Is this fish sick or did it just get beat to death?

[blecki]

So simple question. Based on the amount of fin damage I believe the fish was beat up. I received this coral beauty fully quarantined by Dr Reef on Thursday so I am disinclined to suspect disease. Prior to this, there was no sign of disease on other fish already in the tank for the past four months and I know of nothing that would do so much fin damage to a fish in that short of a timeframe that could also be dormant in the tank without killing the existing fish. I know it's a shy species so I didn't think much of it hiding; but I did see it briefly this morning and it seemed to be swimming fine then. The fish is upright in the pictures but since has declined further and is laying on it's side, I am assuming it will die soon. I lost a cleaner wrasse from the same order so I am wondering if I have a potential fish killer. The cleaner wrasse also looked like it might have had an injury right at the anal area.

It's a 230 gallon tank with tons of rock and plenty of hiding places.

Possible culprits from established fish:
2x Engineer gobies (seems unlikely?)
3x Chromis (Possible, I found the fish near their 'spot')
1x yellow tail damsel (Possible, but his territory is on the opposite side of the tank from the spot the angel picked)
2x clownfish (I'd say possible if they weren't still less than an inch long and scared of their own shadows)
Emerald crab?

Possible culprits from the DrReef order:
Lemon peel angel (Primary suspect! But - doesn't seem to have shown any interest in any other fish. Maybe the coral beauty FAFOed? He's also much larger than the coral beauty.)
Sailfin Tang (Know these guys can be jerks but he seems to prefer the other end of the tank and also wouldn't fit into the rock where I found the coral beauty)
2x Stoplight Cardinals (No idea but seems unlikely?)
Sixline Wrasse (It's tiny, seems unlikely)



So did I **** up with this lemon peel and make it so I can't keep any other angels?

 

[vetteguy53081]

So simple question. Based on the amount of fin damage I believe the fish was beat up. I received this coral beauty fully quarantined by Dr Reef on Thursday so I am disinclined to suspect disease. Prior to this, there was no sign of disease on other fish already in the tank for the past four months and I know of nothing that would do so much fin damage to a fish in that short of a timeframe. I know it's a shy species so I didn't think much of it hiding; but I did see it briefly this morning and it seemed to be swimming fine then. The fish is upright in the pictures but since has declined further and is laying on it's side, I am assuming it will die soon. I lost a cleaner wrasse from the same order so I am wondering if I have a potential fish killer. The cleaner wrasse also looked like it might have had an injury right at the anal area.

It's a 230 gallon tank with tons of rock and plenty of hiding places.

Possible culprits from established fish:
2x Engineer gobies (seems unlikely?)
3x Chromis (Possible, I found the fish near their 'spot')
1x yellow tail damsel (Possible, but his territory is on the opposite side of the tank from the spot the angel picked)
2x clownfish (I'd say possible if they weren't still less than an inch long and scared of their own shadows)
Emerald crab?

Possible culprits from the DrReef order:
Lemon peel angel (Primary suspect! But - doesn't seem to have shown any interest in any other fish. Maybe the coral beauty FAFOed? He's also much larger than the coral beauty.)
Sailfin Tang (Know these guys can be jerks but he seems to prefer the other end of the tank and also wouldn't fit into the rock where I found the coral beauty)
2x Stoplight Cardinals (No idea but seems unlikely?)
Sixline Wrasse (It's tiny, seems unlikely)



So did I **** up with this lemon peel and make it so I can't keep any other angels?

Fish has no indications of being sick but as you observed, is a victim of aggression damage. Glad to see it in exact acclimation box I use.
These finnage will heal on its own as long as not attacked by suspect fish which are:
Chromis
yellow tail damsel
Clownfish

My chief suspects are the clowns
How do you know? Place your cell phone on video mode for about 40 mins and drop a little food and walk away - YOU MUST walk away as they know youre there. Often the aggressor is a bully at feeding time.
Review the video and see who it may be

 

[blecki]

I did find the fish shortly after feeding - I usually feed and leave specifically so the very shy engineer gobies will come out and get some. I'll be genuinely shocked if it's the clowns seeing as they rarely leave their sand-nest, but I'll see if I can record their behavior during feeding when I'm not in front of the tank. Come to think of it the wrasse was also found near the chromis' territory and they are very aggressive feeders; who knows what they did while I wasn't looking.

The fish is unable to keep itself upright at the moment. For now it's safe in the box and I'll see if it makes it through the night. I assume if it recovers at all the danger will be infection.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I never mix centropyge angels in small tanks - the lemonpeel would be my primary suspect.
Jay

 

[blecki]

I really thought 230 gallons + introducing them at the same time would have worked. Shame, guess I should revise my plans and avoid additional angels.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I really thought 230 gallons + introducing them at the same time would have worked. Shame, guess I should revise my plans and avoid additional angels.

I don’t think the lemonpeel had any hand in the wrasse death though……

Jay

 

[blecki]

It was acting strange in the acclimation bucket but seemed fine in the tank until it turned up dead.

Edit: Coral beauty gave up the ghost. I am not equipped for a real autopsy but was able to examine him under better lighting and the notch in his belly is a literal bite missing from the fish. So yeah I'm going to assume aggression and revise my stocking plan.

 

[blecki]

@Jay Hemdal

Based on observations over the last three weeks, the culprit was almost certainly the sailfin tang. I'm hoping he calms down as he fattens up. Might have to rehome him.