Lost one of my clown yesterday

Nemo&Friends · Sep 17, 2023

Found my clown dead at the bottom of my tank yesterday. There was nothing apparently wrong with her, and she was fine the day before. I have her for at least 10 years and the last thing I added in my tank was over 7 weeks ago, Halimeda from golf echo system.
All other fish are fine. I think it is just one of these odd stuff that happen in a tank, and I do not think it will affect any other fish.
I have a fish only tank, and do not add or remove or play with any chemical or supplement . I do not even test my water, just change my water when it looks like it is needed.

Spare time · Sep 17, 2023

"I do not even test my water"
You can't visibly see water quality in terms of waste levels, pollutants, etc., so that is something to rethink.

Its hard to say. Any of the fish breathing heavily or have any other sypmtoms? Have they ever been quarantined or treated for common parasites like flukes? It is hard to rule out what may or may not have caused something to die, especially if there were no symptoms. Sometimes fish do just have something go wrong internally without an easy explanation.

Murica · Sep 17, 2023

It may be longer with captive bred fish but I believe the average lifespan of a clown is 10 years. Something to consider.

Nemo&Friends · Sep 17, 2023

Spare time said:
Sometimes fish do just have something go wrong internally without an easy explanation.

This is the most likely explanation. My "youngest fish" an hippo and a sixline are 4 years old, got them just before we learned about Covid in the fall 2019.
No I do not quarantine, and I doubt that halimeda added over 7 weeks ago would be the cause of the death.

Murica said:
It may be longer with captive bred fish but I believe the average lifespan of a clown is 10 years. Something to consider.

Thank you, I did not know that and it could be very possible.
None of my fish are breathing fast, they eat well and are very active.
I will wait a couple of month before adding a new small clown. My tank is not very crowded so I might add something else along with it, to prevent too much bullying on one single fish. I do not know what yet.