Dragonet :(

[haigyfish]

So unfortunately I just discovered my Ruby dragonet has died. He has been in the tank for 10 days. He was fine all day today and every time I would look at him it looks as if his mouth was gasping or like he was trying to eat but the tank does have many bbs swimming around. He was fine all day and slowly made his way around the tank in a circle. I had guest over tonught and he was alive all night, just 10 mins ago I checked he’s on his back. I am going to get him out asap but what can I assume? Baby seahorses are okay and parents as well.


Now confirmed dead snail crawling over

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The rapid breathing can be a sign of water quality issues or gill disease. Are the seahorses feeding well?

Jay

 

[haigyfish]

The rapid breathing can be a sign of water quality issues or gill disease. Are the seahorses feeding well?

Jay

The seahorse babies have been alive for 6 days now. The babies are hard to tell if they are eating but the adults are definitely still hunting the bbs

 

[haigyfish]

The rapid breathing can be a sign of water quality issues or gill disease. Are the seahorses feeding well?

Jay

I had people over last night he was fine all day and within 20 mins of me being gone it was dead. I feel like someone could have spooked JT since I was not near the tank and people can’t listen and tend to poke the tank…… currently all 5/5 seahorse babies are eating and alive, 6.5 days old. I have one nassaeius snail and one lettuce slug. As soon as the fish died the snail was all
Over the fish I only let the body stay for about 1 hour in the tank before I removed it.

 

[haigyfish]

I had people over last night he was fine all day and within 20 mins of me being gone it was dead. I feel like someone could have spooked JT since I was not near the tank and people can’t listen and tend to poke the tank…… currently all 5/5 seahorse babies are eating and alive, 6.5 days old. I have one nassaeius snail and one lettuce slug. As soon as the fish died the snail was all
Over the fish I only let the body stay for about 1 hour in the tank before I removed it.

How long would you wait to add another fish to this tank? Or keep it seahorse only?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

How long would you wait to add another fish to this tank? Or keep it seahorse only?

Since we don’t know why the dragonet died, we don’t know how long to wait - but waiting really requires that the tank be empty of all fish, including seahorses. That is called “going fallow”.
Since you have fish in the tank, I would just wait 45 days to ensure the seahorses don’t develop a similar problem.
Jay

 

[haigyfish]

Since we don’t know why the dragonet died, we don’t know how long to wait - but waiting really requires that the tank be empty of all fish, including seahorses. That is called “going fallow”.
Since you have fish in the tank, I would just wait 45 days to ensure the seahorses don’t develop a similar problem.
Jay

Thank you all 5/5 are still alive found one in the filter sponge thankfully I caught it before I slept. I have been over feeding live bbs maybe not enough for dragonet. But definitely visible bbs when the dragonet died.