Fish Deaths, is my Skunk Cleaner Shrimp suspect?

[Validator]

Hi All,

I started out stocking my tank 2 weeks ago. I impulse bought a baby blue tang which passed on after 8 days in the tank. It was hiding in the rock work and at the start would come out during feedings, but started to hide more and more. I placed it in a separate area where it spent it's last day on its side. The LFS commented that he looked pretty beat up but I suspected that it was hiding in the rocks and got scrapped by the rocks.

This morning, a mimic tang that I got with the stocking was lying on it's side quite dead and expired soon after. The mimic tang had been having some brushes with the skunk cleaner shrimp in the tank and got some scratches near his eyes. Yesterday, I noticed that the tang was hiding the whole day.

My tank ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are low so I don't think it is a water issue. Looking back I noted that the shrimp was getting more bold. It previously hid in the over hangs of the rock work but the past two days would walk around the rock work. Both the baby blue and the mimic tangs were spending alot of time in the rock work where the shrimp would be. Could it be that the Skunk attacked and killed my fish?

 

[MNFish]

Anything is possible, but I would say no your skunk cleaner did not attack and kill your fish.

 

[Validator]

Thanks for replying. But could it be possible that the shrimp got territorial and hurt other fishes while trying to drive them off his turf? I mean I did see the mimic get into a scuffle with the shrimp a few times.

 

[ReefHomieJon]

100% your shrimp is not to blame man. It was either water quality or water quality. Or LFS water quality. But it isn’t the guy who removes parasites

 

[Pebbleofdoom]

Both of these tangs are acanthurus and Paracanthurus, which are notorious for being disease magnets due to their thin slime coats. If you didn’t quarantine them and instead just plopped them into the tank odds are they succumbed to velvet, ich or flukes

 

[Validator]

Thanks. I will observe the situation. I did catch the shrimp taking a swipe at one of my fish earlier when it encroached on it's territory so was concerned.

 

[Wick3d_1]

Cleaners are exactly that, cleaners. That "swipe" you saw was it telling the fish to come here, I wanna clean you. They will reach out and latch on to help get the gross stuff off. If your tangs were going to it, then they had issues and your shrimp was trying to help.