Mombasa Dead in 24 Hours

[His Coral Highness]

Just picked up a Mombasa from a local fish store yesterday for my 75 gallon. They said they only had it in the store for about 3 days. I acclimated it pretty slowly and it was hanging out on the rock work most of the night. Then today it briefly started to swim, but it looked weak. Then it lost the energy to swim and went belly up, all in about 10 minutes. I couldn’t believe it. I tested my water and everything looks good. No ammonia, nitrates <10. I mean I even have acropora that’s growing well, so I am sure my water quality is good. And I don’t have any dangerous corals, not that the lion really even touched any anyway. No other fish in the tank either. Did I just buy a dud? I have to wait until the store opens tomorrow to see what their policy is, but I am having a hard time figuring out if it was anything I did. I would understand if it died in a month or so it being my fault, but this fish didn’t make it barely 24 hours, and even the LFS said they only had it in for about 3 days. Thoughts?

 

[lion king]

1st off, for whatever reason mombasa lions come in pretty beat up and have a very high mortality rate. I don't understand why the mombasa's would be any different than other lions from the same region, likely collected and traveling the same route to end point. I have never been able to have a mombasa live more than a few weeks. Most of them died within days, but most of them were in rough shape from the beginning.

Did you see any type of seizure or was the coloring washed out when they died, this can sometimes point to cyanide poisoning. The stress of the move could trigger an underlying condition, sometimes due to organ failure from a chemical poisoning of some sort; whether cyanide or the toxic cocktail of meds the collectors, wholesalers, and suppliers, including lfs use.

There is only so much you can do, I did write a thread highlighting some the important things we can do while acclimating a lionfish. Did you test the sg in the bag, many lfs run their sg much lower than reef, some even as low as 1.018. Osmodic shock is a common cause of death in the 1st 24-48 hrs.

Acclimating lionfish

These are the things we can do to give us a higher percentage of success, when 1st acquiring a lionfish. I strongly suggest an observation/qt tank. You want to test the sg in the transport bag and if using an observation tank, adjust the tank's salinity to match. Matching temperature as well...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[His Coral Highness]

1st off, for whatever reason mombasa lions come in pretty beat up and have a very high mortality rate. I don't understand why the mombasa's would be any different than other lions from the same region, likely collected and traveling the same route to end point. I have never been able to have a mombasa live more than a few weeks. Most of them died within days, but most of them were in rough shape from the beginning.

Did you see any type of seizure or was the coloring washed out when they died, this can sometimes point to cyanide poisoning. The stress of the move could trigger an underlying condition, sometimes due to organ failure from a chemical poisoning of some sort; whether cyanide or the toxic cocktail of meds the collectors, wholesalers, and suppliers, including lfs use.

There is only so much you can do, I did write a thread highlighting some the important things we can do while acclimating a lionfish. Did you test the sg in the bag, many lfs run their sg much lower than reef, some even as low as 1.018. Osmodic shock is a common cause of death in the 1st 24-48 hrs.

Acclimating lionfish

These are the things we can do to give us a higher percentage of success, when 1st acquiring a lionfish. I strongly suggest an observation/qt tank. You want to test the sg in the transport bag and if using an observation tank, adjust the tank's salinity to match. Matching temperature as well...

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks for the detailed reply. I did not test the SG of their water, but I have bought from this LFS many times before and never had anything die so quickly. I did manage to get some pictures though before and after. I do notice a white patch on the dorsal surface right at about the central spines, and a small spot between the eyes. That has to be some disease process, as as I am writing this it has only been dead for about an hour or less. I will try to attach some pictures of a before/after. The glass is thick and makes focusing tough.

 

[His Coral Highness]

First picture was of it alive last night, last 2 pictures are at about 45 minutes after it died

 

[lion king]

That discoloration at the base of the dorsal spines could be a bacterial infection, as I have seen this to be a common injury. During collection or netting by suppliers these spines get caught up and an injury occurs at the base. This can be easily missed and visually shows up a day or two later. When I have seen injuries at the base of the dorsal spines even immediately treating with antibiotics didn't save them. Was there some redness at area or an open sore, as well. The open sore could be very small, as small as just the entry point of the spine to the body.

 

[His Coral Highness]

That discoloration at the base of the dorsal spines could be a bacterial infection, as I have seen this to be a common injury. During collection or netting by suppliers these spines get caught up and an injury occurs at the base. This can be easily missed and visually shows up a day or two later. When I have seen injuries at the base of the dorsal spines even immediately treating with antibiotics didn't save them. Was there some redness at area or an open sore, as well. The open sore could be very small, as small as just the entry point of the spine to the body.

I don’t see a wound but I don’t want to pick around it too much and accidentally poke myself. I tend to also think it has to be some kind of infection as it is very localized. There was also some tissue sloughing off the fins right before it passed. I have it in a ziploc in a little water in the fridge right now, I am hoping the LFS is reasonable with getting some store credit back as it really sounds like there was nothing I could do