First fish died and I don’t know why

DrEggroll

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My tank has been cycled and running since mid December. Started with two clowns. Since added a black capped basslet a long nose hawk fish and two weeks ago a yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp. The tank is a 120gal. I have been changing 10 gallons every 3 weeks. I have been over feeding and just last week got my nitrates detectable. I am running my protein skimmer and have a chaeto refugium
Phos 0
Calcium 365-380
Alk 7.7-8.4.
Ph 8.2-8.4
Mag has trended down last two weeks to 1200 had been 1245-1260
Temp 77.6-78.6
Specific gravity 1.025
I feed frozen mysis 2-3 times a day and once a day BRS pellets.

my yellow watchman was eating my caribsea sand and would come out for pellets and mysis. I haven’t seen the watchman since Friday. He left his cave the day before he went missing. I haven’t seen my pistol shrimp bulldozing but looking under my tank I see him under his life rock cave. I am not sure if he’s moved where I can’t see or if he’s dead.

today I noticed my male clown dead. I’m assuming male as it was the submissive one. Had been eating fine, all fish quarantined and see now injuries or ich or lesions on the fish. I don’t have a clue what happened. What do I do to get another clown? Do I get a smaller one to keep it a male and keep from fighting. All fish got a long and there was no aggression
 
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DrEggroll

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My tank had great flow with one power head and two returns. On coral fell down and I moved some rocks to get in and it messed up my flow somewhat. I am adding a gyre tomorrow. Don’t know if that has played a roll
 

Azedenkae

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My tank has been cycled and running since mid December. Started with two clowns. Since added a black capped basslet a long nose hawk fish and two weeks ago a yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp. The tank is a 120gal. I have been changing 10 gallons every 3 weeks. I have been over feeding and just last week got my nitrates detectable. I am running my protein skimmer and have a chaeto refugium
Phos 0
Calcium 365-380
Alk 7.7-8.4.
Ph 8.2-8.4
Mag has trended down last two weeks to 1200 had been 1245-1260
Temp 77.6-78.6
Specific gravity 1.025
I feed frozen mysis 2-3 times a day and once a day BRS pellets.

my yellow watchman was eating my caribsea sand and would come out for pellets and mysis. I haven’t seen the watchman since Friday. He left his cave the day before he went missing. I haven’t seen my pistol shrimp bulldozing but looking under my tank I see him under his life rock cave. I am not sure if he’s moved where I can’t see or if he’s dead.

today I noticed my male clown dead. I’m assuming male as it was the submissive one. Had been eating fine, all fish quarantined and see now injuries or ich or lesions on the fish. I don’t have a clue what happened. What do I do to get another clown? Do I get a smaller one to keep it a male and keep from fighting. All fish got a long and there was no aggression
Are you sure there was no aggression at all between the female and the male?
 

vetteguy53081

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Any pics of the fish before it died ? Any symptoms such as shredded fins/tail, hazy milky appearance to face or skin area?
How was its' breathing ?
 

BostonReefer300

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I'm sorry about your losses. If it was just the clownfish, I'd assume the female decided to kill it. It's not frequent, but not totally unusual for a female to kill a mated male---and when it happens it's usually within the first year or so I've read. However, also losing the goby at the same time is concerning. Even if the female clown was a terrible bully to it, that goby can hide but still get food and the clown usually can't get to it. Are you sure the goby and shrimp didn't just relocate (or did you say you saw the shrimp---I was confused by that part of your post)? I suppose the goby could've jumped if you don't have a lid. The parameters you showed look fine for fish. Have you checked for ammonia recently?
 

CanuckReefer

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Are you sure there was no aggression at all between the female and the male?
This ^^^
My tank has been cycled and running since mid December. Started with two clowns. Since added a black capped basslet a long nose hawk fish and two weeks ago a yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp. The tank is a 120gal. I have been changing 10 gallons every 3 weeks. I have been over feeding and just last week got my nitrates detectable. I am running my protein skimmer and have a chaeto refugium
Phos 0
Calcium 365-380
Alk 7.7-8.4.
Ph 8.2-8.4
Mag has trended down last two weeks to 1200 had been 1245-1260
Temp 77.6-78.6
Specific gravity 1.025
I feed frozen mysis 2-3 times a day and once a day BRS pellets.

my yellow watchman was eating my caribsea sand and would come out for pellets and mysis. I haven’t seen the watchman since Friday. He left his cave the day before he went missing. I haven’t seen my pistol shrimp bulldozing but looking under my tank I see him under his life rock cave. I am not sure if he’s moved where I can’t see or if he’s dead.

today I noticed my male clown dead. I’m assuming male as it was the submissive one. Had been eating fine, all fish quarantined and see now injuries or ich or lesions on the fish. I don’t have a clue what happened. What do I do to get another clown? Do I get a smaller one to keep it a male and keep from fighting. All fish got a long and there was no aggression
As per your question on getting another clown? Don't for a while. Can you live with just one? I suggest for now you do.
Is your sole feeding platform btw just Mysis and BRS pellets? Diversify or you are asking for trouble....
 
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DrEggroll

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I'm sorry about your losses. If it was just the clownfish, I'd assume the female decided to kill it. It's not frequent, but not totally unusual for a female to kill a mated male---and when it happens it's usually within the first year or so I've read. However, also losing the goby at the same time is concerning. Even if the female clown was a terrible bully to it, that goby can hide but still get food and the clown usually can't get to it. Are you sure the goby and shrimp didn't just relocate (or did you say you saw the shrimp---I was confused by that part of your post)? I suppose the goby could've jumped if you don't have a lid. The parameters you showed look fine for fish. Have you checked for ammonia recently?
Checked my ammonia today. Was zero. I have a glass lid. There is a 3mm by 1 inch crack where the plastic baffle hangs on. My pistol shrimp is in the same location just haven’t seen his bulldozing at the surface. Can see his looking in the bottom of the tank. Haven’t seen his looking for food, didn’t know if the goby died and is in the burrow. They bonded and found each other the first day in the tank.
 
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DrEggroll

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This ^^^

As per your question on getting another clown? Don't for a while. Can you live with just one? I suggest for now you do.
Is your sole feeding platform btw just Mysis and BRS pellets? Diversify or you are asking for trouble....
This ^^^

As per your question on getting another clown? Don't for a while. Can you live with just one? I suggest for now you do.
Is your sole feeding platform btw just Mysis and BRS pellets? Diversify or you are asking for trouble....
I have another frozen cube mix I use a few times a week. Just got a plant based pellet from BRS.
There was never any aggression that my wife or I knew. They were bonded when I got them. Have been great for almost 5 months.
 

BostonReefer300

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OK, well it sounds like it's time to lift up that rock to see if you have a dead goby rotting in there. Pretty doubtful he jumped out through that small hole. I suppose he could have gotten sucked into powerhead and shredded (depending on the type of powerhead you have). I assume you're plumbing is guarded so he couldn't get sucked into tubing etc. Hopefully he just relocated and you haven't seen him yet
 

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I have another frozen cube mix I use a few times a week. Just got a plant based pellet from BRS.
There was never any aggression that my wife or I knew. They were bonded when I got them. Have been great for almost 5 months.
Ok good on the other frozen mix. I would feed it more than pellets imo. I feed both, but the pellets are somewhat of a treat. The real nutrition will come from frozen or live. ...as for the pair that's a tough divorce, and it has happened times 1000.....sorry for the loss.
 
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DrEggroll

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Any pics of the fish before it died ? Any symptoms such as shredded fins/tail, hazy milky appearance to face or skin area?
How was its' breathing ?
I can get a photo. Looked perfect. No shredded areas. This one had an injury to its jaw 3 months ago that healed. Was breathing normal. My video was from a few weeks ago. I can take a photo of the fish. Everything looked great on the fish when I inspected it after it died
 

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DrEggroll

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OK, well it sounds like it's time to lift up that rock to see if you have a dead goby rotting in there. Pretty doubtful he jumped out through that small hole. I suppose he could have gotten sucked into powerhead and shredded (depending on the type of powerhead you have). I assume you're plumbing is guarded so he couldn't get sucked into tubing etc. Hopefully he just relocated and you haven't seen him yet
Overflows and power head are protected. I will lift the cave and two arch’s sitting on top of it tomorrow. Good idea
 
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DrEggroll

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Ok good on the other frozen mix. I would feed it more than pellets imo. I feed both, but the pellets are somewhat of a treat. The real nutrition will come from frozen or live. ...as for the pair that's a tough divorce, and it has happened times 1000.....sorry for the loss.
Pellets a little in the AM along with frozen mysis. Usually two more mysis feedings. Everyone loves mysis. My long nosed hawk doesn’t like the other seafood mix so that’s why I haven’t been feeding it as much
 

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Dude the amount of money I spend on fish , that do well for months then randomly disappear , you would want to slap me!, unfortunately they’re fish , they’re weird, they hide things like internal parasites , or weird diseases and just die sometimes , hey that’s the fun part of the hobby tho .... I guesss??.....
 
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DrEggroll

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I don’t know the etiquette on posting dead animals photos. I just grabbed two photos of them from the garbage. No fin damage. One photo has paper stuck to them and it wasn’t there when he died. Also what’s your process when they die? My wife didn’t want to flush. I could have buried but put in the trash this time.
 

vetteguy53081

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In that video, there was what looked like a worm in the front of tank. Can you take a pic of that worm ?
 
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DrEggroll

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In that video, there was what looked like a worm in the front of tank. Can you take a pic of that worm ?
The video is trash. Didn’t look at the fish. Was it on the fish or on the sand? On the glass? I don’t think I’ve seen a worm
 

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