet. No idea what could've happened.

Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Alk 7.5, Nitrate 2.5, Phosphate 0.1, Salinity 1.024, Temp 79F.

Hard to tell once fish has perished but tail/fins look tethered and may be pre or post death. While royal gramma have attitudes, clowns are mean and territorial and sneaky and would be suspects in this case

revhtree · 2026-10-14T22:46:12-0400

I’m so sorry.

DmitryB · 2026-10-14T23:02:22-0400

I had a Biota Coral Beauty that was doing well when it was alone in the tank. Then I added a Royal Gramma. CB began to act weird, rotating on the surface, almost surfing. I was able to catch it with my bare hands. I moved it into a quarantine and it did not recover. I had to put it to sleep. The consensus seemed to be some kind of neurological problem, potentially from crashing into glass or rock from being startled or chased. Coincidentally, at the same time the Royal Gramma disappeared in that same tank. I did not see it for a few days, thought it died. Eventually it reemerged. My guess is it went after the CB, causing its injury. I now look at the RG very differently.

Jay Hemdal · 2026-10-15T08:17:38-0400

mpatterson42 said:
Unfortunately my Coral Beauty died. It's been in my tank since August 2025 (40G tank 20G sump). I purchased it from Biota, captive bred. The fish has been no problem, it always eats and doesn't bother anyone. The only thing I've seen is my royal gramma will chase it out of the grammas cave if he goes in. Yesterday I feed reef roids to my tank, I saw it while feeding the coral. Today I saw one of my nassarius snails on top of the sand bed which is unusual, then I saw a second and a third. I looked around and saw him in the sand next to my bubble coral. I scooped him out and he was already completely dead. No other issues with other fish; two clownfish, royal gramma, starry blenny, marine betta (small only like 1") and mandarin dragonet. No idea what could've happened.

Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Alk 7.5, Nitrate 2.5, Phosphate 0.1, Salinity 1.024, Temp 79F.

Sorry to hear.

Nothing really stands out here as a possible cause of death. The eyes look sunken and the fins are tattered, but that could be post mortem and snail damage.