Freak accident or something else?

[arking_mark]

Another one bites the dust...and my last for a while...

In monitoring my last OSF, I suspected white stringy poop (very hard to tell - wasn't quite white or that stringy) but decided to dose PraziPro as a precaution. 5 days after dose...it too died. Had this one for almost 5 months...eating, fat, healthy, and behaving totally normal the night before.

I'm betting that there is something toxic to these fish in my tank. Could be a coral or something else. As all the other fish are fat, healthy, and behaving normally, I'm not going to take further actions and wait 6 months to a year before attempting to keep these fish again. ;(

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Another one bites the dust...and my last for a while...

In monitoring my last OSF, I suspected white stringy poop (very hard to tell - wasn't quite white or that stringy) but decided to dose PraziPro as a precaution. 5 days after dose...it too died. Had this one for almost 5 months...eating, fat, healthy, and behaving totally normal the night before.

I'm betting that there is something toxic to these fish in my tank. Could be a coral or something else. As all the other fish are fat, healthy, and behaving normally, I'm not going to take further actions and wait 6 months to a year before attempting to keep these fish again. ;(

I know that Matt Pedersen has done a lot with this species over the years. I thought he had written an article about them, but I couldn't find it online (it may have just been in Coral magazine). I did find this MBI post from him:

The Breeders Registry › Oxymonacanthus longirostris OXYLON-101409-PEDMAT-001

breedersregistry.org

Jay

 

[arking_mark]

I know that Matt Pedersen has done a lot with this species over the years. I thought he had written an article about them, but I couldn't find it online (it may have just been in Coral magazine). I did find this MBI post from him:

The Breeders Registry › Oxymonacanthus longirostris OXYLON-101409-PEDMAT-001

breedersregistry.org

Jay

Thanks @Jay Hemdal

I read and printed his article many years ago when I started keeping theses fish.

I did a lot of research and have my own protocol for quarantine and weaning. I have successfully kept these fish in my previous tank.

Now, I have never been MORE successful in getting these guys eating, fat, and healthy.

However, these deaths are a complete mystery to me...I'm leaning to something toxic to them.

I think my best course of action is to wait several months and then try again in another tank.

 

[Rtaylor]

Hi, just saw this…so sorry for your additional losses. I also mysteriously lost 1 of my 6 osff a couple of months ago, shortly after achieving 1 year of survival in my tank. It just disappeared after without any visible signs of illness or distress. I presume my cuc took care of it after death.
I now have two that I’ve had for 15 months, 1 for 9 months, and 2 for 6 months.
I’m not aware of any specific osff diseases and I would think you would notice some symptoms prior to death if that were the case.

I keep the following livestock with them:
Euphyllia
Gorgonians
Rfa’s (about 12)
Magnifica
Bta’s (about 5-6)
Zoas & paly’s
Leathers (3 types)
Favia
mushrooms (5ish types)
Montipora digitata
Monti cap
Purple pavona
Sun coral
A few other frags
Clowns
Flame angel
Multibar angel
Cb butterfly
Damsel
Royal gramma
Sleeper goby
Fire fish
Dartfish
Pajama cardinal
Barnacle blennies
Mandarin dragonets
Leopard wrasses
Yellow coris wrasse
Chromis
Nassarius snails
Turbo snails
Astrea snails
Money cowries
Hermit crabs
Emerald crabs
Tiger sand conchs
Sand sifting starfish
Abalone

I feed a very wide variety.
Just about every type of frozen food available.
Masstick
Panta Rhei pellets
Chromaboost pellets
PE Mysis pellets
Formula 1 &2 pellets
Probiotic pellets

dosing- sodium bicarbonate, calcium powder, trace elements, iodide,phytoplankton.

One thing to consider is we don’t know the lifespan of these fish. If someone else had them 2 years, it is possible that they were natural age related deaths.
Do you have anything I don’t to help narrow down potential toxins?

 

[arking_mark]

Hi, just saw this…so sorry for your additional losses. I also mysteriously lost 1 of my 6 osff a couple of months ago, shortly after achieving 1 year of survival in my tank. It just disappeared after without any visible signs of illness or distress. I presume my cuc took care of it after death.
I now have two that I’ve had for 15 months, 1 for 9 months, and 2 for 6 months.
I’m not aware of any specific osff diseases and I would think you would notice some symptoms prior to death if that were the case.

I keep the following livestock with them:
Euphyllia
Gorgonians
Rfa’s (about 12)
Magnifica
Bta’s (about 5-6)
Zoas & paly’s
Leathers (3 types)
Favia
mushrooms (5ish types)
Montipora digitata
Monti cap
Purple pavona
Sun coral
A few other frags
Clowns
Flame angel
Multibar angel
Cb butterfly
Damsel
Royal gramma
Sleeper goby
Fire fish
Dartfish
Pajama cardinal
Barnacle blennies
Mandarin dragonets
Leopard wrasses
Yellow coris wrasse
Chromis
Nassarius snails
Turbo snails
Astrea snails
Money cowries
Hermit crabs
Emerald crabs
Tiger sand conchs
Sand sifting starfish
Abalone

I feed a very wide variety.
Just about every type of frozen food available.
Masstick
Panta Rhei pellets
Chromaboost pellets
PE Mysis pellets
Formula 1 &2 pellets
Probiotic pellets

dosing- sodium bicarbonate, calcium powder, trace elements, iodide,phytoplankton.

One thing to consider is we don’t know the lifespan of these fish. If someone else had them 2 years, it is possible that they were natural age related deaths.
Do you have anything I don’t to help narrow down potential toxins?

In addition to softies and LPS, I was keeping several SPS. The OSFs were definitely picking at most of my LPS and SPS....so maybe something from them.

 

[Pistondog]

I'm already looking into replacing the Octopulse...it's less than 6 months old, but who knows.

Put a nylon sock over it, cut to size as a filter. Flow will be a little reduced.

 

[Rtaylor]

In addition to softies and LPS, I was keeping several SPS. The OSFs were definitely picking at most of my LPS and SPS....so maybe something from them.

How often & how much were you feeding them? I feed my five 2 cubes of Masstick daily plus for all fish:

autofed pellets 3X (3 spins of the feeder so fairly heavy amount)
Frozen mix (heavy feeding) 1-2X daily
At least 1 additional pellet feeding daily of Panta Rhei pellets specifically (about 1 tbsp)

I’ve found they seem to flourish with a ton of food available very frequently.