I hate when fish die for no apparent reason

[joec]

I've had fish die in the past from disease but I just had a tail spot blenny die all of a sudden for no apparent reason. I quarantine with copper. Established tank is healthy. I've had the TSB for 18 months, he was fat, active and eating yesterday morning. I noticed he was a little lethargic late yesterday and this morning, dead.

How often does this happen? Obviously it could have died of old age, it was almost full grown when I got him.

 

[Zionas]

Any stress? White poop?

Yeah might just be old age. They aren’t very long lived I think.

 

[joec]

Any stress? White poop?

Yeah might just be old age. They aren’t very long lived I think.

no disease, he's been healthy for 18 months

 

[Jay Hemdal]

When I have this happen, I always redouble my observations of the remaining fish, just in case I missed some subtle symptom with the fish that died.

I've tracked fish mortality rates for many years. Overall, the yearly mortality rate for healthy, post-quarantined fish runs a pretty consistent 8 to 12% annually for most public aquariums. You might see slightly higher rates in a home aquarium.

Jay

 

[joec]

That's the plan. I wont introduce any more fish to see if other fish are fine for a period

I had some issues with prazi resistant flukes in the DT two years ago, but treated all the fish (lost one) at the time with fendbendazole baths which seemed to work great. I left the DT fallow. Since then I use fendbendazole baths as part of regular QT. All the current fish have been treated this way.

I keep wondering If I never fully resolved that fluke problem? I had a Royal Gramma die strangely about 8 months ago but it had stopped eating and hid for days (never any flashing) before I finally had to euthanize it. I saw no symptoms stress, disease, of flukes, no flashing, loss of appetite, nothing on this TSB. He ate like a pig 24 hours before death

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Could be an unresolved fluke problem. Fluke infestations can become chronic, and only cause fish death when the fish is weakened some how.

By the way - there are not "prazi resistant flukes" - what actually happens has a similar effect, but has to do with bacteria. The flukes are just as sensitive to prazi, but a population of bacteria grows in your tank after every prazi treatment. The next time you dose, the bacteria is there, ready to consume the prazi as a food source. Eventually, the bacteria get so good at it that the prazi is removed within hours. The other big issue is that Neobenedenia flukes lay eggs that can take 30 days to hatch, and prazi does not kill the eggs. I use hyposalinity to treat for those.

jay

 

[ReefRusty]

So even with running a QT there is still no guarantee or even really confirming if it had reduced or eliminate a disease maybe even just slowed it down? , I personally am a believer it will lower a fish's immune to be more susceptible to catching something else. But hey im still new to this game and also learning.

Sorry for your loss I really do hope its a once off for you.