Hello everyone, i'm hoping someone more experienced can help me find some peace. This morning I woke up and found my helfrichi firefish dead and i am just confused. Was it an injury or was it old age or just something else? I took care of this fish like its my baby. it is so timid i basically spoon feed him all the time.
i've had this firefish for over 1 year. They are all in 100 gal tank and the tankmates that been with him for over 1 year are : (1 clownfish, 2 blue/green chromis, 1 midas blenny, 1 small blue hippo tang.) The newest addition is the 1 melanurus wrasse added back in January. Everyone in the tank are peaceful but he still hides under his favorite rock daily but will come out to eat when i feed.
So monday morning when i woke up, i noticed his hiding spot was covered in sand and he must have went elsewhere to hide. So i moved the rockwork and clear out all the sand for him to come back to. few hours later when lights came on i see him swimming about but looking weak and hippo tang and wrasse was swimming next to him (no aggression) just seeing the helfrichi first time more than 5 seconds... and he did not dart back under his rock as he usually do when he sees bigger fish. (this was my red flag #1). He later found his old hiding spot that i cleared out sand for him to hide again and he just pokes his head out when he sees me so i figured things back to normal. Come feeding time, i used feeding tube i felt he took few bites of frozen mysis but he didnt eat like he normally eats.
Tuesday, same thing i tried using feeding tube, since he's under rock i feel like he ate few pieces of mysis but can't see for sure but still not normal behavior.
Wednesday, still under rock, using feeding tube i shine flashlight while feeding and i can see food just go right past him and he is not eating. By wednesday evening his body language looks really bad, has the head out of the rock and kind of at 45 degree angle looking listless. So i put my feeding tube in front of him and then he still alert and back his way deeper into rockwork so i guess he was still alert. but before bedtime i checked on him again and he stuck his head out of rock exposing front part of his body again (which is not normal )
These are all the facts from the past 3 days, i'm really confused what caused his death? I know my helfrichi is tough so i really dont think the sand somehow stressed him so much to cause death? about 8 months ago, my helfrichi jumped out while i was doing water change, i saw it while it happend so i put him back in water immediately. He was stressed for a day or so but started eating like a pig the 2nd day so everything was fine.
if anyone can share your experience or have any insight would be much appreciated.
thank you.
i've had this firefish for over 1 year. They are all in 100 gal tank and the tankmates that been with him for over 1 year are : (1 clownfish, 2 blue/green chromis, 1 midas blenny, 1 small blue hippo tang.) The newest addition is the 1 melanurus wrasse added back in January. Everyone in the tank are peaceful but he still hides under his favorite rock daily but will come out to eat when i feed.
So monday morning when i woke up, i noticed his hiding spot was covered in sand and he must have went elsewhere to hide. So i moved the rockwork and clear out all the sand for him to come back to. few hours later when lights came on i see him swimming about but looking weak and hippo tang and wrasse was swimming next to him (no aggression) just seeing the helfrichi first time more than 5 seconds... and he did not dart back under his rock as he usually do when he sees bigger fish. (this was my red flag #1). He later found his old hiding spot that i cleared out sand for him to hide again and he just pokes his head out when he sees me so i figured things back to normal. Come feeding time, i used feeding tube i felt he took few bites of frozen mysis but he didnt eat like he normally eats.
Tuesday, same thing i tried using feeding tube, since he's under rock i feel like he ate few pieces of mysis but can't see for sure but still not normal behavior.
Wednesday, still under rock, using feeding tube i shine flashlight while feeding and i can see food just go right past him and he is not eating. By wednesday evening his body language looks really bad, has the head out of the rock and kind of at 45 degree angle looking listless. So i put my feeding tube in front of him and then he still alert and back his way deeper into rockwork so i guess he was still alert. but before bedtime i checked on him again and he stuck his head out of rock exposing front part of his body again (which is not normal )
These are all the facts from the past 3 days, i'm really confused what caused his death? I know my helfrichi is tough so i really dont think the sand somehow stressed him so much to cause death? about 8 months ago, my helfrichi jumped out while i was doing water change, i saw it while it happend so i put him back in water immediately. He was stressed for a day or so but started eating like a pig the 2nd day so everything was fine.
if anyone can share your experience or have any insight would be much appreciated.
thank you.
